December 4th, 1940 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The Admiralty admits heavy losses. For the month ending November 24th, 323,157 tons of British and neutral vessels were sunk.Destroyer ORP Krakowiak launched.
Britain and Turkey sign a trade agreement to "bring about a considerable increase in trade through commercial exchanges."
GERMANY:
The High Command announces that U-boats have sunk 15 ships in a convoy 400 miles west of
Ireland and that a flight of planes have attacked British ships in the Channel sinking one
and damaging several others.
U-552
commissioned.
ALBANIA:
Greek troops, advancing from the Pindus, capture the town of Premeti.
ROMANIA:
The army manages to contain the civil unrest which has been going on for a week.
ITALY: Italian dictator Benito Mussolini instructs Dino Alfieri, the Italian Ambassador to Germany, to fly to Berlin and request German assistance in the invasion of Greece. German Chancellor Adolf Hitler sees no choice but to assist Italy. The Italian Fascists know their pride has now been broken once they ask for help. The military's confidence in Mussolini is now beginning to disappear due to his hasty and ignorant orders.
The Luftwaffe's Fliegerkorps X establishes headquarters at Taormina, Sicily.
EGYPT: Major General Richard O'Connor,
Commander, Western Desert Force, moves to his battle headquarters in preparation for Operation Compass
(the attack against Italian troops in North Africa).
CANADA:
Corvettes HMCS Brantford, Midland, Timmins, Vancouver (ex-Kitchener), New Westminster and Dundas ordered.
Minesweeper HMCS Thunder laid down Toronto, Ontario.
Corvette HMCS Drumheller laid down Collingwood, Ontario.
Corvette HMCS Amherst launched Saint John, New Brunswick.
Oiler HMCS Moonbeam commissioned. Built by George T Davie Lauzon,, Province of Quebec. Launched 1913, 180x32, 676 tons, Originally Mand F. Hopper Barge No.1, renamed circa 1930 D.M. Hopper Barge No.1, Mills No. 033250, Propulsion Steam, #134364, rebuilt 1940 Yard#89, at Marine Industries Ltd, Sorel, Province of Quebec, 676 tons, 178x33.5x12ft, 6kts, crew 2/18, fuel oil carrier east coast, and St. John's Nfld. When more modern and capacious tankers became available, she reverted to a static fuel depot ship. Pendants (Z43)>(J43) Post WW.II, sold 1946, renamed Birchbranch, renamed circa 1951 David Richard, B.L.I.24, 1960, broken up, and register closed 1968. The RCN's pre-war strategy of local defence and restricted pre-war budgets prevented the development of oilers as part of its force structure. A lack of fuel and fuel storage facilities in St. John's were serious limitations for early escort operations, which were partially addressed through the use of depot vessels requisitioned from trade and loaned from the RN. By Jun 41, the St. John’s base, HMCS Avalon, included Moonbeam, submarine depot ship HMS Forth, fleet stores ship HMS City of Dieppe, tankers Teakwood and Clam as well as the Great Lakes overnight passenger steamer Georgian used as a floating barracks and renamed Avalon II.
AMC HMCS Prince Henry commissioned.
U.S.A.: Douglas DC-3A-197, msn 2175, registered NC25678 by the U.S. airline United Air Lines, crashes while attempting to land at Midway Airport, Chicago, Illinois, at 1748 hours local killing the three crew and seven of the 13 passengers. This is United Flight 21 flying from LaGuardia Airport, New York City, to Midway Airport. The crash investigation blames the pilot for not exercising that degree of caution and skill required to avert a stall while approaching for a landing on the short northwest runway. A substantial contributing factor to the accident is the error in judgment of the pilot in choosing the short runway for his landing.
Admiral William D. Leahy, USN (Retired) tenders his resignation as Governor of Puerto Rico effective the following day.
Destroyer USS Eberle commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-37 sank SS Daphne in Convoy
OG-46.