December 30th, 1940 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Corvette HMS Kingcup commissioned.
Destroyer HMS Meynell commissioned.
Minesweeper HMS Boston launched.
Submarine HMS Umpire launched.
Corvette HMS Violet launched.
U.S.S.R.: Soviet submarines V-2 and V-3 laid down.
ITALY:
General Soddu steps down as the Italian C-in-C due to illness and is succeeded by General
Cavallero.
GREECE:
The Greek High Command decides to continue the advance with only the central Greek force,
2nd Corps, and orders it to take Kelcyre. Bitter fighting ensues, the Italians throwing in
5 divisions, the Greeks three and a half divisions, heavy losses are reported on both
sides. But the advancing Greeks, by clever tactics, capture Kelcyre and clear away the
Italian salient.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: ASW trawler HMS Bandolero (FY 778) is sunk in a collision with the Australian destroyer HMAS Waterhen (D 22) off Solum, Egypt. It takes a month to repair the damage to the destroyer. The Australian destroyer HMAS Voyager (D 31) captures a 190-ton Italian supply schooner off Solum, Egypt. An Australian boarding party finds that British POWs on board had taken control of the vessel and imprisoned more than 100 Italian crewmen and passengers. The schooner is taken to Solum. (Jack McKillop & Dave Shirlaw)
AUSTRALIA: Convoy US-8 (Australia-Middle East) consisting of the troop transports Aquitania. Awatea, Dominion Monarch, Mauretania and Queen Mary escorted by the Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra (D 33), sails from Melbourne, Victoria. The troopships are carrying the Australian 2/15th Battalion and the 2/28th and 2/43rd Battalions of the 24th Brigade and New Zealand troops.
CANADA: Minesweepers HMCS Bayfield and Canso laid down North Vancouver, British Columbia.
U.S.A.:
Polls suggest that President Roosevelt's "Arsenal of Democracy" speech was the
most successful he has ever given. 75% of the population were aware of it and more than
60% agreed with what he said.
A poll for Fortune magazine shows that where a year ago American businessmen looked
unsympathetically on the predicament of Britain and France, now the majority are
determined to do whatever need to be done to help Britain defeat Hitler.
In California, the Arroyo Seco Parkway, the forerunner of the Pasadena
Freeway (between Los Angeles and Pasadena), is dedicated by Los Angeles Mayor
Fletcher Bowron. It is the first freeway in the western U.S. and is designated
as a historic engineering landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in
1999.
The motion picture "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" opens at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Directed by William Dieterle, this drama stars Charles Laughton, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Thomas Mitchell, Maureen O'Hara and Edmond O'Brien.