October 17th, 1941 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Destroyer HMS Wilton launched.
Submarine HMS P-38 commissioned.
GERMANY: U-637 laid down.
JAPAN: Lieutenant General Tojo Hideki, War Minister in the cabinet becomes Japanese Premier as the Konoye Government resigns. A memo for the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff states, "Any cabinet selected by General Tojo may be expected to have Axis leanings but will be otherwise anti-foreign and highly nationalistic."
The Foreign Ministry in Tokyo sends a telegram to the embassy in Washington, DC, which includes the following: "The resignation was brought about by a split within the Cabinet. It is true that one of the main items on which opinion differed was on the matter of stationing troops or evacuating them from China. However, regardless of the make-up of the new Cabinet, negotiations with the United States shall be continued along the lines already formulated. There shall be no changes in this respect."
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Colonel H. George, A-4 (supply) under Major General Lewis H. Brereton, Commanding General Far East Air Force (USAAC), sends a request to Hugh Casey, MacArthur's engineer, to construct housing and messing for one air group at Del Monte, a natural meadow in the Del Monte pineapple plantation on Mindanao.
CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Three Rivers renamed HMCS Trois Rivieres.
U.S.A.: The USN orders all U.S. merchant ships in Asiatic waters to put into friendly ports.
In the U.S., the motion picture "Week-End in Havana" is released today. This musical comedy, directed by Walter Lang, stars Alice Faye, Carmen Miranda, John Payne, Cesar Romero, Sheldon Leonard and Billy Gilbert; Hugh Beaumont (later "Ward Cleaver") appears in an uncredited bit part. The plot is typical musical fluff with Payne taking Faye to Havana for business purposes where they meet night club singer Miranda.
Washington: All US merchant ships in Asian waters are ordered to put in at friendly ports.
ICELAND: Reykjavik: The battle to protect convoy SC 48 continues. SC 48 is the first U.S. Navy-escorted convoy to engage German submarines in battle, but despite the presence of the three modern U.S. destroyers and two flush-deckers--USS Decatur (DD-341) and HMCS Columbia [ex-USS Haraden (DD-183)], and four RCN corvettes, the enemy torpedoes six ships and an escort vessel in a total elapsed time of four hours and forty-seven minutes. U-432 sinks Greek steamer SS Evros, Panamanian steamer SS Bold Venture and Norwegian motor tanker MS Barfonn; U-558 sinks British tanker SS W.C. Teagle, and Norwegian steamship SS Rym; U-553 sinks Norwegian steamer SS Erviken and conducts an unsuccessful approach on destroyer USS Plunkett (DD-431). The RCN and USN escort vessels immediately began dropping depth charges and continue to barrage throughout the night.
The USS KEARNY (DD-432) is torpedoed by U-568 southwest of Iceland at 2.00am. She was one of five US destroyers which went to the aid of convoy SC-48, which had come under attack from a U-boat pack after losing half her Canadian escort in a gale.
Last night, despite the reinforcements, U-boats sank six more merchant ships. The KEARNY was illuminated by the blazing vessels and suffered a direct hit from U-568 on the starboard side, but damage control limited flooding to the forward fire room enabling the ship to leave the danger area with power from the aft fire room.
Regaining power in the forward fire room, Kearny, escorted by USS Greer (DD-145), the damaged Kearny proceeds to Hvalfjordur, Iceland at 10 knots, arriving 19 October. There she will undergo temporary repairs alongside repair ship USS Vulcan (AR-5) and get underway on 25 December 1941 for Massachusetts for permanent repairs. Eleven of Kearny's crew are killed and 22 are injured.
Soon thereafter, U-101 torpedoes and sinks the RN destroyer HMS Broadwater [ex-USS Mason (DD-191)], at 57°01'N, 19°08'W. Lost on board the British flush-deck destroyer are two survivors from SS Ervinken and nine from SS W.C. Teagle.
In the air, PBY-5A Catalinas of the USN's Patrol Squadron Seventy Three (VP-73) based at Reykjavik, Iceland, arrive to provide air coverage for SC 48.
Two USN destroyers screening convoy HX 154, USS Charles F. Hughes (DD-428) and USS Gleaves (DD-423), depth-charge suspicious contacts at 54°40'N, 33°59'W, and 54°40'N, 33°59'W.
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
U-83 sank SS Indra.
U-97 sank SS Pass of Balmaha and SS Samos.
U-432 sank SS Barfonn and SS Evros in Convoy SC-48.
U-553 sank SS Bold Venture in Convoy SC-48.
U-558 sank SS Erviken, SS Rym, SS WC Teagle and corvette HMS Gladiolus in Convoy SC-48.