16 Oct 1939
- Carrier USS Ranger and cruiser USS San Francisco were dispatched by US Navy to locate the German tanker recently departed from Mexico to supply German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee. ww2dbase [CPC]
- Duguay-Trouin intercepted German merchant ship Halle 320 kilometers southwest of Dakar, French West Africa; Halle was scuttled by her own crew to prevent capture. ww2dbase [Duguay-Trouin | CPC]
- Grand Admiral Erich Raeder announced Adolf Hitler's orders that "all merchant ships definitely recognized as enemy can be torpedoed without warning." ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | CPC]
- U-23 completed her third war patrol. ww2dbase [U-23 | CPC]
- British Royal Navy Commander R. F. Jolly, despite being seriously wounded by an air attack by a German Junkers Ju 88 bomber in the Firth of Forth, Scotland, United Kingdom, steadfastly refused medical treatment or requests that he left the bridge of HMS Mohawk until some eighty minutes later when he had finally brought his damaged destroyer into the safety at Rosyth. Taken ashore he lived on for another five hours before his death in hospital at South Queensferry, Scotland. For his heroism Commander Jolly was awarded, a week later, with a posthumous Empire Gallantry Medal (later replaced by a George Cross, a decoration only second in precedence to the Victoria Cross). ww2dbase [Rosyth, Scotland | AC]
- HMS Edinburgh was slightly damaged by German aircraft while in the Firth of Forth, Scotland, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Edinburgh | Firth of Forth, Scotland | CPC]
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