Мнение курсанта U.S. Naval Academy:
THE U. S. NAVY, THE NEUTRALITY PATROL, AND ATLANTIC FLEET ESCORT OPERATIONS, 1939-1941
A Trident Scholar Project Report
by
Midshipman Brian F. Hussey Jr., Class of 1991
U.S. Naval Academy
Annapolis, Maryland
Adviser: Associate Professor Robert W. Love Jr. History Department
"Although the United States was officially neutral until 7 December 1941, the U.S. Navy entered World War II on 5 September 1939 when the CNO, Admiral Harold R. Stark, initiated Neutrality Patrol operations in the Caribbean and in waters 200 miles off the coasts of North and South America."
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"President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first reaction to the war was to issue a neutrality proclamation and order the Navy to establish a Neutrality Patrol. This operation was first announced by the Chief of Naval Operation, Admiral Harold R. Stark, on 4 September, as consisting of air and U ship patrols whose aim was to observe and report the movements of warships of the warring nations within American waters. On the morning of the 6th, Roosevelt's press secretary announced the commencement of the Neutrality Patrol, explaining that the United States sought to ensure its neutrality by establishing a patrol of 200 to 300 miles off the East Coast to "report the presence of any belligerent ships", including British.
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The new patrol meant a complete revision of the Navy's prewar training schemes and operating schedules, but the announcement was not surprising. Roosevelt had been an
thinking of such a patrolling operation for several months. On 20 April 1939, for instance, he told the Cabinet that he wished to establish "a patrol from Newfoundland down to South America and if some submarines are laying there and try to interrupt an American flag and our Navy sinks them it's just too bad." He did not make it clear whether his purpose was to uphold American neutrality or assist the Anglo-French alliance.
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During the September 1938 Munich Crisis, Johnson urged the Navy Department to position more warships in the Atlantic command.
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Munich merely moved Roosevelt closer toward reinforcing the Navy's commitment to the Atlantic. In the fall of 1938, he ordered the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral William D. Leahy, to accelerate the reconditioning of old World War I-era destroyers, and to prepare to deploy them in the Atlantic. Roosevelt also directed that a new squadron of cruisers, operating under a command independent of the Training Detachment, be created as a combat force for operations in the Atlantic theater.
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On 15 April 1939, Roosevelt transferred the carrier Ranger and two patrol bomber squadrons from the Pacific fleet to the Atlantic Squadron, and that June, another four heavy cruisers and four modern destroyers joined the Ranger, the old battleships, and the destroyer flotilla on the East Coast.
The outcome of all of this was that on 6 September, when the Neutrality Patrol sweeps got underway, the Atlantic Squadron consisted of one aircraft carrier, four old battleships, four heavy cruisers, and twenty-nine destroyers.
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The Atlantic Squadron's Neutrality Patrol operations constituted the first practical American aid to the Allies. Patrols, which started on the 4th, consisted of long surface ship sweeps out to the 200 mile limit of the Neutrality Zone. When a patrol sighted a belligerent vessel, she made positive identification, and maintained surveillance until the belligerent vessel sailed out of the Zone. The U. S. patrol ships also reported the vessels to shore-based plotting stations via radio in plain English.
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Roosevelt also moved to provide diplomatic support for the Neutrality Patrol within the Western Hemisphere. On 26 September 1939, the foreign ministers of the Latin-American republics met for a special conference in Panama to discuss the war in Europe. The United States successfully lobbied for a multilateral declaration that would keep the European war away from the Americas, and the Act of Panama was signed on 2 October. It established a neutral zone constituting an area from 60W longitude to 23N latitude, thence to a point 600 miles south of the Cape Verde Islands, and finally southwest and parallel to the South American coast. All belligerent warships were to be prohibited from warlike operations in this area. In short, the Act of Panama brought most of the Latin-American republics in line with United States foreign policy on hemispheric neutrality."
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