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Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy - Ludwig von Mises ...

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70 <strong>Pearl</strong> <strong>Harbor</strong>: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Seeds</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Fruits</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Infamy</strong><br />

<strong>The</strong> Undeclared Battle <strong>of</strong><br />

the Atlantic Continues<br />

Th e U.S. Patrol Force had seen little activity since late 1940,<br />

when some <strong>of</strong> its destroyers had trailed several German ships<br />

from Mexican ports until they were intercepted by British or<br />

Dutch ships <strong>and</strong> then scuttled by their crews. 46 Th en in March<br />

1941, all Axis ships remaining in U.S. ports had been seized. So<br />

when the decision to escort was made, the Patrol Force was simply<br />

diverted from routine patrolling. After August, when convoys<br />

<strong>of</strong> British <strong>and</strong> U.S. merchant ships crossed the Atlantic to maintain<br />

a lifeline <strong>of</strong> supplies <strong>and</strong> equipment to Engl<strong>and</strong>, they were<br />

usually accompanied by U.S. destroyers.<br />

On September 4, the destroyer Greer was on her way to Icel<strong>and</strong><br />

with mail <strong>and</strong> miscellaneous freight when a British bomber overhead<br />

signaled that it had sighted a German submarine in the<br />

area. Th e submarine released a torpedo. Th e Greer responded with<br />

a depth charge. Th e submarine released a second torpedo. Neither<br />

sub nor the Greer hit its target. 47<br />

German submarines had also torpedoed <strong>and</strong> sunk several<br />

other ships operated by “non-belligerents”—on August 17, the<br />

SS Sessa <strong>of</strong> Panamanian registry, on its way to Icel<strong>and</strong>; also on<br />

August 17, the SS Panaman; <strong>and</strong> on September 6 in the Gulf <strong>of</strong><br />

Suez, the SS Steel Seafarer. 48<br />

FDR, stirred to action by the attack on the Greer, issued to<br />

the U.S. Navy serving in America’s exp<strong>and</strong>ed defense waters a<br />

“shoot-on-sight order.” He sounded angry when he spoke to the<br />

nation by radio on September 11: 49<br />

46 Abbazia, Mr. Roosevelt’s Navy, pp. 126–29.<br />

47Ibid., pp. 223–29. See also Department <strong>of</strong> Navy, United States Naval Chronology,<br />

World War II, p. 11.<br />

48 U.S. Congress, Events, p. 297.<br />

49 Department <strong>of</strong> State, Peace <strong>and</strong> War, pp. 737–43.

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