![]() Despite the losses there, the Pacific Fleet was not as badly crippled as many believe. The Navy expected the war to start about the time it did, but it was surprised that it began at Pearl Harbor. The act provided the basis for the fleet that carried America to victory in the war, but it would take time to get all these ships and aircraft built and into service. To redress this imbalance, on July 19, 1940, Congress passed the Two Ocean Navy Act, which added 18 aircraft carriers, seven battleships, 33 cruisers (including six battlecruisers), 115 destroyers, 43 submarines, and 15,000 aircraft, increasing the Navy’s size by 70 percent. task force to see foreign service during the conflict.ĭespite this initial action, the Navy was woefully unprepared for what was coming. ![]() Meanwhile, in July 1940, a 25-ship task force occupied Iceland, the first U.S. Before long, American destroyers were trading depth charges against German torpedoes, eventually resulting in the loss of the destroyer USS Reuben James on October 31, 1941. Though officially named the Neutrality Patrol, one of its main functions was to report the presence of German ships or submarines so word could be passed to the British Royal Navy. With the conflict only four days old, President Franklin Roosevelt established a security zone in the Western Atlantic and directed the Navy to patrol it. The United States Navy entered World War II well before Pearl Harbor and long before the rest of the nation.
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