ROOSEVELT’S NAVY DAY ADDRESS

Roosevelt’s Navy Day address

In the autumn before formal American entry into the Second World War, United States warships were already escorting convoys and trading shots with German submarines in the North Atlantic. On October 27th, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt used the occasion of Navy Day to speak frankly to the nation about this undeclared naval war. He described attacks on American destroyers and merchantmen, framed the contest at sea as a defense of hemispheric security, and argued that the oceans no longer protected the United States from distant aggression. The speech was meant to stiffen public resolve and to justify the growing presence of American escort groups far from home waters. It also sent a clear signal to sailors steaming in gray seas under blackout conditions that their hazardous duty had the backing of the commander in chief. Within days, one of those destroyers would become the first United States warship lost to enemy action in the conflict, underscoring how close the country already was to full-scale war.