Emergency Powers Act 1939 came into force as Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany. The Marine and Coastwatching Service was set up. British liner became the first civilian casualty of the war when she was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine between Rockall and Tory Island; the Knut Nelson (Norway) landed 450 of the survivors in Galway. 18 September – John F. Kennedy flew from Foynes for his first transatlantic flight, to Port Washington, New York, after helping with arrangements for survivors of the SS Athenia. 9 September – billed as "The Last Race in Europe" until after World War II, the Irish Motor Racing Club held its Phoenix Park Race; this included motorcycle and car races. 11 September – the Irish-flagged tanker Inverliffey was shelled and sunk by the Nazi submarine, . The U-boat towed the lifeboats away from the blazing oil. 13 September – the Minister for Supplies, Seán Lemass, introduced petrol rationing. 6 October – Austrian theoretical physicist Erwin Schrödinger took up residence in Dublin at the invitation of Éamon de Valera. 30 October – more than two dozen air-raid sirens, acquired by Dublin Corporation, were tested across Dublin City. November – the teenage Brendan Behan, at this time a member of the Irish Republican Army, was arrested in Liverpool for possession of explosives. December – the Supreme Court of Ireland declared the detention without trial of Irish Republican Army members to be illegal. 10 December – the German Nazi propaganda radio station Irland-Redaktion began broadcasting to Ireland in the Irish language. 23 December – a million rounds of ammunition were stolen from the national arsenal at the Phoenix Park by the Irish Republican Army. Arts and literature 31 January – Lord Longford began a series of Chekhov productions at the Gate Theatre in Dublin with The Cherry Orchard. February – English novelist T. H. White settled at Doolistown in County Meath; he lived in Ireland until 1946. 13 March – Flann O'Brien's At Swim-Two-Birds was published in London. 4 May – James Joyce's Finnegans Wake was published complete in London. 18 May – Louis MacNeice's Autumn Journal: a poem was published in London. July – W. B. Yeats' Last Poems and Two Plays were published posthumously in London. 10 October – Robert Collis's play Marrowbone Lane was premiered at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, starring Wilfrid Brambell. Autumn English painters Kenneth Hall and his lover