The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Robert J. Cressman
for home, thus inadvertently sparing fuel tank farms, ship repair facilities, and the submarine base that will prove invaluable to support the U.S. Pacific Fleet as it rebuilds in the wake of the Pearl Harbor disaster.
Midway Island is bombarded by Japanese Midway Neutralization Unit (Captain Kaname Konishi) consisting of destroyers Ushio and Sazanami; Marine shore batteries (Sixth Defense Battalion) return the fire, claiming damage to both ships. One of the submarines, Trout (SS 202), deployed on simulated war patrols off Midway, makes no contact with the enemy ships; the other, Argonaut (SS 166), is unable to make a successful approach and Ushio and Sazanami retire from the area. Subsequent bad weather will save Midway from a pounding by planes from the Pearl Harbor Attack Force as it returns to Japanese waters.
Damage control hulk DCH 1 (IX 44), formerly destroyer Walker (DD 163), being towed from San Diego, California, to Pearl Harbor, by oiler Neches (AO 5), is cast adrift and scuttled by gunfire from Neches at 26°35′N, 143°49′W.
UNITED STATES. Japanese declaration of war reaches Washington, D.C., after word of the attack on Pearl Harbor has already been received in the nation’s capital.
President Roosevelt orders mobilization.
8 Monday
UNITED STATES. United States declares war on Japan. In his address to the nation, President Roosevelt describes 7 December 1941 as “a date which will live in infamy.”
Potomac River Naval Command with headquarters at Washington, D.C., and Severn River Naval Command with headquarters at Annapolis, Maryland, are established.
PACIFIC. Japanese submarine I 123 mines Balabac Strait, PI.; I 124 mines the entrance to Manila Bay.
Striking Force Asiatic Fleet (Rear Admiral William A. Glassford Jr.) departs Iloilo, P.I., for Makassar Strait, N.E.I.
Seaplane tender (destroyer) William B. Preston (AVD 7) is attacked by fighters and attack planes from Japanese carrier Ryujo in Davao Gulf, P.I.; William B. Preston escapes, but two PBYs (VP 101) she is tending are strafed and destroyed on the water.
Japanese forces intern U.S. Marines and nationals at Shanghai, Tientsin, and Chinwangtao, China, and seize International Settlement, Shanghai. River gunboat Wake (PR 3), maintained at Shanghai as station ship and manned by a skeleton crew, is seized by Japanese Naval Landing Force boarding party after attempt to scuttle fails.46 British river gunboat HMS Peterel, however, moored nearby in the stream of the Whangpoo River, refuses demand to surrender and is sunk by gunfire from Japanese coast defense ship Idzumo. Japanese seize U.S. tugs Meifoo No. 5, Mei Kang, Mei Nan, Mei Ying, and Mei Yun, and Panamanian freighters Folozu, Morazan, and Ramona. They also take Panamanian freighters Herleik at Chinwangtao and Needwood at Tsingtao.
U.S. passenger liner President Harrison, en route to evacuate marines from North China, is intentionally run aground at Sha Wai Shan, China, and is captured by the Japanese.47
Port authorities at Yokohama, Japan, seize Panamanian freighter Foch.
Panamanian freighter Essi puts in to Hongay French Indochina, to discharge her cargo (see 13 December).
Japanese forces land on Bataan Island, north of Luzon.
“E” operation: Japanese forces land on east coast of Malay Peninsula. RAF Hudsons bomb invasion shipping off Kota Bharu, Malaya, setting army cargo ship Awajisan Maru afire; destroyers Ayanami and Shikinami and submarine chaser Ch 9 take off Awajisan Maru’s crew.
Japanese troops land at Patani and Singora, Thailand, and cross the Kra Isthmus; other Japanese forces invade Thailand from across the Indochina border, encountering only light resistance from the Thais.
Japanese planes bomb Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Philippine Islands. Extensive damage is inflicted on USAAF aircraft at Clark Field, Luzon, P.I. During Japanese bombing of shipping in Manila Bay, U.S. freighter Capillo is damaged by bomb, set afire, and abandoned off Corregidor (see 11 December).
Unarmed U.S. steamship Admiral Cole is bombed and strafed by Japanese flying boat in the Celebes Sea south of Zamboanga, Philippines, 04°50′N, 123°31′E, but is not damaged.
Japanese naval land attack planes (Chitose Kokutai) approach Wake Island undetected—the island has no radar—and bomb airfield installations on Wake Islet, causing heavy damage to facilities and remaining F4Fs on the ground. Pan American Airways Martin 130 Philippine Clipper (being prepared for a scouting flight with an escort of two VMF 211 F4Fs when the attack comes) in the aftermath of the disaster precipitately evacuates Caucasian airline staff and passengers only (Pan American’s Chamorro employees are left behind).48
Japanese force slated to assault Wake Island (Rear Admiral Kajioka Sadamichi) sails from Kwajalein, in the Marshall Islands.
Japanese reconnaissance seaplanes (18th Kokutai) bomb Guam, M.I., damaging minesweeper Penguin (AM 33) and miscellaneous auxiliary Robert L. Barnes (AG 27). Penguin, abandoned, is scuttled in deep water by her crew.49
ATLANTIC. Destroyers Niblack (DD 424), Benson (DD 421), and Tarbell (DD 142), part of TU 4.1.3 escorting convoy HX 163, depth charge sound contacts that are later classified as non-submarine.
9 Tuesday
PACIFIC. Japanese seize Tarawa and Makin, Gilbert Islands.
Japanese submarines RO 63, RO 64, and RO 68 bombard Howland and Baker Islands in the mistaken belief that American seaplane bases exist there.
Transport William Ward Burrows (AP 6), en route to Wake Island, is re-routed to Johnston Island.
Japanese submarine I 10 shells and sinks unarmed Panamanian motorship Donerail (en route from Suva to Vancouver, Canada), 200 miles southeast of Hawaii, 08°00′N, 152°00′W. There are only eight survivors of the 33-man crew; all seven passengers perish.
Japanese Naval Aviation Pilot First Class Nishikaichi Shigenori, from the carrier Hiryu, who had crash-landed his Mitsubishi A6M2 Type 0 carrier fighter on Niihau on 7 December, is placed under guard by the islanders; attempts this day and the next to transport him to Kauai are frustrated by bad weather (see 12–14 December).
Japanese naval land attack planes (Chitose Kokutai) bomb defense installations on the islets of Wilkes and Wake, Wake Island.
China declares war on Japan, Germany, and Italy.
Japanese carry out unopposed occupation of Bangkok, Thailand; Panamanian freighter Gran is seized.
River gunboat Mindanao (PR 8), en route from Hong Kong to Manila, encounters Japanese fishing vessel No. 3 South Advance Maru, stops her, and takes her 10-man Formosan crew prisoner. Mindanao leaves the craft adrift at 16°42′N, 118°53′E, and steams on, reaching her destination the following day.
Submarine Swordfish (SS 193), in initial U.S. submarine attack of the war, torpedoes Japanese ship 150 miles west of Manila at 14°30′N, 119°00′E. Her claim of a sinking, however, is not confirmed in enemy records.
ATLANTIC. TU 4.1.5 (Commander William K. Phillips) continues its escort duty with convoy ON 41; destroyers Babbitt (DD 128) and Mayo (DD 422) depth charge sound contacts, Babbitt’s at 57°19′N, 33°09′W. Destroyer Schenck (DD 159), operating independently from TU 4.1.5 while escorting U.S. freighter Ozark, carries out “well conducted” depth charge attack on sound contact at 52°19′N, 39°37′W.
10 Wednesday
ATLANTIC. PBYs (VP 52), supported by seaplane tender (destroyer) Greene (AVD 13) and small seaplane tender Thrush (AVP 3), begin antisubmarine patrols over the South Atlantic from Natal, Brazil, and thus inaugurate operations from Brazilian waters.
Battleship New Mexico (BB 40), en route to Hampton Roads,