The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Robert J. Cressman
Massachusetts, south of Nantucket Lightship, 35°55′N, 69°45′W.
TU 4.1.1 (Captain Marion Y. Cohen) assumes escort duty for convoy HX 164; the ships will not be attacked by enemy submarines. While escorting oiler Mattole (AO 17) to join the main convoy, destroyer Gleaves (DD 423) carries out depth charge attack on sound contact at 45°50′N, 53°35′W. The contact is later classified as “doubtful” submarine.
PACIFIC. Cavite Navy Yard, P.I., is practically obliterated by Japanese land attack planes (Takao Kokutai and 1st Kokutai). Destroyers Peary (DD 226) and Pillsbury (DD 227), submarines Seadragon (SS 194) and Sealion (SS 195), minesweeper Bittern (AM 36), and submarine tender Otus (AS 20) suffer varying degrees of damage from bombs or bomb fragments; ferry launch Santa Rita (YFB 681) is destroyed by direct hit. Submarine rescue vessel Pigeon (ASR 6) tows Seadragon out of the burning wharf area; minesweeper Whippoorwill (AM 35) recovers Peary, enabling both warships to be repaired and returned to service. Bittern is gutted by fires. Antiaircraft fire from U.S. guns is ineffective. During bombing of Manila Bay area, unarmed U.S. freighter Sagoland is damaged. Land attack planes (Takao Kokutai) bomb Clark Field.
While flying to safety during the raid on Cavite, Lieutenant Harmon T. Utter’s PBY (VP 101) is attacked by three Japanese Mitsubishi A6M2 Type 0 carrier fighters (ZERO) (3rd Kokutai); Chief Boatswain Earl D. Payne, Utter’s bow gunner, shoots down one, thus scoring the U.S. Navy’s first verifiable air-to-air “kill” of a Japanese plane in the Pacific War.50
“M” Operation: Japanese forces land on Camiguin Island and at Gonzaga and Aparri, Luzon. Off Vigan, minesweeper W.10 is bombed and sunk by USAAF P-35 at 17°32′N, 120°22′E; destroyer Murasame and transport Oigawa Maru are strafed; the latter, set afire, is beached to facilitate salvage. USAAF B-17s bomb and damage light cruiser Naka and transport Takao Maru; the latter is run aground at 17°29′N, 120°26′E (see 5 March 1942). Off Aparri, USAAF B-17s bomb invasion shipping: minesweeper W.19 is run aground, damaged (total loss) at 18°22′N, 121°38′E; light cruiser Natori and destroyer Harukaze are also damaged by a B-17.51
British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battle cruiser HMS Repulse (Admiral Sir Tom S. V. Phillips, RN) are sunk by Japanese land attack planes off Kuantan, Malaya. Destroyer Division 57—Alden (DD 211), Whipple (DD 217), John D. Edwards (DD 216), and Edsall (DD 219) (Commander William G. Lalor)—that had been sent to help screen Phillips’s ships, having arrived at Singapore too late to sortie with the British force, search unsuccessfully for survivors before returning to Singapore.
Governor of Guam (Captain George J. McMillin) surrenders the island to Japanese invasion force (Rear Admiral Goto Aritomo). District patrol craft YP 16 and YP 17; open lighters YC 664, YC 665, YC 666, YC 667, YC 6687, YC 670, YC 671, YC 672, YC 673, YC 674, YC 685, YC 717, and YC 718; dredge YM 13; water barges YW 50, YW55, and YW 58; and miscellaneous auxiliary Robert L. Barnes (AG 27) are all lost to the Japanese occupation of that American Pacific possession.
SBD (CEAG) from carrier Enterprise (CV 6) sinks Japanese submarine I 70 in Hawaiian Islands area, 23°45′N, 155°35′W52
Japanese naval land attack planes (Chitose Kokutai) bomb Marine installations on Wilkes and Wake islets, Wake Island. During the interception of the bombers, Captain Henry T. Elrod, USMC, executive officer of VMF 211, shoots down a Mitsubishi G3M2 Type 96 land attack plane (NELL); this is the first USMC air-to-air “kill” of the Pacific War. Japanese submarines RO 65, RO 66, and RO 67 arrive off Wake. Shortly before midnight, submarine Triton (SS 201), patrolling south of the atoll, encounters a Japanese warship, probably a picket for the oncoming assault force (see 11 December).
Unarmed U.S. freighter Mauna Ala, rerouted back to Portland, Oregon, because of Japanese submarines lurking off the U.S. west coast, runs aground off the entrance to the Columbia River; she subsequently breaks up on the beach, a total loss.
11 Thursday
GENERAL. Germany and Italy declare war on the United States.
United States declares war on Germany and Italy
PACIFIC. Secretary of the Navy William Franklin (Frank) Knox arrives on Oahu to personally assess the damage inflicted by the Japanese on 7 December.
Submarine Triton (SS 201), patrolling south of Wake Island, attacks the Japanese ship encountered shortly before midnight; she is unsuccessful.
Wake Island garrison (Commander Winfield S. Cunningham) repulses Japanese invasion force (Rear Admiral Kajioka Sadamichi); marine shore battery gunfire (First Defense Battalion) straddles light cruiser Yubari (Kajioka’s flagship), sinks destroyer Hayate, and damages destroyers Oite, Mochizuki, and Yayoi and Patrol Boat No. 33 (high-speed transport); USMC F4Fs (VMF 211) bomb and sink destroyer Kisaragi and strafe and damage light cruiser Tenryu and armed merchant cruiser Kongo Maru. Later the same day, USMC F4F (VMF 211) bombs and most likely damages submarine RO 66 south of Wake. U.S. submarines deployed off Wake, Triton to the south and Tambor (SS 198) to the north, take no active part in the battle. Following the abortive assault, Japanese naval land attack planes (Chitose Kokutai) bomb marine gun batteries on Peale islet.
Japanese submarine I 9 shells unarmed U.S. freighter Lahaina about 800 miles northeast of Honolulu, T.H., 27°42′N, 147°38′W (see 12 and 21 December).
Japanese make landings at Legaspi, Luzon.
Unarmed U.S. freighter Capillo, damaged by bomb on 8 December 1941, is partially scuttled by U.S. Army demolition party, off Corregidor, P.I. (see 29 December). Freighter Sagoland, damaged by bombs the previous day, sinks in Manila Bay.
ATLANTIC. TU 4.1.5 (Commander William K. Phillips) detaches destroyers Babbitt (DD 128) and Leary (DD 158), low on fuel because of the delayed arrival of convoy ON 41 at the MOMP, to proceed to Argentia, Newfoundland. En route to Argentia, Babbitt depth charges sound contact without result at 51°37′N, 43°08′W.
TU 4.1.6 (Commander John S. Roberts) assumes escort duty at MOMP for convoy ON 43, which has been badly scattered by heavy weather conditions (see 13 and 15 December). Convoy HX 163, being escorted by TU 4.1.3 (Commander George W. Johnson), encounters same abominable weather.
12 Friday
UNITED STATES. Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) is established.
U.S. government seizes French ships in U.S. ports.
PACIFIC. Secretary of the Navy William Franklin (Frank) Knox departs Oahu after inspecting the damage done by the Japanese attack of 7 December.
Japanese flying boats (Yokohama Kokutai) bomb Wake Island in predawn raid. Later in the day, land attack planes (Chitose Kokutai) bomb Wake.
Unarmed U.S. freighter Vincent is shelled and sunk by Japanese armed merchant cruisers Aikoku Maru and Hokoku Maru about 600 miles northwest of Easter Island, 22°41′S, 118°19′E, and her entire crew captured.
Unarmed U.S. freighter Lahaina, shelled and torpedoed by Japanese submarine I 9 the previous day, sinks (see 21 December).
Japanese Naval Aviation Pilot First Class Nishikaichi Shigenori begins, with aid of Harada Yoshio, a Japanese resident of Niihau, to terrorize the inhabitants of the island into returning papers confiscated on 7 December. In response to this campaign of intimidation, the islanders flee to the hills (see 13 December).
Submarine S 38 (SS 143) mistakenly torpedoes and sinks Norwegian merchantman Hydra II west of Cape Calavite, Mindoro, P.I., believing her to be a Japanese auxiliary. Hydra II had been en route from Bangkok, Thailand, to Hong Kong, when she was diverted to Manila by the outbreak of war.
During Japanese bombing of shipping off Cebu, in the Visayan Sea, Philippine passenger vessel Governor Wright