The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Robert J. Cressman
B-17 (19th Bombardment Group) bombs Japanese shipping off Vigan, P.I., damaging transport Hawaii Maru.
Dutch submarines operate off Malaya against Japanese invasion shipping. K XII torpedoes and sinks army cargo ship Toro Maru off Kota Bharu, 06°08′N, 102°16′E; O 16 torpedoes and damages army cargo ships Tozan Maru, Kinka Maru, and Asosan Maru off Patani/Singora.
Panamanian freighters Marion and Wawa are scuttled in Hong Kong Harbor. Marion is subsequently renamed Manryo Maru (see 12 October 1944). Wawa became Awa Maru (see 14 July 1945).
Japanese minelayer/netlayer Naryu is damaged by marine casualty, Tomogashima Channel.
13 Saturday
UNITED STATES. Congress, to meet the demand for trained enlisted men, authorizes the retention of enlisted men in the Navy upon the expiration of their enlistments when not voluntarily extended.
PACIFIC. Japanese planes attack Subic Bay area and airfields in Philippines. During bombing of shipping in Manila Bay by naval land attack planes (Takao Kokutai), unarmed U.S. tankship Manatawny is damaged (see 11 January 1942).
Vichy French place guard on board Panamanian freighter Essi, Hongay, French Indochina; replaced by a Japanese guard on 22 December when the vessel is taken over to serve Japan.
Occupation of Niihau by Japanese Naval Aviation Pilot First Class Nishikaichi Shigenori ends. A party of Hawaiians sets out for Kauai to inform the outside world of events on Niihau; in the meantime, Nishikaichi burns his plane (it will not be until July 1942 that the U.S. Navy will be able to obtain an intact ZERO to study) and the house in which he believes his confiscated papers are hidden. Later, in a confrontation with a local Hawaiian, Benny Kanahele, a scuffle to grab the pilot’s pistol ensues. Although Kanahele is shot twice, he picks up Nishikaichi bodily and dashes the pilot’s head into a stone wall, killing him; Harada Yoshio, the Japanese resident of Niihau who has allied himself with the pilot, commits suicide. Kanahele survives his injuries. On the basis of the report by the islanders who have arrived on Kauai after a 15-hour trip, meanwhile, Commander Kauai Military District (Colonel Edward W. FitzGerald, USA) dispatches a squad from Company M, 299th Infantry in Coast Guard lighthouse tender Kukui to proceed from Kauai to Niihau (see 14 December).
Japanese cargo ship Nikkoku Maru is stranded and wrecked off Hainan Island, 18°00′N, 110°00′E.
Gunboat Erie (PG 50) receives 50 Japanese POWs at Puntarenas, Costa Rica, from Costa Rican government and sends prize crew to take charge of motor vessel Albert.
ATLANTIC. Destroyer Woolsey (DD 437), sweeping astern of convoy ON 43, depth charges sound contact at 57°55′N, 32°05′W.
14 Sunday
PACIFIC. TF 11 (Vice Admiral Wilson Brown Jr.), comprising carrier Lexington (CV 2), three heavy cruisers, nine destroyers, and oiler Neosho (AO 23), sails for the Marshall Islands, to create a diversion to cover TF 14’s attempt to relieve Wake Island (see 15 and 16 December).
Japanese flying boats (Yokohama Kokutai) bomb Wake Island. Later in the day, naval land attack planes (Chitose Kokutai) raid Wake, bombing airfield installations.
Destroyer Craven (DD 382) collides with heavy cruiser Northampton (CA 26) during underway refueling and is damaged. The ships are part of TF 8 operating north of Oahu.
Norwegian motorship Höegh Merchant is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I 4 about 20 miles east-northeast of Oahu. All hands (35-man crew and five passengers) survive the loss of the ship.
Coast Guard lighthouse tender Kukui reaches Niihau with squad of soldiers from Company M, 299th Infantry (Lieutenant Jack Mizuha); the detachment learns of the denouement of the events that have transpired on Niihau since 7 December.
Japanese gunboat Zuiko Maru, wrecked and driven aground by storm, sinks off Matsuwa Jima, Kurils, 48°05′N, 153°43′E.
Gunboat Erie (PG 50), off coast of Costa Rica, boards and takes charge of motor vessel Sea Boy, and takes off a Japanese POW; she orders Sea Boy into Balboa the following day.
USAAF B-17s bomb and damage Japanese cargo ship Ikushima Maru and oiler Hayatomo off Legaspi, Luzon.
With its operating area rendered untenable by Japanese control of the air, Patrol Wing 10 (Captain Frank D. Wagner) departs Philippines for Netherlands East Indies. Seaplane tender (destroyer) Childs (AVD 1), with Captain Wagner embarked, sails from Manila.
Submarine Seawolf (SS 197) torpedoes Japanese seaplane carrier San’yo Maru off Aparri, PI.; one torpedo hits the ship but does not explode.
Submarine Swordfish (SS 193), attacking Japanese shipping off Hainan Island, torpedoes army transport Kashii Maru, 18°08′N, 109°22′E.
Navy boarding party (Lieutenant Edward N. Little), transported in commandeered yacht Gem, seizes French motor mail vessel Marechal Joffre, Manila Bay. Majority of the crewmen, pro-Vichy or unwilling to serve under the U.S. flag, are put ashore (see 17 and 18 December).
15 Monday
PACIFIC. Seaplane tender Tangier (AV 8), oiler Neches (AO 5), and four destroyers sail for Wake Island (see 16 December).
Japanese reconnaissance flying boats (Yokohama Kokutai) bomb Wake Island.
Johnston Island is shelled by Japanese submarine I 22; although one shell lands astern and another passes over her forecastle, transport William Ward Burrows (AP 6) is apparently unseen by the enemy submariners. She is not hit and escapes.
Kahului, Maui, T.H., is shelled by Japanese submarine from the Second Submarine Squadron.53
Philippine steamship Vizcaya is scuttled in Manila Bay, most likely to prevent potential use by the Japanese.
ATLANTIC. TU 4.1.2 (Commander Fred D. Kirtland) clears Reykjavik, Iceland, for the MOMP, escorting convoy ON 45; destroyer Sturtevant (DD 240), escorting cargo ship Alchiba (AK 23), depth charges sound contact at 62°05′N, 24°15′W (see 16 December).
Destroyer Benson (DD 421), detached from TU 4.1.3 and convoy HX 163 at the MOMP, searches for survivors of steamer Nidardal, reported sinking at 56°07′N, 21°00′W (later amended to 56°07′N, 23°00′W) (see 16 December).
Convoy ON 43, struggling through rough seas and high winds, being escorted by TU 4.1.6 (Commander John S. Roberts), is dispersed.
UNITED STATES. Admiral Ernest J. King is offered the post of Commander in Chief U.S. Fleet. He accepts (see 18, 20, and 30 December).
16 Tuesday
ATLANTIC. Carrier Yorktown (CV 5) departs Norfolk, Virginia, the first carrier reinforcement dispatched to the Pacific.
Convoy ON 45, escorted by TU 4.1.2 (Commander Fred D. Kirtland), is dispersed because of bad weather.
Destroyer Benson (DD 421) sights white distress rocket at 0241 and alters course in hopes of locating survivors of merchantman Nidardal; the intense darkness in which the search is being conducted renders it barely possible to see the surface of the ocean from the bridge, and the loudness of the wind makes it unlikely that a hail can be heard more than 50 to 100 feet from the ship. Benson searches throughout the daylight hours but finds no trace of the missing ship or her crew. She abandons the search at nightfall and proceeds to Reykjavik.
PACIFIC. TF 14 (Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher), comprising carrier Saratoga (CV 3) (with VB3, VF3, VS3, VT3, and VMF221); heavy cruisers Astoria (CA 34) (flagship), Minneapolis (CA 36), and San Francisco (CA 38); and nine destroyers, sails from Pearl Harbor. These ships will overtake the force formed around seaplane tender Tangier (AV 8) and oiler Neches (AO 5) and their consorts that sortied the previous day. The objective of this combined force is to relieve