ATLANTIC. German submarine U 43 again attacks unarmed U.S. tanker Astral and this time torpedoes and sinks her at 35°40′N, 24°00′W. There are no survivors from the 37-man merchant crew.
Weather encountered by convoy ONS 39, being escorted by TU 4.1.4 (Captain Alan G. Kirk), worsens to the extent that the watch on board destroyer Plunkett (DD 431) cannot be relieved because officers and men cannot safely traverse the weather decks.
TU 4.1.5 (Commander William K. Phillips) clears Reykjavik, Iceland, to rendezvous with convoy ON 41, which due to poor weather will be 48 hours late to the MOMP. Over the ensuing period at sea, TU 4.1.5 battles “consistently severe” weather conditions that will cause varying degrees of damage to all of the ships in the task unit. Although ships of the unit carry out attacks (see 5, 9, and 11 December), there will be no U-boat attacks on the merchantmen under their protection.
TU 4.1.6 (Commander Gilbert C. Hoover), escorting convoy HX 161, encounters heavy weather. Destroyer Bernadou (DD 153) suffers storm damage; destroyers Roe (DD 418) and Lea (DD 118) each lose a man overboard. Neither sailor is recovered (see 4 December).
PACIFIC. Submarine Trout (SS 202) arrives off Midway Island on simulated war patrol.
3 Wednesday
ATLANTIC. Unarmed U.S. freighter Sagadahoc is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U 124 in South Atlantic, 21°50′S, 07°50′W. One man of the 37-man crew is lost.
Destroyer Mayo (DD 422), in TU 4.1.5 en route to MOMP and convoy ON 41, encounters two British ships, HMS Tenacity and merchantman Meademere, burning navigation lights south of Iceland; when they fail to answer challenge, Mayo illuminates them with starshells, at which point they darken ship and answer the challenge promptly.
PACIFIC. Yacht Isabel (PY 10) sails for coast of French Indochina, deployed in accordance with President Roosevelt’s “defensive information patrol” order of 1 December.
Submarine Argonaut (SS 166) arrives off Midway Island on simulated war patrol.
4 Thursday
PACIFIC. River gunboats Luzon (PR 7) and Oahu (PR 6) (Rear Admiral William A. Glassford Jr., Commander Yangtze Patrol, in Luzon), followed later by submarine rescue vessel Pigeon (ASR 6) and minesweeper Finch (AM 9), reach Manila.
River gunboat Mindanao (PR 8) (Captain Lester J. Hudson, Commander South China Patrol, embarked) sails from Hong Kong, B.C.C., for Manila. She is the last U.S. Navy ship to depart Chinese waters prior to war. Luzon Stevedoring Company tug Ranger follows subsequently, carrying spare parts and 800 3-inch shells (previously stored ashore at Hong Kong) for Mindanao’s main battery. Only two U.S. naval vessels remain in Chinese waters: river gunboat Wake (ex-Guam) (PR 3) at Shanghai to maintain communications until a radio station is established at the Consulate General with Navy equipment, and river gunboat Tutuila (PR 4) at Chungking, where she furnishes essential services to the U.S. Embassy.
Carrier Enterprise (CV 6) ferries USMC F4Fs (VMF 211) to Wake Island; TF 8 (Vice Admiral William F. Halsey Jr.) then shapes a course to return to Pearl Harbor. TF 8 is slated to reach Pearl Harbor on 6 December. Heavy weather on 5 and 6 December, however, will result in a delay in fueling the force’s destroyers and will push back the time of arrival in Pearl Harbor from the afternoon of the sixth to the morning of the seventh. That same day, a routine scouting flight from the carrier sights Honolulu-bound tug Sonoma (AT 12) with Pan American Airways barges PAB No. 2 and PAB No. 4 in tow.39
Japanese naval land attack plane (Chitose Kokutai) reconnoiters Wake Island undetected.
ATLANTIC. TU 4.1.5 (Commander William K. Phillips) reaches MOMP to escort convoy ON 41, which has been delayed by bad weather.
TU 4.1.6 (Commander Gilbert C. Hoover) encounters “mountainous” seas as it continues to escort convoy HX 161; destroyer Roe (DD 418) suffers two sailors hurt when torpedo breaks loose atop her after deckhouse.
5 Friday
PACIFIC. Japan assures the United States that her troop movements in French Indochina are only precautionary.
Admiral Sir Tom S. V. Phillips, RN, flies to Manila for a conference with Admiral Thomas C. Hart, Commander in Chief, Asiatic Fleet, to discuss possible detachment of destroyers to screen his capital ships (the recently arrived battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battle cruiser Repulse) in the event of hostilities (see 6 December).
Carrier Lexington (CV 2) in TF 12 (Rear Admiral John H. Newton) sails for Midway to ferry USMC SB2Us (VMSB 231) to that atoll. Like the TF 8’s deployment to Wake, Lexington’s to Midway is in response to the “War Warning” of 27 November.
ATLANTIC. TU 4.1.3 (Commander George W. Johnson) assumes escort duty for convoy HX 163 in North Atlantic.
Destroyer Babbitt (DD 128), in TU 4.1.5 escorting convoy ON 41, depth charges suspected submarine contact without result.
6 Saturday
PACIFIC. Yacht Isabel (PY 10) is sighted by reconnaissance seaplane from Japanese seaplane carrier Kamikawa Maru at about 13°24′N, 112°21′E. Later in the day, Isabel receives orders to return to Manila.
Admiral Sir Tom S. V. Phillips, RN, departs Manila to return to Singapore when word is received of movement of Japanese troop convoys.
ATLANTIC. Destroyer Decatur (DD 341), in TU 4.1.4 (Captain Alan G. Kirk), escorting convoy ONS 39, carries out depth charge attack on suspicious contact, 51°54′N, 41°53′W.
7 Sunday
ATLANTIC. TU 4.1.2 (Commander Fred D. Kirtland), accompanied by salvage vessel Redwing (ARS 4) and oiler Sapelo (AO 11), while escorting convoy HX 162, reaches the MOMP; 21 of the 35 merchantmen scattered by the storm encountered on 1 December have rejoined by this time.
PACIFIC. Japanese guardboat seizes Panamanian steamship Islas Visayas off Nampang Island, interrupting the ship’s voyage from Fort Bayard to Hong Kong and Macao. The boarding party removes parts of the ship’s engines and wireless equipment.
Unarmed U.S. Army-chartered steam schooner Cynthia Olson is shelled and sunk by Japanese submarine I 26 about 1,000 miles northwest of Diamond Head, Honolulu, T.H., 33°42′N, 145°29′W. She is the first U.S. merchantman to be sunk by a Japanese submarine in World War II. There are no survivors from the 33-man crew or the two Army passengers.
Japanese Type A midget submarine attempts to follow general stores issue ship Antares (AKS 3) into the entrance channel to Pearl Harbor; summoned to the scene by the auxiliary vessel, destroyer Ward (DD 139), on channel entrance patrol, with an assist from a PBY (VP 14), sinks the intruder with gunfire and depth charges. Word of the incident, however, works its way up the chain of command with almost glacial slowness.
Army radar station at Kahuku Point, Oahu, soon thereafter detects an unusually large “blip” approaching from the north, but the operator reporting the contact is told not to concern himself with the matter since a formation of USAAF B-17s is expected from the west coast of the United States. The army watch officer dismisses the report as “nothing unusual.” The “blip” is the first wave of the incoming enemy strike.
Consequently, “like a thunderclap from a clear sky” Japanese carrier attack planes (in both torpedo and high-level bombing roles) and bombers, supported by fighters, totaling 353 planes from naval striking force (Vice Admiral Nagumo Chuichi) attack in two waves, targeting ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, and nearby military airfields and installations. Japanese planes torpedo and sink battleships Oklahoma (BB 37) and West Virginia (BB 48) and auxiliary (gunnery training/target ship) Utah (AG 16). On board Oklahoma,