PACIFIC. Japanese bombers and attack planes, covered by fighters, from carriers Soryu and Hiryu, bomb Wake Island for the second time; the last two flyable USMC F4Fs (VMF 211) intercept the raid. One F4F is shot down, the other is badly damaged.
American troops (Task Force South Pacific) (Brigadier General Julian F. Barnes, USA) arrive at Brisbane in convoy escorted by heavy cruiser Pensacola (CA 24). This is the first U.S. Army troop detachment to arrive in Australia.
Japanese submarine I 19 shells unarmed U.S. tanker H. M. Storey southwest of Cape Mendocino, California, 34°35′N, 120°45′W, but fails to score any hits and the American ship escapes.
Japanese commence invasion of Luzon, landing troops at Lingayen, P.I.; submarine S 38 (SS 143) torpedoes and sinks Japanese army transport Hayo Maru in Lingayen Gulf, 16°00′N, 120°00′E.
USAAF B-17s bomb and damage Japanese army oiler No. 3 Tonan Maru off Davao, P.I.
ATLANTIC. TU 4.1.3 (Commander George W. Johnson) assumes escort duty at MOMP for convoy ON 47; the convoy is dispersed the following day.
23 Tuesday
GENERAL. U.S.-British War Council composed of President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill, and their chief naval, military, and civilian advisers meets for the first time in Washington, D.C.
PACIFIC. Wake Island (Commander Winfield S. Cunningham) is captured by Japanese naval landing force (Commander Tanaka Mitsuo) that overcomes gallant resistance offered by the garrison that consists of marines, sailors, volunteer civilians (Contractors Pacific Naval Air Bases), and an army communications detachment. Japanese Patrol Boat No. 32 and Patrol Boat No. 33 (old destroyers converted to high-speed transports), intentionally run ashore to facilitate landing of troops, are destroyed by marine shore batteries (First Defense Battalion). Planes from carriers Hiryu and Soryu, as well as seaplane carrier Kiyokawa Maru, provide close air support for the invasion. Open cargo lighter YCK 1 is lost to Japanese occupation of the atoll, as are civilian tugs Pioneer and Justine Foss and dredge Columbia.
Uncertainty over the positions and number of Japanese carriers and reports that indicate Japanese troops have landed on Wake Island compel Vice Admiral William S. Pye, Acting Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet, to recall TF 14 (Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher) while it is 425 miles from its objective.
Palmyra Island is shelled by Japanese submarines I 71 and I 72.
Unarmed U.S. tanker Montebello is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I 21 about four miles south of Piedras Blancas Light, California, 35°30′N, 121°51′W. I 21 machine guns the lifeboats, but miraculously inflicts no casualties. I 21 later also shells unarmed U.S. tanker Idaho near the same location.
Japanese submarine I 17 shells unarmed U.S. tanker Larry Doheny southwest of Cape Mendocino, California, 40°00′N, 125°00′W, but the American ship escapes.
USAAF B-17s bomb Japanese ships in Lingayen Gulf and off Davao, damaging minesweeper W.17 and destroyer Kuroshio off the latter place. USAAF P-40s and P-35s strafe landing forces in San Miguel Bay, Luzon, damaging destroyer Nagatsuki.
Submarine Seal (SS 183) sinks Japanese army cargo ship Soryu Maru off Vigan, Luzon, 17°35′N, 120°12′E.
Japanese troops land at Kuching, Sarawak, Borneo. Off the invasion beaches, Dutch submarine K XIV torpedoes and sinks transport Hokkai Maru and army transport Hiyoshi Maru, and damages army cargo ship Nichiran Maru and transport Katori Maru.
ATLANTIC. TU 4.1.4 (Commander Richard E. Webb) assumes escort duty for convoy HX 166; the ships reach their destination without being attacked by U-boats.
24 Wednesday
PACIFIC. Unarmed U.S. freighter Absaroka is shelled by Japanese submarine I 17 about 26 miles off San Pedro, California, 33°40′N, 118°25′W; although abandoned, she is later reboarded and towed to San Pedro.
Unarmed U.S. steamship Dorothy Philips is shelled by Japanese submarine I 23 off Monterey Bay, California.
Seaplane tender Wright (AV 1) disembarks Marine reinforcements (Batteries “A” and “C,” Fourth Defense Battalion) at Midway.
Second Marine Brigade (Colonel Henry L. Larsen, USMC) is formed at Camp Elliott, California, to defend American Samoa (see 6 and 20 January 1942).
Japanese land at Lamon Bay, Luzon.
Motor torpedo boat PT 33 is damaged by grounding on reef five miles northwest of Cape Santiago, Luzon, 13°46′N, 120°40′E.
During Japanese bombing of shipping in Manila Bay by naval land attack planes (Takao Kokutai and 1st Kokutai), requisitioned French steamship Si-Kiang is set afire off Mariveles; of the eight-man USMC guard detachment on board (from First Separate Marine Battalion), two marines are killed and three wounded. Tug Napa (AT 32) assists fire-fighting efforts.
Dutch submarine K XVI torpedoes and sinks Japanese destroyer Sagiri off Kuching, Sarawak, 01°34′N, 110°21′E.
25 Thursday
PACIFIC. Admiral Thomas C. Hart turns over all remaining naval forces in the Philippines to Rear Admiral Francis W. Rockwell (Commandant Sixteenth Naval District). After Japanese bombers destroy PBYs (VPs 101 and 102) earmarked to transport him and his staff south, Hart sails in submarine Shark (SS 174) (held in readiness for that eventuality) to establish new Asiatic Fleet headquarters in Java (see 1 January 1942). During Japanese bombing of shipping in Manila Bay, submarine Sturgeon (SS 187) is straddled but is not damaged.
British surrender Hong Kong. U.S. freighter Admiral Y. S. Williams, under repairs in that port for damage incurred in a grounding that had occurred on 24 September, is sabotaged to prevent use by the Japanese.57 U.S. steamship (ex-yacht) Hirondelle (also under repairs in the Crown Colony when caught there by the outbreak of hostilities) and Philippine steamship Argus are captured.58 Philippine steamship Churruca and Panamanian Eldorado are scuttled (the latter will be raised); Panamanian merchantman Daylight is captured.
Japanese land at Jolo, P.I.
Submarine Sealion (SS 195), damaged by bombs at Cavite, P.I. on 10 December, is scuttled by a demolition crew (Lieutenant Thomas J. E. Crotty, USCG), which also blows up other military and civilian establishments to prevent their falling into Japanese hands.
Carrier Saratoga (CV 3), diverted from the attempt to relieve Wake Island, flies off USMC F2As (VMF 221) to Midway. These will be the first fighter aircraft based there.
26 Friday
PACIFIC. Manila, P.I., is declared an open city, but Japanese bombing continues unabated. Japanese naval land attack planes (Takao Kokutai and 1st Kokutai) bomb shipping in Manila Bay; destroyer Peary (DD 226) is damaged by near-misses. Philippine freighter Paz is sunk. Paz will be salvaged and renamed Hatsu Maru (see 20 November 1944).
Motor torpedo boat PT 33, damaged by grounding on 24 December five miles northwest of Cape Santiago, Luzon, 13°46′N, 120°40′E, is burned to prevent capture.
Dutch Army planes bomb and sink Japanese minesweeper W.6 and collier No. 2 Unyo Maru off Kuching, Sarawak, 01°34′N, 110°21′E.
Japanese destroyer Murasame and minesweeper W.20 are damaged by marine casualties off Takao, Formosa.
Seaplane tender Tangier (AV 8), diverted from the attempt to relieve Wake Island, disembarks Battery “B,” Fourth Defense Battalion and ground echelon of VMF 221 at Midway to augment that garrison’s defenses.
ATLANTIC. Submarine chaser PC 451 accidentally rams and