US NAVY
GENERAL—Commander in Chief U.S. Fleet (Admiral Ernest J.
King) directs Coast Guard Auxiliary to organize civilian small craft as coastal
pickets.
PACIFIC—Battle of the Coral Sea opens as TF 17 (Rear
Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher) attacks Japanese Tulagi Invasion Force (Rear
Admiral Shima Kiyohide) at Tulagi, Solomons, where elements of the Japanese 3d
Kure Special Landing Force have gone ashore (as well as on neighboring Gavutu)
to establish defenses. SBDs and TBDs (VB 5, VS 5, VT 5), supported by F4Fs (VF
42) from carrier Yorktown (CV-5) sink destroyer Kikuzuki, minesweeper
Tama Maru and auxiliary minesweepers Wa 1 and Wa 2 and
damage destroyer Yuzuki, minelayer Okinoshima, transport Azumasan
Maru, and cargo ship Kozui Maru. Lieutenant John J. Powers of VB 5
participates all three strikes, receiving credit for one direct hit, two
close-misses, and a persistent low-level strafing attack (see 7 and 8 May).
Destroyer Hammann (DD-412) rescues two downed F4F pilots (VF 42) from
Guadalcanal; destroyer Perkins (DD-377), however, sent to retrieve
downed two man TBD crew (VT 5) south of the island, does not locate the missing
men. The crew, though, reaches Guadalcanal and ultimately sails to the New
Hebrides in a schooner with a Chinese crew.
Japanese
transports sail from Rabaul, bound for Port Moresby.
Minesweeper
Tanager (AM-5) is sunk by Japanese shore battery, Corregidor.
Submarine Greenling
(SS-213) sinks Japanese gunboat Kinjosan Maru near Truk, Carolines,
08°44'N, 150°56'E.
Submarine Trout
(SS-202) sinks Japanese gunboat Kongosan Maru off southeast coast of
Honshu, Japan, 33°32'N,136°05'E.
ATLANTIC—Unarmed U.S. freighter Eastern Sword is
torpedoed by German submarine U-162 approximately 12 miles off
Georgetown, British Guiana, 07°10'N, 57°58'W (see 6 May).
Unarmed
U.S. tanker Norlindo is torpedoed by German submarine U-507 approximately
200 miles northeast of Havana, Cuba, 24°57'N, 84°00'W, and sinks, taking five
crewmen with her (see 6 May). Eight hours later, U-507 torpedoes and
shells tanker Munger T. Ball at 25°17'N,83°57'W; flames, fed by the
ship's cargo of 65,000 barrels of gasoline, trap many crewmen. Only four
sailors of the 34 man crew survive the inferno to be rescued by Norwegian motor
vessel Katy later the same day. Before the day is over, U-507 attacks
a third tanker, the unarmed Joseph M. Cudahy, and torpedoes her
approximately 74 miles northwest of the Dry Tortugas, 25°57'N, 83°57'W. Of the
ship's 37 man complement, 27 perish in the attack (see 5 and 7 May).
Unarmed
U.S. freighter Delisle is torpedoed by German submarine U-564 15
miles off Jupiter Inlet, Florida, 27°02'N,80°03'W, and abandoned by the 34
survivors (30 crewmen and four workaways) of the 36 men that had been on board
at the time of the attack. They row to shore, but return to the ship the
following day to rig the ship for tow. Subsequently repaired, Delisle is
returned to service.
CARIBBEAN—Unarmed U.S. freighter Tuscaloosa City is
torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-125 at 18°25'N, 81°35'W; the
latter’s officers, after questioning the survivors, give them directions to the
nearest land and wish them well. U.S. steamship Falcon rescues all hands
(34 souls all told) and transports them to Cartagena, Colombia.
US ARMY AIR FORCE
FIFTH AF—B‑26’s bomb Vunakanau airfield at Rabaul. P‑39’s
and B‑17’s hit airfield at Lae.
SOUTH PACIFIC—Battle of the Coral Sea begins with US
carrier-based air attack on Tulagi.
US ARMY
PHILLIPINE ISLANDS—Filipinos
complete withdrawal to new defense line on Mindanao and begin organizing it.
102d Division, reorganized to include the 2.95-inch gun detachment, 62d Infantry,
81st FA, and 2 PS companies of 43d Infantry, is stationed in Dalirig sector and
61st FA and
93d Infantry in Puntian sector. 103d Infantry, isolated
from rest of force, is to defend Cagayan River Valley. Japanese planes are
active, but front is otherwise quiet. Japanese air and artillery bombardment of
Corregidor reaches peak of intensity.
SOLOMON ISLANDS—Carrier planes from the Yorktown attack
Tulagi harbor early in modeling, opening series of Coral Sea actions. A number
of enemy vessels are sunk or damaged before the Yorktown withdraws toward
rest of Coral Sea naval force.
NEW BRITAIN—Japanese transports leave Rabaul for Port
Moresby, New Guinea.
BURMA—British Imperial forces evacuate Akyab, on Bay of
Bengal. AVG abandons Loiwing for Kunming, China. Japanese occupy Bhamo and
defeat Chinese 29th Division at Wanting. Chiang Kai-shek orders Chinese 5th Army
to Myitkyina.
MADAGASCAR—British naval and military forces under Rear
Admiral Syffret and Maj General Sturges land on N Madagascar at Courier Bay
against little opposition from Vichy French.
US MARINE CORPS
Battle of the Coral Sea begins.
