Saturday, 29 November 1941

23 November 1941, Sunday

US NAVY

CARRIBEAN—U.S. occupies Surinam, Dutch Guiana, pursuant to agreement with the Netherlands government to protect bauxite mines.   

ATLANTIC—TU 4.1.6 (Commander Gilbert C. Hoover) assumes escort duty for convoy HX 161; the convoy will not be attacked by U‑boats during its passage (see 24 November). 

24 November 1941, Monday

US NAVY

ATLANTIC—Destroyer DuPont (DD‑152) in North Atlantic with TU 4.1.6, escorting convoy HX 161, is damaged in collision with merchant ship Thorshovdi.

            British light cruiser Dunedin is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U‑124 north of Pernambuco, Brazil, at approximately 03°00'S, 26°00'W (see 27 November).

25 November 1941, Tuesday

US NAVY

PACIFIC—Japanese troop transports en route to Malaya are sighted off Formosa.

            Submarines Triton (SS‑201) and Tambor (SS‑198) arrive off Wake Island on simulated war patrols.

26 November 1941, Wednesday

US NAVY

UNITED STATES—Secretary of State Hull submits final proposal to Japanese envoys for readjustment of U.S.‑Japanese relations.

PACIFIC—Japanese carrier task force (Vice Admiral Nagumo, Chuichi), formed around six aircraft carriers, sails from remote Hittokappu Bay in the Kuriles, its departure shrouded in secrecy. Its mission, should talks between United States and Japan fail to resolve the diplomatic impasse over Far Eastern and Pacific questions, is to attack the U.S. Pacific Fleet wherever it is found in Hawaiian waters.

            Tug Sonoma (AT‑12) sails from Wake Island with Pan American Airways barges PAB No. 2 and PAB No. 4 in tow, bound for Honolulu.

US MARINE CORPS

UNITED STATES—Secretary of State submits final proposals for adjustment of U. S.-Japanese relations.

27 November 1941, Thursday

US NAVY

UNITED STATES—Admiral Harold R. Stark, Chief of Naval Operations, sends "war warning" message to commanders of the Pacific and Asiatic Fleets. General George C. Marshall, Army Chief of Staff, sends a similar message to his Hawaiian and Philippine Department commanders.

PACIFIC—U.S. passenger liner President Madison, chartered for the purpose, sails from Shanghai, China, with the 2d Battalion,4th Marine Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Donald Curtis, USMC) embarked, bound for the Philippines (see 28November).

ATLANTIC—Destroyer Babbitt (DD‑128), with TU 4.1.5, escorting convoy HX 160, depth charges a sound contact.

            U.S. freighter Nishmaha rescues 72 survivors (five of whom succumb to their wounds) from British light cruiser HMS Dunedin, sunk by German submarine U‑124 on 24 November. Nishmaha transports the survivors to Trinidad.

US MARINE CORPS

UNITED STATES— Adm Stark, CNO, sends war warning to commanders of the Pacific and Asiatic Fleets

28 November 1941, Friday

US NAVY

PACIFIC—Carrier Enterprise (CV‑6) sails for Wake Island in TF 8 (Vice Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.) to ferry USMC F4Fs (VMF 211) to the atoll. Occasioned by the "war warning" of the previous day, the deployment is part of eleventh‑hour augmentation of defenses at outlying Pacific bases. Halsey approves "Battle Order No. 1" (28 November) that declares that Enterprise is operating "under war conditions." "Steady nerves and stout hearts," the carrier's captain concludes, "are needed now." Supporting PBY operations will be carried out from advanced bases at Wake and Midway.

            Seaplane tender Wright (AV‑1), arrives at Wake Island, with Marine Aircraft Group 21 people to establish an advance aviation base.

            U.S. passenger liner President Harrison, chartered for the purpose, sails from Shanghai, China, with the 1st Battalion,4th Marine Regiment (Lieutenant Colonel Curtis T. Beecher, USMC) and regimental staff (Colonel Samuel L. Howard, USMC) embarked, bound for the Philippines. "Stirring scenes of farewell," U.S. Consul Edwin F. Stanton reports to Secretary of State Hull, accompany the marines' departure.

            During their storm‑fraught passage to rendezvous with the river gunboats proceeding from Shanghai to Manila, submarine rescue vessel Pigeon (ASR‑6) experiences steering casualty; minesweeper Finch (AM‑9), which loses both anchors in the tempest, stands by to render assistance, and eventually, after three tries, manages to take the crippled ship in tow the following day.

US NAVY

PACIFIC—River gunboats Luzon (PR‑7) and Oahu (PR‑6) (Rear Admiral William A. Glassford, Commander Yangtze Patrol, in Luzon) depart Shanghai for Manila. Oahu (PR‑6) is the sistership of river gunboat Panay (PR‑5), which had been bombed and sunk by Japanese naval aircraft near Nanking, China, on 12 December 1937.

ATLANTIC—TU 4.1.2 (Commander Fred D. Kirtland), accompanied by salvage vessel Redwing (ARS‑4) and oiler Sapelo (AO‑11), assumes escort for convoy HX 162 (see 1 December).

            TU 4.1.4 (Captain Alan G. Kirk) assumes escort duty for convoy ONS 39; the convoy will not be attacked by U‑boats during its passage. ONS 39, however, will encounter considerable stormy weather that causes varying degrees of topside damage to destroyers Plunkett (DD‑431), Livermore (DD‑429), Decatur (DD‑341) and Cole (DD‑155).

            Destroyer Woolsey (DD‑437), screening convoy HX 161, despite having been hampered by propulsion problems the previous days, depth charges suspicious contact without result.