Sunday, 10 May 1942

US NAVY

ATLANTIC—Carrier Ranger (CV-4) in TF 36 launches 68 USAAF P-40 fighters off Accra, Gold Coast of Africa. She had transported them from Naval Air Station Quonset Point, Rhode Island.

GULF OF MEXICO—U.S. motor tanker Aurora is torpedoed and shelled by German submarine U-506 approximately 40 miles off Southwest Pass, Louisiana, 28°35'N, 90°00'W, and abandoned. Coastal yacht Onyx (PYc-5) and district patrol craftYP-157 rescue the 38 merchant seamen (one of whom dies later of wounds) and the 12 man Armed Guard. Coast Guard tug Tuckahoe (WYT-89) arrives on the scene to tow the damaged ship, and upon her arrival provides a fire and rescue party with hoses and extinguishers. Onyx and YP-157 convoy Tuckahoe and Aurora toward Southwest Pass (see 11 May).

PACIFIC—Submarine Silversides (SS-236) engages Japanese guard boat No.5 Ebisu Maru in a surface gunnery action 540 miles north of Marcus Island, 33°14'N, 150°58'E, and sets her afire. As Silversides closes in to finish off her quarry, however, machine gun fire from No.5 Ebisu Maru (which reaches port in a heavily damaged condition) kills one submariner.

            Survivors (39 man crew and six of the 11 man Armed Guard) of U.S. freighter John Adams, torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-21 on 5 May, are rescued. One boat with survivors is recovered at sea; two boats reach Nouméa, New Caledonia.

US ARMY AIR FORCE

FIFTH AF—B‑25’s bomb seaplane base at Deboyne Island.

US ARMY

PHILLIPINE ISLANDS—General Sharp directs Visayan-Mindanao Force to surrender. These, as well as small forces holding out on Luzon and Palawan, are reluctant to yield but do so gradually during period 10 May–9 June.

BURMA—Japanese attack British covering force at Shwegyin.

US MARINE CORPS

—