November 14th, 1941 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Minesweeper HMS Shepparton laid down.
U.S.S.R.: Elements of the German11th Army close on Sevastopol, cutting the city off from landward communications. On the other side of the peninsula, Kerch is occupied. Meanwhile, the Soviet 49th Army hits the German 12 and 13 Corps in the Tula area. Fighting is very heavy.
Soviet submarine L-2 of the Baltic Fleet is mined and sunk off Keri Island.
Submarine M-98 of the Baltic Fleet is mined and sunk off Naissaar Island in the Gulf of Finland. (Mike Yared)(146 and 147)
Soviet destroyer Gordy sunk by Finnish mine while participating in the evacuation of Hangö Island in the Baltic.
Soviet submarine SC-211 sunk near Cape Akburnu. All hands lost.
GIBRALTAR: Lord Haw-Haw had claimed the sinking of HMS ARK ROYAL so many times that it had become a standing joke with the British. It was no joke today, however, when the great carrier sank 25 miles from Gibraltar after a fight to keep her afloat.
In an attack by U-81 and U-205 yesterday she had been hit amidships by one torpedo from U-81. The ARK ROYAL began to list at once, losing all power and light. For a few hours it seemed as if she could reach Gibraltar under tow by two tugs, her list corrected and steam raised in one boiler. In the early hours of this morning, however, fire broke out in her port boiler room and her list increased to 35 degrees. The ARK ROYAL was abandoned and sank at 6.13 this morning with the loss of only one crew member.
With HMS Illustrious and HMS FORMIDABLE both under repair in the USA, the Mediterranean Fleet is left without a carrier - a parlous situation since Hitler, desperate to supply Rommel, is preparing to order one Fliegerkorps of bombers from Russia to Sicily - a serious threat to Malta and the Royal Navy.
CHINA: Seven hundred fifty U.S. Marines are ordered out of Shanghai, Peiping, and Tientsin in Japanese occupied China. One hundred eighty three have transportation difficulties and will be imprisoned by the Japanese when hostilities begin.
JAPAN: The Foreign Ministry sends the following message to the Japanese embassy in Hong Kong: "Though the Imperial Government hopes for great things from the Japan-American negotiations, they do not permit optimism for the future. Should the negotiations collapse, the international situation in which the Empire will find herself will be one of tremendous crisis. Accompanying this, the Empire's foreign policy as it has been decided by the cabinet, insofar as it pertains to China, is: (a) We will completely destroy British and American power in China, (b) We will take over all enemy concessions and enemy important rights and interests (customs and minerals, etc.) in China, We will take over all rights and interests owned by enemy Powers, even though they might have connections with the new Chinese government, should it become necessary. In realizing these steps in China, we will avoid, insofar as possible, exhausting our veteran troops. Thus we will cope with a world war on a long-time scale. Should our reserves for total war and our future military strength wane, we have decided to reinforce them from the whole Far Eastern area. This has become the whole fundamental policy of the Empire. Therefore, in consideration of the desirability to lighten our personal and material load, we will encourage the activities of important Chinese in their efforts in the occupied territories insofar as is possible. Japan and China, working in cooperation, will take over military bases. Thus, operating wherever possible, we will realize peace throughout the entire Far East. At the same time, we place great importance upon the acquisition of materials (especially from unoccupied areas). In order to do this, all in the cabinet have concurred, in view of the necessity, in a reasonable relaxation of the various restrictions now in force (after you have duly realized the critical situation which has brought the above decisions into being you will, of course, wait fo r instructions from home before carrying them out).
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES:
Hart informed by Navy Department that deployment of
the Asiatic Fleet was to be made by him as its commander.
CANADA: Minesweepers HMCS Clayoquot, Quinte and Ungava arrived Halifax from Esquimalt. DS)
U.S.A.: President Roosevelt at a press conference states:
"The Government of the
United States has decided to withdraw the American Marine detachments now
maintained ashore in China, at Peiping, Tientsin, and Shanghai.
It is reported that the withdrawal will begin shortly." (Stuart W. Millis)
The Japanese Ambassador in Washington, NOMURA Kichisaburo, sends the following message to Foreign Minister MATSUOKA Yosuke in Tokyo: "However, I must tell you the following: (1) As I told you in a number of messages, the policy of the American Government in the Pacific is to stop any further moves on our part either southward or northward. With every economic weapon at their command, they have attempted to achieve this objective, and now they are contriving by every possible means to prepare for actual warfare. (2) In short, they are making every military and every other kind of preparation to prevent us from a thrust northward or a thrust southward; they are conspiring most actively with the nations concerned and rather than yield on this fundamental political policy of theirs in which they believe so firmly, they would not hesitate, I am sure, to fight us. It is not their intention, I know, to repeat such a thing as the Munich conference which took place seve ral years ago and which turned out to be such a failure. Already I think the apex of German victories has been passed. Soviet resistance persists, and the possibility of a separate peace has receded, and hereafter this trend will be more and more in evidence. (3) The United States is sealing ever-friendlier relations with China, and insofar as possible she is assisting CHIANG. For the sake of peace in the Pacific, the United States would not favor us at the sacrifice of China. Therefore, the China problem might become the stumbling block to the pacification of the Pacific and as a result the possibility of the United States and Japan ever making up might vanish."
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-561 sank SS Crusader in Convoy SC-53.
Two USN destroyers drop depth charges:
- USS Benson (DD-421) and Niblack (DD-424), screening convoy ON-34 (U.K. to North America), depth charge sound contacts.
- USS Edison (DD-439), en route to the Mid-Ocean Meeting Point (MOMP) in Task Unit 4.1.1 to screen convoy ON-35, attacks a sound contact about 102 nautical miles (190 kilometers) southwest of Reykjavik, Iceland, in position 62.53N, 24.30W.