December 17th, 1941 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Major General James E Chaney, Chief Special Observer Group, U.S. Army (SPOBS), writes to the Adjutant General, U.S. Army on the "Construction Program of U.S. Forces in UK," which indicates a shortage of accommodations for proposed U.S. forces in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Sloop HMS Lapwing laid down.
GERMANY:
ALBANIA: Albania declares war on the U.S.
U.S.S.R.: In the Crimea, German attacks by 54th Corps of the German Army Group South begin against the city of Sevastopol despite continuing Soviet offensives in other areas.
Soviet submarine M-59 sunk by depth charge by Romanian destroyer Ferdinand.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Yesterday, a large Italian convoy left Naples, Italy, and by the time it had reached Sicily, it was escorted by the battleship R.N. Caio Duilio, the light cruisers R.N. Emanuele Filiberto Duca d'Aosta, Raimondo Montecuccoli and Muzio Attendolo and a few destroyers. Not too far away, a second group, composed of the battleships R.N. Littorio, Andrea Doria and Giulio Cesare, the heavy cruisers R.N. Trento and Gorizia and several destroyers, provided additional support. Such a display of force is unnecessarily caused by the mistaken spotting of two British battleships in Malta. Today, a Luftwaffe reconnaissance plane spots a British formation proceeding from Alexandria, Egypt, toward the central Mediterranean. A battleship, identified as part of the group, is actually a tanker, but the faulty identification is repeated several times. During the day British naval Force K, composed of the light cruisers HMS Neptune (20), Aurora (12), Penelope (97) and destroyers HMS Kandahar (F 28), Lance (G 87), Lively (G 40) and Havock (H 43), joins Admiral Vian's Force B from Alexandria. Tonight this British force meets the Italian convoy escort. The action, the First Battle of Sirte, is spent protecting the convoy and is therefore indecisive. Both navies are simply escorting their convoys, but each thinks of the other as in pursuit of a naval engagement. The British are actually trying a double convoy attempt, one eastbound and one westbound. While the British commander Admiral Cunningham orders the convoy commander Admiral Sir Philip Vian to avoid direct contact, Italian Admiral Angelo Iachino was in active pursuit of a direct confrontation. The distance between the two groups, and some British avoidance maneuvers, did not allow the battleship R.N. Littorio group to sight the British until almost dusk. The sighting is aided by the antiaircraft guns of the British forces which are actively trying to repulse an Axis aerial attack. The Littorio opens fire at about 32 kilometers (17.3 nautical miles) from the British force; too far a distance for the British unit to reply. Admiral Vian immediately attempts a retreating maneuver with the aid of a smoke screen. British units receive some direct hits, but they were able to disappear into the darkness of the night. The British ships run into a newly-laid Italian minefield; the light cruiser HMS Neptune (20) hits four mines and is sunk and there is only one survivor from a crew of 767 and the destroyer HMS KANDAHAR is sunk but all of her crew are taken off first. The light cruiser HMS Aurora is badly damaged and destroyer HMS Penelope is slightly damaged. (Mike Yaklich, Ric Pelvin and Jack McKillop)
HONG KONG: The Japanese control the north side of
Hong Kong harbour, the British Hong Kong island. After a week of air bombardment,
Japanese General Saito sends a captured British civilian woman (and her two
dogs) across the harbour to demand surrender from British Governor Sir Mark
Young. Sir Mark himself "declines absolutely to enter into negotiations for the
surrender of Hong Kong."
MALAYA: Hard fighting continues on the Grik road. A
weak defence detachment is reinforced but falls back under pressure of the
superior enemy forces. The Indian 12th Brig Group is ordered to Kuala Kangsar.
Lieutenant General Sir Arthur E. Percival gives the Indian 3 Corps permission to
withdraw to the Perak River line if necessary. The Perak Flotilla is formed to
prevent the enemy from landing on the west coast between Knan and Bernam
Rivers.
NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: The Australian “Gull Force” lands on Ambon Island. This force is comprised of the 2/21st Battalion of the 23rd Brigade, “C” Troop of the 18th Antitank Battery, a section of 2/11th Field Company and various other support units. The force had been transported from Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, to Ambon in three Dutch merchant ships escorted by an RAN light cruiser and corvette.
BORNEO: Dutch reconnaissance aircraft from
Singkawang, Borneo, fly reconnaissance flights over the Japanese invasion fleet.
They attack the ships but do not damage any.
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The Japanese Legaspi force, advancing northwest on Luzon along Route 1 toward Naga, makes its first contact with Filipino forces near Ragay.
AUSTRALIA: A plan is
drawn up for using Australia as an Allied supply base under command of Major
General George H. Brett, USA.
B-17 Flying Fortresses, evacuating the Philippine Islands, begin arriving
at Batchelor Field near Darwin, Northern Territory. Captain Floyd J Pell arrives
in Australia to begin arrangements for the use of Australian facilities by the
Far East Air Force.
Minesweeper HMAS"> HMAS Katoomba commissioned.
PACIFIC OCEAN: Japanese submarine HIJMS I-15 surfaces to charge batteries near the Farallon Islands about 29 nautical miles (54 kilometers) west of San Francisco, California. Seeing the lights of the city, Captain IMAZATO Hiroshi jokes to the crew that it was a good time to visit the famous city of San Francisco.
Japanese submarine HIJMS I-175 torpedoes and sinks a 3,283 ton unarmed U.S. freighter about 222 nautical miles (411 kilometers) south-southeast of Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii. The survivors are rescued on 27 and 28 December.
In the South China Sea, the Japanese destroyer HIJMS Shinonome, part of a convoy of troop transports, heading towards the Malayan Peninsula, is sunk near Seria, 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Miri, Sarawak, by two bombs from a Dutch three engine Dornier Do-24K flying boat of the Dutch Naval Air Group based on the island of Tarakan. The crew of the Dornier drop three bombs, two making direct hits, the third a near miss. The destroyer blows apart in an enormous explosion causing fires to break out on the vessel. It takes only a few minutes for the destroyer to roll over and sink. There are no survivors; all 229 crewmen are lost.
TERRITORY OF HAWAII: In a command shake up, Admiral Husband E.
Kimmel is replaced by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz as Commander-in Chief, Pacific
Fleet; Lieutenant General Walter C. Short, Commanding General Hawaiian
Department, is replaced by Lieutenant General Delos C. Emmons; and Major General
Frederick L. Martin, Commanding General Hawaiian Air Force, is replaced by
Brigadier General Clarence L. Tinker. Admiral William Pye becomes acting
commander until Nimitz's arrival. Rear Admiral Husband E. Kimmel was relieved of
his command of the US Pacific Fleet as part of a shake-up of officers in the
wake of the Pearl Harbor disaster. Admiral Kimmel had enjoyed a successful
military career, beginning in 1915 as an aide to the Assistant Secretary of the
Navy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He served admirably on battleships in World War
I, winning command of several in the interwar period. At the outbreak of World
War II, Kimmel had already attained the rank of rear admiral and was commanding
the cruiser forces at Pearl Harbor. In January 1941, he was promoted to
commander of the Pacific Fleet, replacing James Richardson, who FDR relieved of
duty after Richardson objected to basing the fleet at Pearl Harbor. (Jack McKillop
and Dave Shirlaw)
A Yokosuka E14Y1, Navy Type 0 Small Reconnaissance Seaplane (later assigned
the code name GLEN by the Allies) makes it operational debut when the submarine
HIJMS I-7 launches its aircraft for a dawn reconnaissance over Pearl Harbor to
determine the damage caused by the attack of 7 December.
MIDWAY ISLAND: Seventeen SB2U-3 Vindicators of Marine
Scout Bombing Squadron Two Hundred Thirty One (VMSB-231) complete a record 9
hour and 45 minute flight from Hawaii to Midway, bolstering U.S. positions
there. The aircraft were led by a plane-guarding PBY-4 Catalina of Patrol
Squadron Twenty One (VP 21) (no ships are available to plane-guard the flight)
on this longest over-water massed flight (1,137 miles or 1,830 kilometres) by
single-engine aircraft. VMSB-231 was the same squadron that was en route to
Midway on 7 December aboard the aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-2) when
reports of the attack on Pearl Harbor forced the carrier to turn back short of
her goal.
CANADA: Minesweepers HMCS Mahone and Chedabucto arrived Halifax from Esquimalt.
U.S.A.: Light cruiser USS Columbia launched.
Large cruiser USS Alaska laid down.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: USS McCalla (DD-253), was commissioned as HMS Stanley (I-73)
on 23 Oct. 1940, as part of the destroyers-for-bases deal. Today she is part of
the escort to convoy HG76 from Gibraltar. Stanley and accompanying vessels
escort destroyers HMS EXMOOR and HMS BLANKNEY, the corvette HMS PENTSTEMON and
the sloop HMS STORK (commanded by Lt-Cdr F. J. (Johnnie) Walker) sink U-131
northeast of Madeira.
They will sink U-434
tomorrow.
(Ron Babuka and Alex Gordon)
U-131 is sunk 191 nautical miles (353 kilometres) east-northeast of Madeira in position 34.12N, 13.35W, by depth charges and gunfire from escort destroyers HMS Exmoor (L 08) and Blankney (L 30), destroyer HMS Stanley (I 73), corvette HMS Pentstemon (K 61) and sloop HMS Stork (L 81) and by machine-gun fire from a Martlet aircraft (802 Sqn) of the British escort carrier HMS Audacity (D 10). 47 survivors (No casualties). U-131 had shot down a Martlet aircraft at the start of the action; the first aircraft shot down by a U-boat in the war. Known as the "Martlet" in the RN, this was then the USN's top-of-the-line carrier fighter, the Grumman F4F, in American service called the "Wildcat". Prior to actual US entry into WWII, many F4Fs rolled out of the "Iron Works", as Grumman's plant was known to happy USN aviators, with RN roundels already painted on prior to test flights and shipment. (Dave Shirlaw, Ron Babuka and Alex Gordon)