May 10th, 1942 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: London: Churchill warns Germany that the British will hit it hard if it introduces poison gas in the USSR.
AFRICA: The aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-4) launches 68 USAAF Curtiss P-40E fighters off the coast of Africa. The aircraft land at Accra, Gold Coast and then proceed across Africa to India for service with the Tenth Air Force.
INDIAN OCEAN: The German commerce raider THOR captures the SS Nankin. On board are summaries of COIC (Combined Operations Intelligence Centre) Wellington, that infer that the Allies have access to Japanese radio traffic sent in JN25b. (Daniel Ross)
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: General Sharp orders the surrender of the resistance forces and US forces.
NEW GUINEA: The Japanese plan to seize Port Moresby is officially cancelled.
CANADA: The Battle of the St. Lawrence. The first German action resulted in the sinking of two merchant ships by U-533, KptLt. Karl Thurmann, Knight's Cross, CO. The British freighter Nicoya (5,364 GRT) and the Dutch freighter Leto (4,712 GRT) were sunk south of Anticosti Island. Nicoya went sank in position 49.19N, 64.51W, with the loss of six people from the 87 onboard. Leto was sunk two and a half hours later in position 49.32N, 65.19W, with the loss of 12 people from the 43 onboard. These were the first ships sunk by enemy fire in Canadian waters since the War of 1812.
SS Kitty's Brook (4,031 GRT) Newfoundland-registered Bowater Co. merchantman was torpedoed and sunk by U-588, Kptlt Viktor Vogel, CO, off Cape Sable, in position 42.56N, 063.59W. The ship had been on route from New York City to Argentia, Newfoundland. Nine of her 32 crewmembers were lost. The survivors were able to row into Lockport, Nova Scotia.
U.S.A.: The possibility of increasing the range of small aircraft, by operating them as towed gliders, is demonstrated at the U.S. Naval Aircraft Factory, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when two pilots hook their Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters to tow lines streaming behind a twin-engined Douglas BD (USAAF A-20), cut their engines and are towed for an hour at 180 knots (333 km/h) at 7,000 feet (2,134 m).
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0905, the unescorted Clan Skene was hit by two torpedoes from U-333 and sank about 300 miles SE of Cape Hatteras. U-333 had been badly damaged by depth charges of an escort ship three days before and was limping back to France. Cremer wrote in the KTB, that the sinking of this ship was like a balm after these terrible depth charges. Nine crewmembers from the Clan Skene were lost. The master and 72 survivors were picked up by USS McKean and landed at San Juan, Puerto Rico.
At 0931, the unescorted Aurora was struck by a torpedo from U-506 on the starboard side aft of the bridge in the #6 tank about 40 miles off Southwest Pass, Louisiana. She immediately took a list to starboard, but by shifting ballast returned to an even keel. The master proceeded and kept most of the men on deck near lifeboats. 90 minutes later a second torpedo hit just aft of the first, in tank #8 and a third torpedo struck at the #4 tank. U-506 surfaced and began shelling the tanker, causing a fire in the paint locker. The armed guards did not return fire with the 5in gun on the stern and the two .30cal guns. Shrapnel wounded the radio operator and the chief mate, who died later on one of the rafts. All hands (nine officers, 29 men and 12 armed guards) abandoned ship in two boats and three rafts. Würdemann thought that the tanker will sink and departed. Later the master reboarded the Aurora. At 1700, USS Onyx and YP-157 picked up the survivors. USCG tug Tuckahoe arrived and sent a rescue party on board with fire hose and extinguishers. Together with the tug Robert W. Wilmot, the Aurora was towed to Algiers, Louisiana, where she was repaired.