May 21st, 1942 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Rescue tug HMS Bold launched.
Submarine HMS Unshaken commissioned.
NETHERLANDS: The second "Liro" (Lippmann, Rosenthal and Co. Bank) Decree greatly expands the scope of the registration and confiscation efforts aimed at Dutch Jews. They are now forced to declare all of their possessions, from the contents of safety deposit boxes to their dinnerware, and to surrender their valuable objects and collections to Liro. Jews are required to hand over their teaspoons, but may retain their dental fillings made of precious metal (209 p.176). (Peter Kilduff, Jennifer L. Foray)
GERMANY: East Prussia: Rastenburg: Hitler postpones the planned invasion of Malta until after Egypt has been conquered by the Axis.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: In the opening stages of the attack on Crete, cruiser minelayer HMS Abdiel lays mines off the west coast of Greece, which sink the Italian destroyer 'Mirabello' and two transports. In the morning destroyer HMS Juno is sunk and cruiser HMS Ajax slightly damaged as they withdraw SW of Crete. Later that evening HMS Ajax, with Dido, Orion and four destroyers savage a German troop convoy of small craft. More such vessels are sunk over the next few days off the north coast.
CANADA: First arrivals at camps at Kaslo, New Denver, Slocan, Sandon and Tashme, British Columbia.
Minesweeper HMCS St Boniface laid down Port Arthur, Ontario.
U.S.A.: The motion picture "Tortilla Flat" is released in the U.S. Based on John Steinbeck's novel, the film is directed by Victor Fleming and stars Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamar, John Garfield, Frank Morgan, Akim Tamiroff, Sheldon Leonard, Donald Meek and John Qualen. The plot involves unsavoury characters in a California fishing community. Frank Morgan was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award.
German submarine U-588 sinks an unarmed U.S. merchant freighter off the coast of New Jersey. The Germans provide the Americans with rum and cigarettes and help righting a capsized lifeboat.
Submarine USS Pargo laid down.
Minesweeper USS Broadbill launched.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0348, the unescorted Clare was hit by one torpedo from U-103 about 40 miles off the coast of Cuba. The torpedo struck at the foremast between cargo holds #1 and #2, about six feet below the waterline. The blast created a hole about 15 feet in diameter, demolished the entire front of the ship and scattered the cargo below the above decks. The vessel lost way rapidly and sank 30 minutes later, listing to port about 25° and then going down quickly by the head. The radio operator sent an SOS four times but received no answer and the armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in and two .30cal guns) had no chance to fire at the U-boat because it remained submerged. The entire complement of eight officers, 25 crewmen and seven armed guards abandoned ship in one lifeboat and three rafts. The boat reached Cape Corrientes, Cuba in eight hours and a Cuban gunboat picked up the men on the rafts.
ASW trawler HMS Retriever escorted Convoy PQ-16 from 21 May 1942 until 23 May 1942.
Destroyer ORP Garland joins an escort of Convoy PQ-16 from Iceland to Murmansk. From May 25th to May 28, ORP Garland participated in defense of the convoy against numerous attacks of the Luftwaffe. On May 28, she was released from escort duty and sent to Murmansk due to damage and loss of 22 dead and 46 wounded seamen and officers.
About 0415, U-103 fired from about 400 yards a star shell across the bow of the unescorted Elizabeth, which was en route on a zigzag course at 11 knots about 30 miles south of Cape Corrientes, Cuba. Three minutes later a shell struck the stack. At 04.35 hours, one torpedo was fired that struck the port side between the #3 hatch and the engine room. The explosion killed the three men on watch below and destroyed the main steam line, the condenser, the shelter deck and the radio shack. The ship quickly stopped and the radio operator sent distress signals and received acknowledgments. The armed guards fired two shots from the after 4in gun (the ship was also armed with two .30cal guns) at the U-boat but missed. Ten minutes later the complement of eight officers, 27 men and seven armed guards abandoned ship in one lifeboat and one raft. After another ten minutes the vessel sank stern first. Three men on the raft were never seen again. 21 hours after the attack the remaining 36 men landed on the western Cuban coast, halfway between Cape San Antonio and Cape Corrientes. The master Walter Gwynn Hudgins had already experienced a sinking, when his former ship, the Barbara, was sunk by U-126 (Bauer) 7 Mar 1942.
Steam tanker Faja de Oro sunk by U-106 at 23.30N, 84.24W.
At 1829, the unescorted Presidente Trujillo was torpedoed by U-156 and sank within four minutes. The ship was armed with one 75mm gun and three AA machine guns.
At 0323 and 0324, U-159 fired four torpedoes at a group of five ships in Convoy OS-28 about 140 miles ESE of Santa Maria, Azores and heard four detonations and saw a column of fire. Three ships were seen sinking, one of them burning. One of the damaged ships was then hit by another torpedo from a second spread of two torpedoes at 0325. However, only the New Brunswick and Montenol were hit and sunk. Montenol was badly damaged, abandoned and later scuttled by gunfire by HMS Woodruff. Three crewmembers were lost. The master, 52 crewmembers and eight gunners were picked up by HMS Wellington and landed at Freetown. Two crewmembers and one gunner from New Brunswick were lost. The master, 53 crewmembers and five gunners were rescued. Twelve survivors rescued by HMS Totland, ten by HMS Wellington, the master and six crewmembers by HMS Weston, five by HMS Woodruff and 25 survivors by the British merchant Inchanga and landed at Freetown.
SS Torondoc sunk by U-69 at 14.45N, 62.15W.
SS Troisdoc (1,925 GRT) Canadian Paterson Steamships bulk laker was sunk west of Jamaica in the Caribbean Sea, in position 18.15N, 079.20W, by U-588, Kptlt Viktor Vogel, CO. Troisdoc was on route from St Thomas, to Georgetown, British Guyana, in ballast for a load of bauxite. All 19 crewmembers were able to abandon the ship safely into lifeboats. The submarine surfaced and approached the lifeboats and inquired as to the ship's name, its destination and cargo before departing. The crew was rescued five hours later by the Flower-class corvette HMS Clarkia.
The Canadian Paterson Steamships bulk laker Torondoc (1,927 GRT) was sunk off Martinique in the Caribbean Sea in position 14.45N, 062.15W, by U-69, KptLt. Ulrich Gräf, CO. She was on route from Trinidad for St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, with a load of bauxite for transhipment. All of her 23 crewmembers were lost.