July 5th, 1942 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The first prototype Avro York (LV 629) long-range transport makes its first flight. With the same wings, undercarriage and power units as the Lancaster but with a fuselage with twice the cubic capacity it is to be produced in small numbers as a VIP aircraft. (22)
Destroyer HMS Myrmidion commissioned.
BARENTS SEA: Fifteen merchant ships of convoy PQ-17 (Iceland to Murmansk, USSR), eight American, five British, one Dutch and one Panamanian, are sunk by German submarines U-88 (1 ship), U-251 (1 ship) U-255 (4 ships), U-334 (1 ship), U-355 (1 ship), U-376 (1 ship), U-456 (1 ship), U-457 (2 ships) and U-703 (3 ships). Seven of the ships had been previously damaged by Luftwaffe He 111s and Ju 88s. All are sunk between 144 nm (267 km) southeast of Spitsbergen Island and 161 nm (298 km) east of Murmansk.
The unescorted Earlston, dispersed on 4 July from Convoy PQ-17, was damaged by bombs from German Ju-88 aircraft of III/KG 30 based at Banak, Norway. At 1747 the same day, U-334 sank the ship with two coup de grāce NE of North Cape. The master and three gunners were taken prisoner. The second officer and 20 survivors landed on the Rabachi Peninsula after seven days. The chief officer and 26 survivors landed on Norwegian-occupied territory.
At 1431, the Honomu, dispersed from Convoy PQ-17, was torpedoed by U-456 in the Barents Sea. One torpedo struck on the starboard side at the #3 hold. The explosion destroyed the fireroom, killed two men on watch below and shut off all power. As the ship began to settle, a second torpedo struck at the #4 hold, causing her to sink by the stern within ten minutes. 19 of the seven officers, 28 crewmen, four British gunners (the ship was armed with two .30cal guns) and two navy signalmen managed to launch a lifeboat and 20 others scrambled onto four rafts. The master was taken prisoner by the U-boat and they gave meat and bread to the survivors before leaving. The lifeboat set sail and took the rafts in tow until 16 July, when the Chief Mate decided to cut the rafts loose and continue alone. The 19 survivors on the rafts were picked up 13 days after the sinking by a British minesweeper and another escort vessel about 360 miles from Murmansk and taken to a small village near Murmansk. At 1013, U-209 picked up five crewmembers and three British gunners from the lifeboat and took them as prisoners to Norway. They had been without food for the last 6 days. Two officers, eight crewmen and one British gunner had died of exposure in this boat
Empire Byron in Convoy PQ-17 was torpedoed by a German He111 torpedo bomber of II/KG 26 and fell behind the convoy, where she was sunk by a coup de grāce by U-703 at 0827 the next day. Three crewmembers, three gunners and one passenger were lost. The master, 45 crewmembers and 16 gunners were picked up by corvette HMS Dianella and landed at Archangel on 16 July. Another passenger, Capt J. Rimington (Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers) was taken prisoner and landed at Narvik on 15 July.
At 2102, the River Afton, dispersed from Convoy PQ-17, was torpedoed by U-703 NE of Kola. She was the ship of the convoy commodore John C.K. Dowding CBE Dave ShirlawO RNR RD. The vessel exploded, broke in two and sank after being hit by two coup de grāce at 2105 and 2122. 15 crewmembers, eight gunners, one passenger and two naval staff members. The master, the commodore, 31 crewmembers, one gunner, one passenger and three naval staff members were picked up by HMS Lotus and landed at Matochkin, Novaya Zemlya.
At 0315, the Carlton was in Convoy PQ-17, when German He 115 aircraft of the Küstenfliegergruppe 906 attacked the convoy with torpedoes 200 miles NE of Bear Island (75.49N/22.15E). One aircraft dropped a torpedo about one-half mile away. It passed between the Carlton and the Samuel Chase but struck the Christopher Newport, which was later sunk by U-457. The convoy was scattered by the convoy commodore on Admiralty orders in the evening of that day. In the morning on 5 July, U-88 spotted the Carlton and pursued her for three hours before firing a torpedo, which struck the ship but did not detonate. At 10.15 hours a second torpedo struck the starboard side amidships, entering the tank containing 5000 barrels of Navy special fuel oil and ignited the cargo. The blast collapsed the forward fireroom bulkhead and the after bulkhead of the #2 hold. The two starboard lifeboats were also destroyed and the #3 hatch was blown away, dispersing the cargo of flour in this hold all over the deck. The burning Carlton sank on even keel by the bow within ten minutes. Two men died on watch in the engine room and the remaining men of the complement of eight officers, 26 crewmen and eleven armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, two .50cal and two .30cal guns) abandoned ship in one lifeboat and four rafts, which were later lashed together. Ten hours after the attack German seaplanes landed near the survivors and took 18 crewmembers and eight armed guards ashore. By 17 September, they had all been transferred to Milag Nord, a POW camp near Bremen. On 9 July, a British aircraft dropped food for the remaining 14 crewmembers and three armed guards. At 1930 on 13 July, U-376 offered the men medical assistance, which they declined and gave them the position, a compass, charts, biscuits, water, blankets and cigarettes. 19 days after the attack they made landfall at Tufjord, Norway near the North Cape. Before landing, the first assistant engineer died of exposure. The 16 survivors were captured by the Germans and arrived at Milag Nord on 27 August. The survivors of the Carlton provided valuable information to the Germans regarding the convoy and the cargo carried by the ships. This proved to be quite a propaganda coup for Germany. 27 crewmembers of the Carlton were repatriated, arriving in New York aboard the Swedish motor passenger ship Gripsholm on 21 Feb 1945. The others remained at Milag Nord until after hostilities ceased.
After Convoy PQ-17 was dispersed on 4 Jul 1942, the Daniel Morgan travelled with four other ships to Archangel. On 5 July, they were attacked many times by German Ju 88 aircraft of the KG 30. About 1800, five Ju 88 from the III/KG 30 attacked the ship at 75.08N/44.10E and three near misses caused the #4 and #5 holds to flood and the ship to list to starboard. At 2252, the crippled Daniel Morgan was hit by one torpedo from U-88 on the port side amidships. A few minutes later a second torpedo struck the engine room put the main and steering engines out of commission. The ship sank stern first shortly afterwards. The eight officers, 31 men and 15 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, one 3in and four .50cal guns) abandoned ship in three lifeboats. One of the boats capsized, the Chief Mate and one crewman drowned. A third man died from a concussion. Bohmann questioned the master and got wrong answers. He told them to follow the U-boat, which they did for 90 minutes, before U-88 suddenly pulled away at full speed. At 0800 on 6 July, the Soviet steam tanker Donbass picked up the survivors. The Soviet ship dropped anchor at Ioanka two days later and proceeded later for the White Sea and Molotovsk. The earlier ship of the master George T. Sullivan was the City of New York, which had been sunk by U-160 on 29 Mar 1942.
U.S.S.R.: The 4th Panzer Armee reaches the Don in the suburbs of Voronezh.
The last Soviet resistance in the Crimea ends.
NORTH AFRICA: US Army, Middle East Air Force (USAMEAF) B-24s
bomb the harbour and ships at Benghazi, Libya during the night of 4/5 July.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: An 11th Air Force B-17 flies a weather mission.
U.S.A.: Minesweeper USS Pilot launched.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The Leigh Light, an airborne RDF-operated searchlight, scores its first success when an RAF Wellington of 172 Squadron sinks U-502 west of La Rochelle in position 46.10N, 06.40W. 52 dead (all hands lost). Although the development of airborne radar allowed Coastal Command aircraft to detect U-boats recharging their batteries on the surface at night, the minimum range of the radar often exceeded the maximum visual range at which the submarine could be identified and attacked. Squadron Leader Leigh successfully developed a powerful airborne searchlight that could be fitted beneath a Wellington, and, cued by the radar operator, switched on to illuminate the target on the attack run.
During the return to Britain of Convoy QP 13, HMS Niger led a column of Merchantmen in bad weather with visibility reduced to one mile. Niger had been unable to take bearings due to the weather but made a sighting of land, which was in fact an iceberg. She had unfortunately led the convoy into a British minefield off Iceland at 66 35N 23 14W. She was mined and blew up at 2240 with heavy loss of life, as were six of the merchantmen she was escorting, all but one also sank. (Dave Shirlaw and (Alex Gordon)(108) )
ASW trawler HMS Sword Dance sank after collision in Morey Firth.