September 15th, 1942 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Brissenden launched.
NETHERLANDS: During the night of 15/16 September, 26 RAF Bomber Command aircraft laid mines in the Frisian Islands.
FRANCE: During the day, 12 RAF Bomber Command Bostons bombed the whaling factory ship Solglint in Cherbourg harbor; the ship is set on fire and gutted. No Bostons are lost. During the night of 15/16 September, nine aircraft laid mines in the Gironde Estuary.
GERMANY: U-863 laid down.
U.S.S.R.: There is fierce fighting between German and Soviet forces for possession of Mamayev Kurgan, the strategic hill overlooking Stalingrad.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: A lone US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 drops 1 bomb on a tanker in Suda Bay, Crete. B-24s bomb behind the enemy lines while P-40s, along with the RAF, fly escort and carry out a scramble missions over the area west of El Alamein, Egypt.
EGYPT: US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb behind the Axis lines while P-40s, along with the RAF, fly escort and carry out a scramble missions over the area west of El Alamein.
NEW GUINEA: On the Kokoda Track in Papua New
Guinea, a Japanese patrol penetrates between two Australian units at 1400 hours
local. A reinforced infantry
company( Company E and attachments) of the U.S. Army's 126th Infantry Regiment, 32d Infantry Division, is
airlifted from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, to Port Moresby by USAAF
transport aircraft. These is the first U.S. infantry unit in New Guinea.
In the air, US 5th Air Force B-25s and B-26s hit Buna and Sanananda and
attack camps at Efogi and Myola. on New Guinea; and the first US infantry
troops, elements of the 32d Infantry Division, arrive at Port Moresby.
EAST INDIES: The Australian corvette HMAS Kalgoorlie (J 192) arrives in Betano Bay, Portugese Timor with 14 soldiers and 15 tons of supplies for the “Sparrow Force.” The “Sparrow Force” consists of the 2/2 Independent Company Australian Imperial Force, and survivors from the 2/40th Battalion, 22nd Brigade, 8th Division Australian Imperial Force, who did not surrender to the Japanese, plus local East Timorese guerillas.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: In the air, USAAF 5th Air Force B-17s bomb the harbor and airfields at Rabaul on
New Britain Island.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: The USN's Task Force 18
is escorting the six transports carrying the 7th Marine Regiment to Guadalcanal. TF
18 is built around the aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-7) and the battleship USS
North Carolina (BB-55), was sighted and attacked by the Japanese submarines
HIJMS I-16 and HIJMS I-19.
At 1444 hours, a spread of 4 torpedoes from the IJN submarine HIJMS I-19 were
fired; 2 hit the USS Wasp in the vicinity of gasoline tanks and magazines and 1
hits the battleship USS North Carolina. A fourth torpedo, probably from HIJMS
I-16, hits the destroyer USS O'Brien. USS North Carolina took the torpedo
portside, 20 feet (6.1 meters) below her waterline, and 6 of her men were
killed. A 5.6 degree list was righted in as many minutes, and she maintained her
station in a formation at 26 knots.
At 1452 hours, the destroyer USS O'Brien (DD-415) sighted smoke coming from Wasp. As a member of Hornet's ASW screen she made an emergency turn to the right. At about 1454, while accelerating and swinging right, her lookouts spotted a torpedo two points forward of the port beam 1000 yards (914 meters) away. This torpedo missed close astern, but while attention was concentrated on it another torpedo hit the port bow. The explosion did little local damage, but set up severe structural stresses through the ship but she was able to proceed under her own power.
The aircraft carrier USS Wasp was the most severely damaged. Fires broke out almost simultaneously in the hangar and below decks and the heat of the intense gasoline fires detonated the ready ammunition at the forward antiaircraft guns on the starboard side, and fragments showered the forward part of the ship. The number two 1.1-inch (27.9 mm) mount was blown overboard. Water mains in the forward part of the ship proved useless, since they had been broken by the force of the explosions. There was no water available to fight the conflagration forward; and the fires continued to set off ammunition, bombs, and gasoline. As the ship listed to starboard between 10 and 15 degrees, oil and gasoline, released from the tanks by the torpedo hit, caught fire on the water. A serious gasoline fire broke out in the forward portion of the hanger, within 24 minutes of the initial attack, three additional major gasoline vapor explosions occurred. Unable to control the fires, the "abandon ship" order was given at 1520 hours. The abandoned ship drifted and the fires traveled aft; four more violent explosions boomed as night began to fall. The destroyer USS Lansdowne (DD-486) drew the duty of destruction, and she fired five torpedoes into the dying ship's fire-gutted hull. Three hit, but she remained afloat. By now, the orange flames had enveloped the stern. The carrier literally floated in a burning pool of gasoline and oil. She sank at 2100 by the bow.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIANS: The US 11th Air Force dispatches a B-17 Flying Fortress and a B-24 Liberator to fly armed reconnaissance over Kiska Island, and at Amchitka Island blast buildings in the Constantine Harbor area; fighters strafe Kiska Island Camp area and down 4 intercepting aircraft.
CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Westmount commissioned.
Support vessel HMCS
Avalon III ex-ZIG ZAG.
Tug HMCS Grenville assigned to Sydney,
Nova Scotia.
Minesweeper HMCS Truro arrived Halifax
from builder Quebec City, Province of Quebec.
Corvettes HMCS Louisburg, Prescott and
Woodstock departed St. John's for UK with Convoy HX-207 and support of Operation
Torch, the North African Landings
Fairmile depot ship HMCS Provider launched
Sorel, Province of Quebec
U.S.A.: Marine Photo squadrons VMD-1 and VMD-2 are redesignated VMD-154 and VMD-254 respectively. One squadron was scheduled to deploy to the Solomon Islands and since VMD-254 was further along in training, the squadrons exchanged designations, i.e., VMD-154 became VMD-254 and vice-versa.
Destroyers USS Pringle, Gherardi commissioned.
The auxiliary aircraft carrier (ACV) USS Altamaha (ACV-18, ex AVG-18, ex
Maritime Commission Hull 235) is commissioned at Tacoma, Washington. This is the
ninth ACV in commission.
Destroyer escort USS Tomich laid down.
Destroyers USS Maddox and Nelson launched.
Minesweeper USS Zeal launched.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The German submarine U-261 is sunk west of the Shetlands, in position 59.50N, 09.28W, by depth charges from a Whitley of No 58 Squadron based at Stornoway, Hebrides Islands. All 43 hands on the U-boat are lost. This is the boats first patrol.
U-506 along with U-156 and U-507 and Italian submarine Cappellini took part in the rescue operations after the sinking of SS Laconia in September 1942 off Africa. About 1500 men were saved by these boats and French ships from Dakar (which arrived on Sept 16, 4 days after the sinking).
U-517 sank
SS Inger Elisabeth and Saturnus in Convoy SQ-36.
U-68 sank SS Breedijk.
U-514 sank SS Kioto.
U-515 sank SS Sörholt.