Posted on 06/16/2012 5:30:08 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1942/jun42/f16jun42.htm
Axis forces defeat British west of Tobruk
Tuesday, June 16, 1942 www.onwar.com
German column advances after battling the British [photo at link]
In North Africa... The British forces abandon El Adem. The is now no chance of forming a front west of Tobruk.
In the Mediterranean... The German U-boat U-205 sinks the cruiser HMS Hermione on its way back to Egypt, escorting the aborted convoy to Malta.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
June 16th, 1942
UNITED KINGDOM: London: Churchill nominates Anthony Eden, the foreign secretary, to succeed him if he dies.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Tranquil was sunk in a collision off Deal, Kent.
Minesweeper HMS Albacore commissioned.
Destroyer HMS Bramham commissioned.
MS Trawlers HMS Product and Professor commissioned.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Prospect launched.
(Dave Shirlaw)
FRANCE: Paris: Jean Zay, minister of education in the Popular Front is taken from the prison where he has spent the war and shot by the roadside. Zay was Jewish - Je vous Zay (a pun on “I hate you”), as Céline referred to him.
GERMANY: U-302 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
BALTIC SEA: Finnish s/s Argo sunk at Bogskär by Soviet submarine Shtsh 317. (Dave Shirlaw)
MALTA: The full fury of the Mediterranean sea war has fallen upon two convoys heading for Malta. The idea was to dissipate the increasingly powerful German air strength by sending two convoys simultaneously to Malta: one from Gibraltar [Operation Harpoon] and the other from Alexandria [Operation Vigorous]. But both convoys have hit trouble.
Although British ships and aircraft succeeded in sinking a heavy Italian cruiser, the TRENTO, and damaging the battleship LITTORIO, the escorts have suffered badly. The cruiser HMS HERMIONE was sunk by U-205 at 33 30N, 26 10E, soon after the second convoy, Operation Vigorous, was forced to turn back to Alexandria, and three destroyers, HMS Hasty, HMS AIREDALE and today HMS NESTOR, were sunk in bombing attacks. HMS NESTOR is disabled in an attack by Ju.87’s and taken in tow. After the tow has broken twice and after receiving warnings of S-boat activity, it was decided to scuttle Nestor south of Crete at 33 36N, 24 27E. This convoy sailed without carriers or capital ships, relying on a small RAF force for cover.
Operation Harpoon had a covering force of a battleship, HMS MALAYA, two carriers, HMS EAGLE and HMS ARGUS, three cruisers, HMS LIVERPOOL, HMS CHARYBDIS and HMS Kenya, and eight destroyers and the anti-aircraft cruiser HMS CAIRO.
Germany has now sent some Stukas to this battleground from the Russian front in order to reinforce what was initially a largely Italian operation.
From dawn until dusk men on convoy escort ships are therefore on action stations, sweating under anti-flash clothing, their steel helmets getting hotter and hotter under the Mediterranean sun. Throughout the day the Stukas attack in waves, diving directly out of that sun, loosing off their bombs then flying off at wave-top height to pick up another load. (Alex Gordon)(108)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Destroyer HMAS Nestor bombed by German aircraft off Derna in the eastern Mediterranean (position 33°36\’N, 24°30\’E). The ship was straddled by heavy bombs, which caused heavy damage to her boiler rooms. Taken in tow by the British destroyer HMS Javelin but at 0530 hours the next morning the destroyer began to settle by the bow. Permission was granted to scuttle the ship. The Javelin took off the crew and at 0700 hours HMAS Nestor was scuttled by depth charges.
HMS Hermione was torpedoed by the German submarine U-205, North of Sollum and sank in position 33.20N, 26.00E. 87 Crewmembers went down with the ship.
Destroyer ORP Kujawiak sunk by a mine off Malta. (Dave Shirlaw)
NORTH AFRICA: The British retreat from El Adam conceding any chance of moving west of Tobruk.
CANADA:
U.S.A.: Congress authorizes an increase in the USN’s airship strength to 200 airships. (Jack McKillop)
Destroyer USS Longshaw laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
CARIBBEAN SEA: At 0230, the unarmed and unescorted Arkansan had discontinued her zigzag course about 45 minutes before when the lookouts sighted a surfaced U-boat. The ship increased immediately the speed and turned away, but it was too late and within one minute two torpedoes from U-126 hit amidships. The explosions wrecked the radio antenna and the ship took an extreme port list. Most of the crew of ten officers, 28 men and two workaways abandoned ship in one lifeboat, despite of the fact that she was still moving at seven knots. The Arkansan sank after 20 minutes 70 miles west of Grenada. One officer and three crewmen could not be accounted for after the attack. The survivors were picked up by the USS Pastores and were landed at Trinidad.
At 0320, the unescorted Kahuku was torpedoed by U-126 about 90 miles west of Grenada, while steaming a zigzagging course at 9.5 knots. Lookouts spotted the wake of the torpedo about 20 yards away from the ship before it struck on the starboard side abaft the bridge about 8 feet below the waterline in the engine room. The eight officers, 28 crewmen, ten armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, two 20mm, two .50cal and one .30cal guns), 17 survivors from the Cold Harbor and 46 survivors from the Scottsburg abandoned ship in two lifeboats and three rafts in some chaos, due to the extra men aboard. The armed guards fired a few shots from the after gun, but soon left the ship. A coup de grâce was fired at 04.15 hours, but the ship remained afloat after the hit. The U-boat surfaced and fired between 0500 and 0526 approximately 30 shells on the bridge and the radio room, one shell hit the after magazine and the ship sank at 0620 hours. The master, one officer, four crewmen, three armed guards and eight survivors died. Some men were picked up by U-126 and placed on rafts, but Able Seaman Archie Gibbs, a survivor from Scottsburg stayed aboard for four days, until he was placed on board the small Venezuelan vessel Minataora about 45 miles off Curaçao and landed there. The remaining survivors were picked up by the American patrol vessels USS Opal and YP-63 and landed at Trinidad. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 1410, the Nueva Alta Gracia was sunk by scuttling charges by U-161 after being stopped by gunfire.
At 0401, the Managua was hit by one torpedo from U-67 in the stern and sank within eleven minutes.
At 0417 U-87 fired one torpedo at the leading ship of Convoy XB-25 northeast of Cape Cod during a gale and fired at 0418 a second torpedo at another ship. British freighter SS Port Nicholson torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat U-87 KptLt. Joachim Berger CO, in the Atlantic NE of Cape Cod, in position 42.11N 69.25W while on a voyage from Avonmouth, Barry and New York to Wellington via Halifax and Panama, with a cargo of 1600 tons of automobile parts and 4000 tons of military stores, part of convoy XB.25 comprising 5 ships. 79 crew and 4 gunners were rescued by HMCS Nanaimo (K101) Lt Thomas James Bellas RCN, CO. Master and three crew with 6 men from Nanaimo reboarded vessel to attempt salvage. Berger observed how the first hit and thought that the second missed, but apparently both hit Port Nicholson. At 0421, a spread of two torpedoes was fired which both hit Cherokee. The Cherokee was struck by one torpedo on the port side under the bridge. The explosion lifted the vessel out of the water, destroyed the chart house and incoming water gave the ship a sharp list to port. The speed was increased and the rudder was turned hard right, but a second torpedo struck the port bow 90 seconds later, causing the ship to sink by the bow with a 60 degrees list to port within six minutes. The rough seas and the extreme list prevented the launching of lifeboats and only seven rafts were cut loose. The ship carried nine officers, 103 crewmen, 11 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in, two .50cal and two .30cal guns) and 46 US Army passengers. Three officers, 62 crewmen, one armed guard and 20 passengers died. 44 survivors were picked up by the steam merchant Norlago and landed them at Provincetown, Massachusetts the same day. 39 others were picked up by USCGC Escanaba, which took them to Boston, Massachusetts. All but 4 from corvette were lost when vessel sank later, the Master Harold Charles Jeffrey and three crew of Port Nicholson as well as AB Leslie Horne V-9632, of Winnipeg, Manitoba; Lt John Molson Walkley of Montreal, Province of Quebec; both RCNVR of Nanaimo. (Dave Shirlaw)
Watched a 60 minute documentary on the battle of Attu the other day called “red, white, black and blue”. It’s on Netflix, and possibly YouTube.
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