Posted on 09/17/2012 4:26:51 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Richard Tregaskis, Guadalcanal Diary
Interesting they waited over 3 months to tell the public that an aircraft carrier had been sunk. Can you imagine keeping that under wraps today?
City’s Rim Pierced – 2-3
Nazis in Caucasus Seek Manganese (Parker) – 3
War News Summarized – 3
Kiska is Attacked – 4
2 Enemy Cruisers Hit in Solomons (Hurd) – 4-5
New Guinea Battle Resumed in South – 5
Big Warship Hit by Planes, Sent Down by Submarine – 6
U.S.S. Yorktown Listing After Heavy Attack by Japanese Aircraft (photo) – 7
Last Days of the Yorktown: The United States Aircraft Carrier Going Down in the Battle of Midway (photos) – 8-9
Yorktown Captain Swam to Aid of Boy (Hailey) – 10-11
Navy Puts U.S. Warship Losses at 32, Japanese at 59, Plus Other Sinkings – 10
Worthy Targets are Kenney’s Aim (Darnton) – 11
The Texts of the Day’s Communiques on Fighting in Various Zones – 13-14
It is amazing that they kept the loss of the Yorktown secret for three months!
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1942/sep42/f17sep42.htm
Military to control atomic research in US
Thursday, September 17, 1942 www.onwar.com
General Leslie Groves [photo at link]
From Washington... All atomic research is place under military control. General Groves is appointed head of the program. He has deep fears about security and a dislike of the British which leads to a policy of reluctant sharing of information concerning atomic weapon development with the British Allies.
On Madagascar... The Vichy French governor of the island rejects the armistice proposed by the invading British.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
September 17th, 1942
UNITED KINGDOM: Minesweeper HMS Inverell commissioned.
Destroyer HMS Holcombe commissioned.
Trawler HMS Cailiff commissioned and loaned to RCN. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: U-305 and U-640 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
NORWAY: The premier, Vidkun Quisling, reintroduces the death penalty.
U.S.S.R.: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill meets with Soviet Premier Josef Stalin in Moscow as the German Army rams into Stalingrad. (Jack McKillop)
Stalingrad: Lt. Andrei Khoyzyanov and a platoon of Soviet marines dressed in striped shirts and navy hats, reinforce the troops holding the huge grain elevator just south of the Tsaritsa Gorge. (Russell Folsom)
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: During the night of 16/17 September, US Army, Middle East Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb Bengasi, Libya harbour; during the day, targets for B-24s are in GREECE: shipping in Pylos Bay and shipping and piers near Sphakia, and in Khalones and Pylos Island. P-40s make an offensive sweep with the RAF over the front lines. (Jack McKillop)
Submarine HMS Talisman sailed from Gibraltar on 10 September, and last reported on 15 September. She is lost in the Mediterranean South of Sicily. There are no survivors or any Axis claims for her loss. It is likely that she was mined in the Sicilian Channel on or around 16/17. (Alex Gordon)(108)
MADAGASCAR: The Vichy Governor-General rejects the proposed armistice terms from the British.
Instead the Governor General of Madagascar announced that he was sending plenipotentiaries to the British commander asking for an armistice and the opening of negotiations. (Dave Shirlaw)
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC: In New Guinea, Japanese ground forces, halted within sight of Port Moresby, are unable to attack without reinforcements and supplies, neither of which are available; US 5th Air Force B-17s hit Lae, and hit a beached cargo vessel at Salamaua; P-39and P-400 Airacobras and P-40s strafe and bomb landing barges at Buna and Sanananda Point.
Australian forces withdraw to Imita Ridge. (Jack McKillop)
On New Britain Island, US 5th Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, carrying out single-bomber attacks, bomb airfields at Rabaul. (Jack McKillop)
CANADA: Canadian warship attacks German U-Boat in the St. Lawrence before the submarine flees. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Army General Leslie Groves is appointed to control all atomic research in the US. Due to overstated concern for security and simple chauvinism, he is strongly opposed to sharing any information with the British.
Roosevelt begins a 15-day, 8,500 mile nationwide inspection of war industries.
Atomic weapons research is put under military control; Colonel Leslie Groves is appointed to manage the programme.
Minesweeper USS Notable laid down.
Destroyer USS Owen laid down.
Submarine USS Hoe launched.
Destroyer USS Ammen launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
During WW II, the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) produced numerous documents, most commonly known are the Intelligence Bulletins. The Military Intelligence Special Series continues with “German Military Training” (William L. Howard)
SOUTH ATLANTIC: As a result of the USAAF B-24 attack on German and Italian submarines rescuing survivors of the torpedoed British transport Lanconia, Admiral Karl Doenitz, Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy, orders his U-boats not to pick up survivors of ships they sink. Meanwhile, the Vichy French ships Gloire, Dumont D’Urville and Annamite rescue 1,041 survivors of the sinking. (Jack McKillop)
U-109 sank SS Peterton.
U-515 sank SS Mae. (Dave Shirlaw)
Thanks for the daily work you do posting this series.
Do we know if the Japanese knew the Yorktown had been sunk?
And it’s refreshing to see an Abercrombie and Fitch ad without any metrosexuals in it.
Good question. The Japanese thought they sank her at Coral Sea. They had a lot on their plate at Midway. They might not have had time to figure out which ships on our side got sunk. If any of their subs had hung around after the battle they probably knew a carrier had gone down, but maybe not which carrier.
The Documentary Channel recently broadcast an excellent show titled, “Tin Can Sailors Will Not Be Forgotten.”
It deals with the reunion of sailors from the destroyer, USS Morris. I believe that was the Morris in the picture next to the Yorktown. Those sailors who made it to the reunion spoke about that particular incident and how they witnessed its sinking.
“U.S.A.: Army General Leslie Groves is appointed to control all atomic research in the US. Due to overstated concern for security and simple chauvinism, he is strongly opposed to sharing any information with the British.”
In light of Kim Philby and the Cambridge 5 it’s a little harsh to call the General’s concerns overstated. His simple chauvanism may have saved our country.
Thought the destroyer was the Hammann (sp?)
The story of the men playing Acey-Ducey trapped on the Yorktown gave me a chill.
It’s questionable how much the Japanese believed the after-action reports of their pilots. The Japanese pilots started the war with inflated claims, but as the war went on their claims went from inflated to the realm of fantasy. Even though all nations suffered from exaggeration of damage inflicted on the enemy, and it extended to submarine skippers as well as pilots, you wonder whether they really believed the reports.
But as things stand, the Japanese probably know that the Americans are as short of aircraft carriers as they are. But on the other hand, the Japanese also know that we are building at least ten Essex-class carriers (it’s actually more, but they will have to find that out the hard way). They also know that they only have ONE fleet carrier under construction, Taiho, and she won’t be delivered to the fleet until 1944.
That was the real folly of their Midway operation. The only strategic military asset the Japanese had was Kido Butai; the concentration of six flattops capable of fighting as a coordinated strike force. They also knew that it was a wasting asset; their strategic advantage was not going to last forever once all those Essex class carriers entered service. They also should have known that if they lost that strategic asset in combat, their advantage was gone and they would never, ever regain it.
You're probably right. We still have the documentary on our DVR - so I reviewed it again and one of the veterans stated that the USS Morris was at the Battle of Midway and was there when the Yorktown got hit. However, he went on to say that the Hammond stayed behind with the Yorktown when both of them got torpedoed by a Jap sub.
So I presume the destroyer in the pic was the Hammond and not the Morris.
Thanks for posting! I’ve seen these threads often, but this is the first I’ve read. Hard to believe that is from the New York Times, how times have changed.
Obviously I got confused about the USS Morris and it’s participation in the Pacific Theatre.
The USS Morris was there at the Battle of the Coral Sea with the USS Lexington and took on her sailors that had to abandon ship. She was also at the Battle of Midway and witnessed the attack on the USS Yorktown, but it appears the Morris left with our flotilla prior to the Yorktown’s sinking.
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