Posted on 10/02/2012 6:31:20 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1942/oct42/f02oct42.htm
Ocean liner sinks cruiser in collision
Friday, October 2, 1942 www.onwar.com
In the Atlantic... The ocean liner Queen Mary, in service as a troop transport, collides with the British cruiser Curacao sinking the cruiser. The liners traveled without escort, depending upon speed for safety. Escorts were provided for these ships only within British coastal waters.
From Washington... Stabilization of the Cost of Living Act becomes law. The US President has now has the power to control wages and agricultural prices. The law is effective November 1, 1942
In the Pacific... In the Ellice Islands, American forces begin construction of a base on Funafuti Atoll.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
October 2nd, 1942
UNITED KINGDOM: The USAAF 4th Fighter Group flies its first mission. (Jack McKillop)
While approaching the Clyde the British liner RMS Queen Mary (83,000 tons) on the final leg of her trans-Atlantic journey meets her cruiser escort HMS Curacoa. A lookout on Curacoa reports a suspected U-boat sighting and Curacoa goes in pursuit of the submarine. The Curacoa cuts across the bow of Queen Mary while she is travelling at 30+ knots, is cut into two halves the two sections ending up 100 yards apart, and sinks at 55 50N, 08 03W is lost with 338 of her crew. There are 26 survivors. The Queen Mary does not stop, as are her orders, she has 15,000 American troops onboard. Such is the impact that the Queen Mary’s bow plates are folded over for about 40 feet back into the vessel. (Ric Pelvin, Jack McKillop and Alex Gordon(108))
Corvette HMCS Weyburn arrived Liverpool UK for fitting of Oerlikon guns.
Royal Navy and US Navy agreed to pool their knowledge in the effort to crack the four-rotor U-boat Enigma codes, as well as Italian and Japanese naval codes
(Dave Shirlaw)
FRANCE: The USAAF Eighth Air Force flies Mission 13: 61 bombers and 54 fighters are dispatched to attack 3 targets in France; 1 fighter is lost:
* 32 B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb the Avions Potez aircraft factory at Meaulte; they claim 4-9-5 aircraft. Escort is provided by 31 P-38 Lightnings; 1 P-38 is lost.
* 6 B-17s fly a diversionary missions to Longuenesse Airfield at St Omer; they claim 5-4-4 aircraft. Escort is provided by 23 Spitfires; they claim 4-0-1 aircraft.
* 11 unescorted DB-7s attack a ship in a dock at Le Havre without loss. (Jack McKillop)
Former president Herriot is arrested by the Vichy police. (Jack McKillop)
GERMANY: The German OKW issues a decree which in one fell swoop ‘rehabilitated’ c. 28,000 or so German citizens formerly ‘unworthy of bearing arms’ (’unwehrwurdig’), and established the formation of the ‘999. Bewaehrungstruppe’ at Tr.Ub.plz. Heuberg/Swaebisch Alb, (WK.V) south of Stuttgart.
These men were a rather heterogenous grouping of dissidents who had previously spent time before the war in KL (konzentrationslager) ‘protective custody’ detention or civil ‘zuchthaus’ (prison) for both political or criminal reasons, and so were nominally exempted from military service. Their ‘crimes’ ranged from having either Socialist or KPD backgrounds, to having exhibited overtly critical behaviour toward the NS regime; some were even German volunteers who had fought on the Republican side in the Communist Brigades during the Spanish Civil War who had the misfortune to have come under German jurisdiction again. Among them, though in smaller numbers, were rapists, murderers, thieves, and what, according to the Gestapo’s all inclusive category of ‘enemy of the State’, were the ubiquitous ‘grumblers’ and ‘anti-social elements.’ (Russ Folsom)
U-550, U-987, U-988 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
NORWAY: A 36 year-old German officer, a driver, die by firing squad, accused of being an “enemy of the people.” His crime was to sell five litres of methyl alcohol, which he claimed was 98% alcohol and could be used to produce liquor, to an infantry regiment’s anti-tank defence unit. Several soldiers fell ill, and two died.
According to the daily order, “the punishment shall be announced to the troops and auxiliary units, and it shall be used as a tool for repeated and insistent admonishment.” (Andreas Ulrich, Der Spiegel. May 6, 2005)(Henry Sirotin)
U.S.S.R.: (Sergey Anisimov)(69)Baltic Fleet, Ladoga and Onega Flotillas: Shipping loss. MS “TSch-57 “Udarnik”” - mined close to Sescar Is.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC
NEW GUINEA: In the Owen Stanley Range A-20 Havocs bomb and strafe Japanese campsites around Myola and hit several trails in the area, while P-400 Airacobras strafe bridges at Sirorata and Wairopi and a village northeast of Wairopi.
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: B-17s bomb shipping and airfield at Rabaul on New Britain Island. (Jack McKillop)
ELLICE ISLANDS: US Marine Corps 5th defence Battalion land and engineers begin building a base on Funafuti Atoll.
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: 11 B-24 Liberators and 6 P-39Airacobras bomb 2 Japanese cargo ships in Kiska harbor (no hits observed, drop demolition charges throughout the Main Camp area, and hit a hangar south of the seaplane ramp; 4 floatplanes and a biplane are shot down. Enemy aircraft bomb the Adak Island airfield without inflicting damage. (Jack McKillop)
CANADA: Trawler HMS Baffin arrived Halifax to repair defective crankshaft. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: President Roosevelt is granted power to control wages, salaries and agricultural prices as of November 1 by the Stabilization of the Cost of Living Act which becomes law today.
Elmer Davis, Office of War Information Director, recommends to President Roosevelt that Japanese Americans be allowed to enlist for military service. This provided the initiative for the concept of an all-JA military unit. Nisei trainees being welcomed to an Infantry replacement training centre. (Gene Hanson)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: A USAAF B-18A Bolo of the 99th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 9th Bombardment Group (Heavy), based at Zandery Field, Surinam, sinks the German submarine U-512 off French Guiana at position 06-50N, 52-25W, by Aerial depth charges. One wounded survivor, Matrosengefreiter Franz Machen, self-escapes from the sea bottom and the crew of the B-18A sights and drops him a life raft; he is rescued ten days later by the USS Ellis and spends the rest of the war as a PoW. He survived in part by killing and eating seabirds that attacked him while he lay exposed on the raft. (Mark Horan and Jack McKillop and Dave Shirlaw)
U-175 sank SS Aneroid.
U-175 was attacked twice by a B-18 aircraft (USAAF), but suffered no damage
U-201 sank SS Alcoa Transport. (Dave Shirlaw)
#7- A man committed suicide after being rejected for military service?
........
I am glad the British ended the “Lull” it was a horrible show. heh
Yikes! Queen Mary sinks UK cruiser? Not revealed until the end of the war:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Curacoa_(D41)
On 2 October 1942 about 60 km north of the coast of Ireland she was escorting the ocean liner RMS Queen Mary carrying 10,000 American troops of the 29th Infantry Division[3] to join the Allied forces in Europe.[4] Queen Mary was steaming an evasive zig-zagging course; eight minutes to starboard, eight minutes to port then the resumption of her base course for four minutes before starting the cycle again, which the aged Curacoa could not match due to deterioration of her engines.[citation needed] Curacoa was hard pressed to keep pace with Queen Mary as it was and her Captain opted to forego the zig-zag so as to be able to maintain a position from which to provide effective anti-aircraft watch.[citation needed] At 1415 the Queen Mary started the starboard turn for the first leg of her zig-zag, cutting across the path of the Curacoa with insufficient clearance, striking her amidships at a speed of 28 knots and cutting her in two. The Curacoa sank in six minutes, about 100 yards from the Queen Mary. Due to the risk of U-boat attacks, the Queen Mary did not assist in rescue operations and instead steamed onward with a damaged bow. [5] Hours later, the convoy’s lead escort returned to rescue 99 survivors from the Curacoa’s crew of 338, including her captain John W. Boutwood.[1][6][7]
The incident occurred as the result of several factors. The captain of the Queen Mary made the assumption that her escort ship would track her course change and adjust accordingly.[6] Meanwhile, Captain Boutwood on board the Curacoa assumed the standard seafaring rule that an overtaking ship must yield. The resulting convergent courses were reported on board both ships and the Queen Mary’s First Officer issued a correction, but both the reports and correction were dismissed by the respective ship’s captains.[6]
The loss was not reported until after the war ended, whereupon the Navy immediately pressed charges against the Queen Mary’s owners, Cunard White Star Line.[6] The High Court of Justice subsequently ruled mostly in favour of the latter, assigning two-thirds of the blame to the Admiralty and one third to Cunard White Star.[6] This ruling would become important in the civil lawsuits subsequently filed against Cunard White Star Line by relatives of the Curacoa’s deceased. It also prompted significant revisions in Royal Navy policy, including the suspension of escorts for passenger liners indefinitely.[6]
“ATLANTIC OCEAN: A USAAF B-18A Bolo of the 99th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 9th Bombardment Group (Heavy), based at Zandery Field, Surinam, sinks the German submarine U-512 off French Guiana at position 06-50N, 52-25W, by Aerial depth charges. One wounded survivor, Matrosengefreiter Franz Machen, self-escapes from the sea bottom and the crew of the B-18A sights and drops him a life raft; he is rescued ten days later by the USS Ellis and spends the rest of the war as a PoW. He survived in part by killing and eating seabirds that attacked him while he lay exposed on the raft. (Mark Horan and Jack McKillop and Dave Shirlaw)”
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