February 26, 1942 - Thursday - 80 years ago today

Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien: 

O'Brien by the 22nd had finished repairs to the port side and departed for Pearl Harbor on the 20th; arrival at Pearl Harbor would be early in March.

US Carrier Task Forces:

• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) raids Wake Island on February 24th and faces little opposition.  Two Japanese gunboats are sunk and installations on the island are damaged.  Halsey decides to keep TF 16 at sea and move toward Marcus Island (which is nearer to Japan than Wake).
  
• Task Force 11 (Lexington) moved east after the attempted attack on Rabaul.  Vice Admiral Brown requested that another carrier group join with TF 11 to try another attack
• Task Force 17 (Yorktown) remained near Canton Island, but would soon be ordered to join with Task Force 11 to try again to attack Rabaul.. 
  

Japanese naval forces continued to gather at Rabaul for an attack to come soon on New Guniea.  However, the raid on Wake Island and the significant loss of planes from the attack on the Lexington task force caused a postponement. The new plan was to land a Japanese invasion force on the eastern side of New Guinea on March 8th.

More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology, pp. 159-161
  
• The First South Pacific Campaign, John B. Lundstrom, pp. 32-38.

NEXT POST: MARCH 2ND

February 22, 1942 - Sunday - 80 years ago today

 Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien: 

O'Brien by the 22nd had finished repairs to the port side and departed for Pearl Harbor on the 20th; arrival at Pearl Harbor would be early in March.

 Other Events:

• February 19th:  Japanese force retiring from Bali is attacked by Allied forces.  A Dutch destroyer is sunk and two other Dutch ships are damaged.  Two Japanese destroyers are damaged.
• February 19th:  A Japanese attack force with four fleet carriers (Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu, Soryu) attack Darwin, Australia and do major damage to the installations, also sinking 3 US ships (including one destroyer).  Darwin will no longer be used as a naval base.  Allied air forces will continue to use the airfields there.
• February 20th:  Task Force 11 (Lexington) is spotted before it can attack the Japanese base at Rabaul.  Japanese bombers attack the Lexington task force but most are shot down.  Pilot Edward H. (Butch) O'Hare shoots down five bombers in six minutes, and received the Medal of Honor.  O'Hare was later killed in action.  In 1949, Orchard Airport in Chicago was renamed O'Hare International Airport in his honor.
• February 20th: Japanese landings on Timor.
• February 20th: Welcome news is received that the aircraft carrier USS Hornet will transit from the Atlantic and arrive in the Pacific by mid-March. It will make the 4th active carrier task force along with Enterprise, Yorktown, and Lexington.  Saratoga is still in port for repairs on the West Coast.
  
• February 19th - 22nd: Shipping losses in the Atlantic continue; 5 tankers and 4 freighters are sunk during these four days.

 More Information:

• Official Navy Chronology
• The First South Pacific Campaign, John B. Lundstrom, pp. 35-38.

NEXT POST: FEBRUARY 26TH

 

February 18, 1942 - Wednesday - 80 years ago today

 Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien: 

O'Brien remained at the Mare Island Navy Yard for repairs to the port side due to its collision with USS Case. 

 Singapore: 

The Fall of Singapore on February 15th was yet another major setback for the Allies.  Britain was now left without bases in the Pacific and would not be able to give significant help to the war effort in the Pacific in the near future.

• From the link above, page 1:  "In 1937, a major rebuilding of the island’s defences and fortifications had just been completed and the island was now considered impregnable, so much so that it was referred to as “The Gibraltar of the East”.
• Also from the link above, page 3: The Japanese took over 70,000 prisoners at the surrender, comprising British, Australian, Malay and Indian troops. Some were sent to Thailand where many later died building the Burma railway. Some were sent to Japan as slave labour and many were crammed into Changi and Selerang Barracks.  Churchill called the loss of Singapore “shameful” and “the worst disaster” and “the largest capitulation in British history”.

Other Events:

• Japanese forces secure control of oil refineries in Sumatra.
• Two US destroyers are damaged by Japanese aircraft near Sumatra and have to return to Australia for repairs.
• A convoy sent to Timor is recalled as Timor will soon be captured.  The convoy is attacked by Japanese warplanes, but suffers no losses, mainly due to USS Houston's anti-aircraft gunnery.
• Official Navy Chronology: 
• "Operation NEULAND: begins with simultaneous attacks on Dutch and Venezuelan oil ports to disrupt production and flow of petroleum products vital to the allied war effort".  One US tanker is damaged in the first day of this operation.
  

 US Carrier Task Forces:

• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) is moving to raid Wake Island.
• Task Force 17 (Yorktown) is moving toward Canton Island to cover recent landings there, and to act as a support force for the other two carrier task forces.
• Task Force 11 (Lexington) is preparing to attack the Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain.

 

NEXT POST: FEBRUARY 22ND

February 14, 1942 - Saturday - 80 years ago today

 Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien:

O'Brien remained at the Mare Island Navy Yard for repairs to the port side due to its collision with USS Case.

Other Events

• Task Force 16 (Enterprise) left Pearl Harbor for a raid in the central Pacific, with its destination still not determined.  
• Task Force 11 (Lexington), now in the south Pacific, was ordered to also conduct offensive operations.  Vice Admiral Brown, who was in command, began to prepare for a raid on the Japanese base at Rabaul, New Britain, which had been significantly built up and provided air cover for Japanese ships in the Bismarcks, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands.  
• A transport carrying the occupation force for Canton Island grounded on the surrounding reef.  Troops were able to get ashore.  Canton Island is due north of Samoa, and about two-thirds of the way between Hawaii and Samoa.  It had been a stopover on the original Pan Am commercial flights between the US and New Zealand. and was used similarly by the US military during the war.
• Tankers and other transport ships were continuing to be sunk at an alarming pace.  Commands are established on Aruba and Curacao (terrritories of the Netherlands at this time), to manage port security, convoy routing, and tanker protection in the Atlantic.

 

NEXT POST: FEBRUARY 18TH

January 29, 1942 - Thursday - 80 years ago today

 

Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien:

On January 29, 1942, O'Brien was at sea, moving north through the Pacific toward San Francisco, in company with Idaho and Mustin. Arrival at San Francisco would be on January 31st.

 Other Events

• Task Force 8 (Enterprise) and Task Force 17 (USS Yorktown) continue moving toward the Marshall and Gilbert Islands to conduct a raid on Japanese occupied islands there. 
• Freighter and tanker sunk off US east coast.
• Pilots being evacuated from the Philippines.
•  More Japanese landings in New Guinea and Celebes.
• Surveys continue at Bora Bora, Society Islands.  This will be another link in the chain between Hawaii and Australia. 
• As the Japanese had occupied Rabaul and surrounding islands, Admiral King anticipated that the next attacks would include the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia and Fiji, in addition to Port Moresby in New Guinea.  He created the ANZUS force under Rear Admiral Leary to protect this area.  This led to the US Navy sending larger forces, including aircraft carrier task forces into the Coral Sea nearby, and to the first major conflict between fleets in the Pacific War.
  

 More Information:

•   Official Navy Chronology
• The First South Pacific Campaign, John B. Lundstrom, pp 28-31.

 

NEXT POST: FEBRUARY 2ND