Thursday, September 14, 2017

30 Days At Sea In A Lifeboat

MON 14 SEP 1942
Pacific
USAAF B-17s damage Japanese heavy cruiser Myoko as she is en route from Truk, Carolines, to carry out support operations off Guadalcanal.

USAAF planes (13 B-24s and 1 B-17 take part in the raid) sink Japanese ammunition ship Nojima Maru off Kiska, Aleutians; USAAF P-39s damage submarines RO 63 and RO 64 also in the area.

North Russia
German torpedo planes continue attacks upon Archangel-bound convoy PQ 18, sinking U.S. freighter Mary Luckenbach about 600 miles west of North Cape, Norway, 76°00'N, 16°00'E; she is lost with all hands (41 merchant seamen and a 24-man Armed Guard). The violent explosion of Mary Luckenbach's ammunition cargo rains debris on nearby freighter Nathanael Greene, 76°00'N, 16°00'E, injuring 11 men (five of whom are transferred to British destroyer HMS Onslaught for medical attention), but the merchantman makes port under her own power. Concussion from the explosion also disables U.S. freighter Wacosta, which is later torpedoed and sunk about 400 miles northeast of Jan Mayen Island, 76°05'N, 10°00'E; she suffers no casualties. British light cruiser HMS Scylla and minesweeper HMS Harrier rescue all hands: 38 merchant sailors and the 11-man Armed Guard survive Wacosta's loss.

Atlantic
Norwegian steamship Talisman rescues 18 survivors (one of the original 19 has succumbed to exposure during the 32-day ordeal) of U.S. freighter California, sunk by Italian submarine Reginaldo Giuliani on 13 August 1942.

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