Actual Axis Of Evil

SUN 18 JAN 1942
General
Germany, Italy, and Japan sign new military pact in Berlin.

Pacific
River gunboat Tutuila (PR-4), stranded at Chungking by Sino-Japanese hostilities since 1937, is decommissioned and her crew flown out of China.

Submarine Plunger (SS-179) torpedoes and sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Eizan Maru (ex-Panamanian Aurora) off mouth of Kii Suido, Honshu, 33°30'N, 135°00'E.

Atlantic
Unarmed U.S. freighter Frances Salman is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-552 off St. John's, Newfoundland. There are no survivors from the 28-man crew.

Unarmed U.S. tanker Allan Jackson is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-66 about 50 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, 35°57'N, 74°20'W; destroyer Roe (DD-418) rescues the 13 survivors from the 35-man crew.

Unarmed U.S. tanker Malay is shelled and damaged by German submarine U-123 off Oregon Inlet, North Carolina, 35°25'N, 75°23'W. Freighter Scania provides fire-fighting assistance while the tanker's assailant pursues other game (Latvian freighter Ciltvaria). Although Malay is torpedoed by U-123 upon the U-boat's return and damaged further, the holed tanker reaches Hampton Roads safely the next day. One man perishes in the shelling; four drown when the ship is abandoned after she is torpedoed.