The Kettledrums Roll

January 11, Sun.
Pacific
Carrier Saratoga (CV-3) is torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-6, 500 miles southwest of Oahu, T.H., 19°00'N, 165°00'W.

Naval Station Pago Pago, Samoa, is shelled by Japanese submarine.

Japan declares war on the Netherlands; invasion of Netherlands East Indies begins as Japanese Central Force (Vice Admiral Hirose Sueto) lands Army 56th Regimental Combat Group and 2d Kure Special [Naval] Landing Force at Tarakan; naval paratroops (1st Yokosuka Special Landing Force) occupy Menado. Eastern Force (Rear Admiral Kubo Kuji) then follows up the airborne assault on Menado with 1st Special Landing Force going ashore at Menado and Kema, Celebes. These operations will secure control of the northern approaches to the Java Sea.

U.S. Army transport Liberty Glo is torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-166 about 10 miles southwest of Lombok Strait, 08°54'S, 115°28'E. Although destroyer Paul Jones (DD-230) and Dutch destroyer Van Ghent take the damaged ship in tow and beach her on the shores of Bali, Liberty Glo will be written off as a total loss.

U.S. tankship Manatawny sinks in Manila Bay as the result of damage received on 13 December 1941.

Atlantic
Operation Paukenschlag ("roll of the kettledrums") descends upon the eastern seaboard of the U.S. like a "bolt from the blue." The first group of five German submarines takes up station off the east coast of the United States on this date. Over the next month, these boats (U-66, U-109, U-123, U-125 and U-130) will sink 26 Allied ships; the presence of the enemy off the eastern seaboard takes U.S. Navy antisubmarine forces by surprise (see 14 January and following).