Friday The 13th, 75 Yrs. Ago

Friday 13 March 1942
Pacific
Small reconnaissance seaplane from Japanese submarine I-25 reconnoiters Auckland, New Zealand.

Lieutenant General Douglas MacArthur and Rear Admiral Francis W. Rockwell, with their respective staffs,reach Cagayan, Mindanao, after a 560-mile voyage in heavy to moderate seas, in motor torpedo boats PT-32, PT-34, PT-35 and PT-41. PT-32 becomes disabled during the operation, and is scuttled by gunfire of submarine Permit (SS-178) one mile southwest of Taguayan Island, P.I., 10°58'N, 121°12'E.

Submarine Gar (SS-206) torpedoes and sinks Japanese victualling stores ship Chichibu Maru between six and ten miles southwest of Mikura Jima, south of Tokyo Bay, Japan, 33°53'N, 139°29.5'E.

Japanese minesweeper No.2 Tama Maru sinks as the result of damage inflicted by U.S. Navy carrier-based planes on 10 March during the Lae-Salamaua Raid.

Atlantic
Unarmed U.S. schooner Albert F. Paul is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-332 off the east coast of the United States, 26°00'N, 72°00'W. There are no survivors.

Chilean freighter Tolten is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-404 off Barnegat, New Jersey, 40°10'N, 73°50'W; subsequently, plane en route from Langley Field to Mitchell Field sights one survivor on a life raft at 39°50'N, 73°40'W; Coast Guard cutter Antietam (WPC-128), coastal minesweeper AMc-200 are sent to the scene; NAS Lakehurst sends three L-type blimps, one of which, L 2, ultimately sights the raft seen earlier that day. Net tender Larch (YN-16) rescues the one survivor of what was a crew of between 16 and 21 men.