Surrender On Bataan

THU 9 APR 1942
Pacific
Luzon Force (Major General Edward King, USA) on Bataan peninsula surrenders to Japanese. Gunboat Mindanao (PR-8) rescues soldiers attempting to escape from Bataan to Corregidor.

U.S. Navy facilities at Mariveles are demolished to prevent enemy use: Navy forces scuttle submarine tender Canopus (AS-9), minesweeper Bittern (AM-36), tug Napa (AT-32), and drydock Dewey. Ferry launches San Felipe (YFB-12), Camia (YFB-683), and Dap Dap (YFB-684); motor launches evacuate men and equipment to Corregidor.

Submarine Snapper (SS-185) delivers food to Corregidor.

Motor torpedo boats PT-34 and PT-41 engage Japanese light cruiser Kuma and torpedo boat Kiji in a running fight off Cape Tanon, the southern tip of Cebu, P.I.;

Kuma is hit by a dud torpedo and machine gun fire. Later that same day, PT-34 is bombed and strafed by floatplanes from Japanese seaplane carrier Sanuki Maruand beached off Cauit Island, P.I., 10°16'N, 123°52'E. A second bombing and strafing attack by Sanuki Maru's planes destroys PT-34, which suffers two dead and three wounded from her six-man crew in the action.

Indian Ocean
Japanese Operation C continues: carrier striking force (Vice Admiral Nagumo Chuichi) raids Trincomalee, Ceylon, which has been cleared of shipping in expectation of the attack. Notwithstanding the precautions taken by the British, Japanese carrier bombers attack the ships they find returning to Trincomalee. British carrier HMS Hermes is sunk, as is Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire, British corvette HMS Hollyhock, depot ship HMS Athelstane and RFA oiler British Sergeant.

Atlantic
Unarmed U.S. freighter Esparta, en route from Honduras to New York, is torpedoed by German submarine U-123 about 14 miles south of Brunswick, Georgia, 30°46'N, 81°11'W; one man perishes out of the merchantman's 40-man crew.

Unarmed U.S. freighter Malchace is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-160 about 50 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, 34°28'N, 75°56'W; Mexican freighter Faja De Oro rescues the 28 survivors (one crewman drowns when Malchace is abandoned).

Unarmed U.S. tanker Atlas is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-552 off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, 34°27'N, 76°16'W; two of the 34-man crew die attempting to escape the fires fed by the cargo of 84,239 barrels of gasoline. Coast Guard cutter CG 462 rescues the 32 men who survive the inferno. Later the same day, U-552 torpedoes tanker Tamaulipas at 34°25'N, 76°00'W; British trawler HMS Norwich City rescues the 35 survivors (two crewmen perish when the tanker is abandoned). Tamaulipas, gutted by fires, sinks the following morning.

Unarmed U.S. tanker Eugene V.R. Thayer, en route to Caripito, Venezuela from Buenos Aires, Argentina, is pursued and shelled by Italian submarine Pietro Calvi at 02°20'S, 39°30'W; 11 of the tanker's crew are killed in the engagement that ends when Eugene V.R. Thayer is abandoned (see 10, 11 and 13 April).

Motor torpedo boat PT-59, on practice run in upper Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, accidentally torpedoes cargo ship Capella (AK-13); tugs are on the scene immediately and anchor the damaged auxiliary in shoal water. Eight crewmen are injured in the mishap.