Action All Over The Oceans

FRI 12 JUN 1942
Pacific
USAAF B-17s and B-24s raid Kiska, damaging Japanese destroyer Hibiki.

Submarine Plunger (SS-179) is damaged when emergency identification flare explodes as she makes signal to friendly aircraft; she suffers no serious injuries and remains on patrol.

Submarine Swordfish (SS-193) sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Burma Maru northwest of Pulo Wai, in the Gulf of Siam, 10°08'N, 102°34'E.

Atlantic
German submarine U-701 mines the waters off Cape Henry, Virginia.

Gulf of Mexico
U.S. tanker Cities Service Toledo, bound for Portland, Maine, with a cargo of 84,000 barrels of crude oil, is torpedoed by German submarine U-158, 20 miles east of Trinity Shoals Gas Buoy, 29°02'N, 91°59'W, and explodes; 11 of the 36-man merchant complement perishes in the inferno, as do four of the nine-man Armed Guard. Norwegian tanker Belinda, U.S. tanker Gulf King, and steamship San Antonio rescue the 30 survivors from among the merchant seamen and bluejackets.

Caribbean
U.S. steamship Sixaola is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-159 off the coast of Panama, 09°54'N, 81°25'W. Of the 87-man crew, 29 perish in the attack. The 58 surviving crewmen, together with the 6-man Armed Guard and the 108 passengers, take to five boats and six rafts. U.S. steamship Carolinian rescues 32 survivors and transfers them to motor torpedo boat tender Niagara (PG-52); Niagara herself rescues 75 more. Army tug Shasta picks up 23 (see 16 June).

Gunboat Erie (PG-50), at 10°12'N, 80°14'30"W, rescues master and 45 other survivors of British steamship Fort Good Hope, which had been sunk by German submarine U-159 at 10°19'N, 80°16'W. After salvaging the lifeboats, Erie joins with a patrol plane in prosecuting a submarine contact, ultimately dropping six charges with no result. Later, Erie transfers Fort Good Hope's survivors and their boats to submarine chaser PC-209.

Mediterranean
Operation HARPOON: Convoy WS 19Z (Force X) transits the Straits of Gibraltar. The ships are soon detected by German reconnaissance aircraft. Escort (Acting Captain Cecil C. Hardy, RN) for the five freighters (two of the five, U.S. motorship Chant and Dutch Tanimbar have Navy Armed Guard crews on board) and one tanker is provided by antiaircraft cruiser HMS Cairo (flag), nine destroyers (eight British and one Polish), four minesweepers and six motor gunboats; a covering force (Force W), formed around British battleship HMS Malaya, aircraft carriers HMS Argus and HMS Eagle, light cruisers HMS Kenya (flagship for Vice Admiral Alban T.B. Curteis, RN), HMS Charbydis and HMS Liverpool, and eight British destroyers. A second convoy MW 11 (Operation VIGOROUS) sets out from Alexandria and Port Said, Egypt, and Haifa (see 13 June).