Three-Ocean War

THU 24 SEP 1942
Pacific
Japanese land on Maiana, Gilberts.

SBDs (VMSB 231, VS 3) from Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, damage Japanese destroyer Umikaze while the ship engages in resupply operations.

USAAF B-17 damages Japanese seaplane carrier Sanuki Maru off Shortlands Island, Solomons.

Indian Ocean
U.S. freighter Losmar is sunk by Japanese submarine I-165 about 250 miles west of Cape Comorin, India, 07°40'N, 74°15'E; of the ship's 9-man Armed Guard detachment, 3 are lost when she sinks. British ship Louise Moller will rescue 14 survivors on 5 October; seven survivors will reach the west coast of Ceylon by boat on 17 October 1942.

Atlantic
U.S. freighter John Winthrop, straggling from convoy ON 131, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-619 at 56°00'N, 31°00'W. There are no survivors from the 39-man merchant complement or the 13-man Armed Guard.

U.S. freighter West Chetac is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-175 north of British Guiana, 08°06'N, 58°12'W; only 17 of the 39-man crew and two of the 11-man Armed Guard reach the rafts that float free of the ship as she sinks in heavy seas. U-175 conducts a brief interrogation of the survivors before departing (see 2 or 3 October 1942).

U.S. freighter Antinous, torpedoed the previous day, is reboarded by the rest of the crew and is taken in tow by British rescue tug HMS Zwarte Zee. Soon thereafter, however, Antinous is torpedoed by U-512. Again, Antinous is abandoned, and all hands are picked up by Zwarte Zee and HMS Busy. The freighter sinks later that day.

West Indian fishing boat rescues last two survivors (one of whom subsequently dies of exposure) of U.S. freighter West Lashaway (sunk by German submarine U-66 on 30 August 1942). All told, only 12 of the 38-man merchant complement, one of the 9-man Armed Guard, and five of nine passengers survive West Lashaway's loss.