Cap't. Cromwell Earns Posthumous Medal Of Honor

FRI 19 NOV 1943
Pacific
Submarine chaser SC-1067 founders and sinks off Attu, Aleutians.

Motor torpedo boat PT-147, damaged by grounding, eastern New Guinea, 05°55'S, 147°20'E, is scuttled by crew.

Submarine Harder (SS-257) attacks Japanese convoy escorted by escort vessel Fukue and destroyer Yuzuki, sinking transports Hokko Maru and Udo Maru, 22°28'N, 147°22'E (see 20 November 1943).

Submarine Nautilus (SS-168) is damaged by friendly fire from light cruiser Santa Fe (CL-60) and destroyer Ringgold (DD-500) off Tarawa, Gilberts, 01°05'N, 173°03'E. Nautilus remains on patrol until she accomplishes her mission of supporting the landings.

Submarine Sculpin (SS-191), heavily damaged by Japanese destroyer Yamagumo about 154 miles north of Truk, Carolines, 00°00'N, 152°50'E, is scuttled. Captain John P. Cromwell, the embarked submarine squadron commander in Sculpin, familiar with secret details of upcoming operations, decides to go down with the ship rather than risk capture and inevitable interrogation. For his decision to accept certain death, Cromwell is awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously. [Damn.]