Romania Quits

TUE 12 SEP 1944
Romania signs armistice with U.S., Great Britain, and Russia.

Pacific
TF 38 (Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher) (TG 38.1, TG 38.2, and TG 38.3) begins operations against Japanese shipping and airfields in the Visayas. Planes from all three carrier groups pound enemy installations on Cebu and shipping offshore, sinking gunboat Kiso Maru, auxiliary submarine chasers Mogami Maru and No.12 Kyo Maru, auxiliary netlayer Korei Maru, auxiliary minesweeper No.18 Choun Maru, guardboats No.97 Banshu Maru and No.4 Fukuju Maru, transports Bugen Maru and Nichiei Maru, army cargo ships Keian Maru and Genkai Maru, merchant tanker Ayazono Maru, merchant cargo ships Toyo Maru, No.2 Shintai Maru, No.5 Shintai Maru and No.8 Shintai Maru, 10°20'N, 124°00'E; salvage ship Miho Maru, 10°35'N, 124°00'E; transport Shiramine Maru, 10°34'N, 124°01'E; transport Oakita Maru, 11°21'N, 124°07'E; transport Rakuto Maru, 10°35'N, 124°20'E. TF 38 planes also damage minesweeper No.21 Choun Maru off Cebu, 10°20'N, 124°00'E. Between Biliran and Cebu, TF 38 planes sink auxiliary minesweeper Takao Maru and auxiliary submarine chaser Nan-Ho Maru; in Bohol Strait, carrier aircraft sink motor torpedo boat Gyoraitei No.483.

Ensign Thomas C. Tillar, USNR, a pilot from Hornet, in TG 38.1, is rescued by Filipinos after his F6F ditches off Apit Island, off the southwestern coast of Leyte. Before Tillar is recovered by SOC from heavy cruiser Wichita (CA-45), he learns from his rescuers that the size of the Japanese garrison on Leyte is negligible. That fact, when combined with the lack of aerial opposition encountered and the few airfields that exist on Leyte and Samar, prompts Admiral Halsey (Commander Third Fleet) to recommend that the planned attack on Yap be abandoned and that the date of the landings on Leyte be advanced from 20 December to 20 October 1944.

Light minelayer Preble (DM-20) explodes acoustic mines in the shoals between Angaur and Peleliu; she and sistership Montgomery (DM-17) sweep most of the navigable waters by the end of the day.

Destroyer Marshall (DD-676) captures boat with 44 survivors of Japanese light cruiser Natori (see 18 August).

High speed transport Noa (APD-24) is sunk in collision with destroyer Fullam (DD-474) off Palau, Carolines, 07°01'N, 134°30'E; Fullam is damaged; oilers Millicoma (AO-73) and Schuykill (AO-76) are damaged in collision off the Palaus.

Submarine Growler (SS-215) sinks Japanese destroyer Shikinami 240 miles south of Hong Kong, 18°25'N, 114°30'E, and escort vessel Hirado 250 miles east of Hainan Island, 17°54'N, 114°49'E.

Submarine Pampanito (SS-383) sinks merchant passenger/cargo ship Kachidoki Maru (ex-U.S. passenger liner President Harrison) and tanker Zuih_* Maru,19°25'N, 112°27'E.

Submarine Pipefish (SS-388) sinks Japanese auxiliary vessel No.7 Hakutetsu Maru off Shiono Misaki, Japan, 33°32'N, 135°56'E.

Submarine Redfin (SS-272) carries out unsuccessful attack on Japanese cargo vessel Tosho Maru, 05°27'S, 120°28'E; counterattack by submarine chaser Ch 53 is likewise unsuccessful.

Submarine Sealion (SS-315) sinks Japanese transport Nankai Maru and merchant passenger/cargo ship Rakuyo Maru in South China Sea, east of Hainan Island, 18°42'N, 114°30'E; Sealion's crew is unaware that the latter carries Allied POWs.

Japanese tanker No.2 Eiyo Maru, damaged by Paddle (SS-263) on 7 September, is sunk by aircraft, 08°12'N, 122°37'E.

Atlantic
Motor minesweeper YMS-409 founders and sinks off Atlantic Coast.

U.S. freighter George Ade, en route from Mobile, Alabama, to New York, via Key West, Florida, is torpedoed by German submarine U-518 at 33°30'N, 75°40'W; the ship's Armed Guard fires two rounds at what they believe to be a surfaced submarine. There are no casualties among the 41-man merchant crew or the 27- man Armed Guard. Destroyer Barton (DD-722) contacts the stricken ship, and salvage vessel Escape (ARS-6) takes George Ade in tow (see 14-16 September).

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*Hadda look it up, so, more details:

12 September 1944:
At 0200, LtCdr Thomas B. Oakley’s (USNA '34) USS GROWLER (SS-215) torpedoes HIRADO. She blows up and sinks at 17-54N, 114-49E. Her CO, Cdr Segawa Iwao, and 106 sailors are KIA. Rear Admiral Kajioka, victor of Wake Island, is also KIA. He is promoted Vice Admiral, posthumously.

At 0500, LtCdr (later Vice Admiral) Eli Reich’s (USNA '35) USS SEALION II (SS-315) torpedoes and sinks RAKUYO MARU carrying 1,318 Allied POWs. She stays afloat for another 13 hours, sinking at 1820 that evening. Nine crewmen are KIA and 1,051 Allied POWs are lost.

At 0527, Reich also torpedoes and sinks NANKAI MARU carrying 525 passengers, 6,500 tons of bauxite ore, 4,000 drums of gasoline, 170 tons of other oil, 76 packages and the ashes of 18 war dead. Hit in Hold Nos. 3 and 6, she sinks about 0800. 196 passengers and three crewmen are KIA.

At 0840, USN codebreakers intercept a message from unknown Japanese station that says, “Have rescued survivors of HIRADO (survivors include the staff and 26 men plus 74 crew members. Captain of HIRADO killed in action ---.”

240 miles south of Hong Kong. SHIKINAMI is torpedoed by USS GROWLER (SS-215) and sinks at 18-16 N, 114-40 E. Kaibokan MIKURA rescues 128 crewmen, but her CO, LtCdr Takahashi Tatsuhiko and an unknown number of other crewmen are KIA. The rest of the convoy heads towards Samah, Hainan Island.

At 2254, LtCdr (later Rear Admiral-Ret) Paul E. Summers’ (USNA '36) USS PAMPANITO (SS-383) torpedoes KACHIDOKI MARU leased to Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and carrying an Army unit of 487 men and other 608 patients, gunners and crewmen and 1,318 Allied POWs. At 2337, KACHIDOKI MARU founders and sinks. 12 sailors and 476 passengers (including the POWs) are lost. The Japanese rescue a few POWs and transfer them to KIBITSU MARU for Japan. American submarines later return and rescue 159 survivors of whom seven die en route to Saipan. In all, 92 Australian and 60 British ex-POWs survive.

At about the same time, USS PAMPANITO also torpedoes and sinks ZUIHO MARU at 19-23N, 111-50E. There are no casualties, but her cargo of 8,000-tons of needed of aviation gas and oil is lost.