Drayton Gets It Again

TUE 5 DEC 1944
Pacific
Naval Base, Tinian, is established.

Submarine Hake (SS-256) lands supplies on Panay, P.I.

Tank landing ship LST-23 and medium landing ship LSM-20 are damaged by Japanese planes 70 miles northwest of Caiut Point, Leyte, 10°12'N, 125°19'E. Kamikazes damage destroyers Drayton (DD-366), 10°10'N, 125°20'E, and Mugford (DD-389), 10°15'N, 125°20'E.

Japanese planes attack convoy bound for Leyte, torpedoing U.S. freighter Antoine Saugraine at 09°42'N, 127°05'E; falling astern of the convoy, the freighter again comes under attack, is torpedoed a second time, and is abandoned. Frigates San Pedro (PF-37) and Coronado (PF-38), and Army tug LT 454 rescue the 42-man merchant complement, 26-man Armed Guard and 376 Army troop passengers between them (see 6-7 December 1944). A kamikaze crashes freighter Marcus Daly in San Pedro Bay, Leyte, 09°34'N, 127°30'E; 1 of the 27-man Armed Guard is killed, as are 2 of the 40-man merchant complement and 62 of the 1,200 embarked Army troops; 49 men are wounded. Nearby, Armed Guard gunfire from freighter John Evans deflects a kamikaze from his suicidal course toward that ship, but the plane grazes the ship, glancing off the topmast and the stack before splashing close aboard. Bomb fragments cause some topside damage and wound four men (two of the 43-man merchant complement and 2 of the 26-man Armed Guard).

Medium landing ship LSM-149 is damaged by grounding, Philippine Islands.

Japanese escort destroyer Ikuna is damaged by aircraft off Formosa.

Mediterranean
Tank landing craft LCT-152, under tow of tank landing ship LST-141, is damaged in a gale off Palermo, Sicily. Auxiliary tug ATA-172 brings LCT-152 into port.