PACIFIC ISLAND-1941

Pacific Naval War!

16/01/1941 French inflict a naval defeat on Thai forces at Koh-Chang. 14/05/1941 Large Royal Navy reinforcements arrive in Singapore. 30/07/1941 17 Japanese ‘spy’ fishing boats seized by US in Hawaiian waters. 19/11/1941 The cruiser HMAS Sydney and German raider Kormoran sink each other off Western Australia. There are no survivors from HMAS Sydney. 26/11/1941 Japanese 1st Air Fleet sets sail for Pearl Harbour, from its anchorage in the Kurile Islands. Commanded by Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, its consists of 6 aircraft carriers, 2 battleships, 3 cruisers, 9 destroyers and 8 oil tankers and has strict orders to observe strict radio silence. 02/12/1941 The Battleship Prince of Wales and the Battle Cruiser Repulse arrive in Singapore. 05/12/1941 Japanese fleet is officially reported moving south. 07/12/1941 At 6:15 Honolulu time, the first wave of Japanese aircraft take of from their carriers which are located about 200 miles north of Hawaii. At 7:50, 43 fighters, 51 dive-bombers, 70 torpedo-bombers and 50 ordinary bombers arrive over Hawaii. They launch attacks against the airfields at Wheeler, Kaneohe, Ewa and Hickham and against the American warships anchored at ‘Battleship Row’. Surprise was complete and within a few minutes 5 battleships and 2 light cruisers had been sunk and a large number of aircraft (180) destroyed on the ground. Within an hour, the second wave of Japanese strike aircraft (36 fighters, 80 dive-bombers, 54 bombers) had arrived over the target, sinking a further 3 destroyers and damaging another battleship. By 10:00 the attack was over and the casualties could be accounted for. The Americans lost 2,729 killed and 1,178 wounded, while the Japanese losses amounted to just 29 aircraft (59 airmen) and five mini-submarines. 08/12/1941 The British battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse, set sail from Singapore in an attempt to intercept and destroy the Japanese landings that are taking place at Kota Bharu on the north eastern coast of Malaya, while the RAF manages to damage three of enemy's transports. 10/12/1941 Due to the RAF's heavy losses, the British Battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse are attacked and sunk of the north eastern coast of Malaya by Japanese aircraft flying from occupied French Indo-China. 13/12/1941 A US naval task force under Rear-Admiral Frank J. Fletcher sets sail from Pearl Harbour with orders to relieve Wake Island. 31/12/1941 Admiral Chester W. Nimitz is appointed to command the US Asiatic Fleet.