Today In the History Of Atlantic and Mediterranean Theaters

February 5, 1940
-Light cruiser Helena (CL-50) arrives at Santos, Brazil, on her shakedown cruise.
-U.S. freighter Exford is detained at Gibraltar by British authorities.

February 5, 1942
-Naval Operating Base, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, is established to serve as a turnaround point for transatlantic convoys.
-Unarmed U.S. tanker China Arrow is torpedoed, shelled, and sunk by German submarine U-103 off Winter Quarter Lightship.
-In the United States, National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, is established in this Washington, D.C. suburb.

February 5, 1943
-Battle to protect convoy SC 118 continues; destroyers Babbitt (DD-128) and Schenck (DD-159), and Coast Guard cutter Ingham (WPG-35) arrive to reinforce the harried escorts. German submarine U-413 sinks U.S. freighter West Portal, a straggler from SC 118, in the North Atlantic. There are no survivors (12 Armed Guard sailors lost among them).
-Forty survivors in boat from U.S. freighter Cape Decision, sunk by U-105 on 27 January, reach safety at Barbados.

February 5, 1945
-In the Mediterranean Sea, motor torpedo boats PT-308 and PT-313, on a routine patrol from Leghorn, Italy, sight two south-bound KT ships and one escort and engage them a half mile northwest of the swept channel off Portovenere, claiming at least one KT ship sunk.

 

February 6, 1940
-German freighter Konsul Horn, which had departed Aruba on 7 January, reaches Norwegian waters having eluded or deceived the U.S. Neutrality Patrol as well as British and French warships.

February 6, 1942
-Naval Coastal Frontiers--Eastern, Gulf, Caribbean, Panama, Hawaiian, Northwest, Western, Philippine--are redesignated as Sea Frontiers.
-U.S. and Britain establish Combined Chiefs of Staff.
-Unarmed U.S. freighter Major Wheeler, en route from Fajardo, Puerto Rico, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-107. There are no survivors from the 35-man crew.
-British freighter Hartlepool comes across lifeboat from torpedoed U.S. tanker W.L. Steed (sunk by German submarine U-103 on 2 February) and rescues the two survivors she finds; one of them will die in hospital on 10 February of exposure.

February 6, 1943
-Efforts to protect SC 118 continue; Babbitt (DD-128) helps prevent attacks by three U-boats attempting to close the convoy.
-In the Mediterranean Sea, North African Theater of Operations (Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower) is established.

February 6, 1944
-PB4Y-1 (VB 107) sinks German submarine U-177 west of Ascension Island.

February 6, 1945
-U.S. freighter Henry B. Plant, in Antwerp-bound convoy TAM 71, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-245; 7 of the 28-man Armed Guard perish in the abandonment. British minesweeper HMS Hazard and HM Trawler Sir Lancelot rescue survivors.

 

February 7, 1942
-President signs Executive Order 9054 establishing War Shipping Administration (WSA) to bring the control and operation of all U.S. merchant shipping under a single head. The WSA's most pressing task is to mobilize the shipping capacity of the country (the majority of which is still in private hands by the end of the year 1941) to bring it under single control so that vessels can be allocated more readily on the basis of overall shipping needs of the U.S. and the Allies.
-U.S. freighter West Jaffrey is stranded off Halfbald Island, Nova Scotia and wrecked. There are no casualties to either the merchant crew or the 14-man Armed Guard.
-Coast Guard cutter Nike (WPC-112) rescues all 37 survivors of U.S. tanker China Arrow, sunk by German submarine U-103 off Winter Quarter Lightship on 5 February.
-U.S. freighter Mary is damaged in collision with freighter Palimol and proceeds to San Juan, Puerto Rico, for repairs.

February 7, 1943
-During continued fight to defend SC 118, Coast Guard cutter Bibb (WPG-31) drives off U-402, only to battle that submarine and U-456 later the same day. U-402, however, torpedoes and sinks U.S. tanker Robert E. Hopkins about 650 miles west of Northern Ireland. Only 1 of the 19-man Armed Guard detachment is lost; survivors are rescued by British corvette HMS Mignonette. U-402 also torpedoes and sinks U.S. passenger ship Henry R. Mallory; 49 of the 77-man merchant crew perish, as do 15 of the 34-man Armed Guard and 208 of 283 embarked passengers, primarily to exposure. Coast Guard cutters Bibb and Ingham (WPG-35) rescue 227 men, five of whom will later die of their injuries.
-German submarine U-160 torpedoes and U.S. freighter Roger B. Taney, en route to Bahia, Brazil. Three crewmen perish in the explosion of the initial torpedo, but the rest of the 47-man merchant complement and the sole passenger survive, in addition to the 17-man Armed Guard.

February 7, 1944
-In the Mediterranean Sea, the destroyer Ludlow (DD-438) is damaged by dud shell from German shore battery off Anzio, Italy.

February 7, 1945
-In the Mediterranean Sea, motor torpedo boats PT-303 and PT-304, and British MTB 422, patrolling from Golfe Juan, France, engage southbound enemy convoy off Savona, Italy, sinking at least two vessels.

 

February 8, 1940
-U.S. freighter Scottsburg is detained at Gibraltar by British authorities.

February 8, 1942
-British freighter Ocean Venture is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-108.

February 8, 1943
-During continued efforts by German submarines against SC 118, U-608 unsuccessfully attacks destroyer Schenck (DD-159).
-Swiss freighter Caritasi rescues 14 survivors of U.S. freighter Charles C. Pinckney, sunk on 28 January 1943 by U-514; eight of the 27-man Armed Guard survive their ordeal, as do six merchant sailors.

February 8, 1944
-Light cruiser Marblehead (CL-12) rescues the survivors of German submarine U-177, sunk by PB4Y (VB 107) on 6 February.
-In the Mediterranean Sea, the destroyer Ludlow (DD-438) is damaged by shore battery fire off Anzio.

February 8, 1945
-In the Mediterranean Sea, the destroyer McLanahan (DD-615) bombards German outpost on Italian Riviera, shelling troop concentration.
-Motor torpedo boat PT-308, in company with two British motor torpedo boats, operating from Leghorn, Italy, attack three northbound flak lighters off Point Moneglia. The MTBs draw fire while PT-308 scores damage on one flak lighter. A second allied attack is unsuccessful.

 

February 9, 1940
-U.S. freighter Scottsburg, detained at Gibraltar by British authorities the previous day, is released.

February 9, 1942
-Rear Admiral Emory S. Land, Chief of the Maritime Commission, is appointed Director of the War Shipping Administration. As WSA director, he is responsible only to the President.
-Admiral William H. Standley, USN (Ret.), former Chief of Naval Operations (1935-1937), is named Ambassador to the USSR.
-Transport Lafayette (AP-53) (ex-French liner Normandie) burns at New York pier and capsizes at her berth.
-Destroyer Roe (DD-418) rescues 14 survivors from British freighter Ocean Venture, sunk the previous day by German submarine U-108.

February 9, 1943
-Destroyer Boyle (DD-600) rescues 54 survivors of U.S. freighter Pan Royal, which sinks after being accidentally rammed by motor vessel Evita and freighter George Davis, while proceeding in convoy UGS 5. Eight merchant sailors are lost in the mishap; there are no casualties to the 26-man Armed Guard.

 

February 10, 1940
-Light cruiser Helena (CL-50) departs Santos, Brazil, winding up her shakedown cruise.
-U.S. freighter West Chatala is detained for several hours at Gibraltar by British authorities but is released to continue her voyage.

February 10, 1942
-Submarine R-5 (SS-82) fires three torpedoes at what she later reports as a German U-boat, but the attack is not successful. By the time R-5 has reloaded, the enemy is gone. While R-5's captain is criticized for erring in judgment for failing to follow up his contact during darkness and continuing the attack, his inexperience (R-5 is his first command) is considered, as is the fact that it is that commanding officer's first war patrol. R-5's quarry may have been U-564, which sinks Canadian motor tanker Victolite the same day.

February 10, 1943
-USAAF B-24s (2d Antisubmarine Squadron) sink German submarine U-519 northwest of Spain.
-Thirty-seven survivors in boat from U.S. freighter Cape Decision, sunk by U-105 on 27 January, reach St. Barthelemy, French West Indies.

 

February 11, 1940
-U.S. Antarctic Service West Base main building is completed sufficiently to permit occupation. Over the next two months, the base--three buildings connected to an elaborate system of tunnels and caches--is finished by the time the sun sets for the winter on 21 April.

February 11, 1942
-In the Caribbean Sea, U.S. Army troops arrive at Curacao and Aruba, N.W.I., to assume occupation duty (with the cooperation of the British and Dutch governments) at this naval operating base whose primary mission will be port security, convoy routing, and protection of tankers transporting oil to U.S. ports.
In the Atlantic Ocean, a PBM (VP 74) rescues nine survivors adrift in a lifeboat from British tanker San Arcadio, sunk by German submarine U-107 on 31 January.
In Europe, Admiral William D. Leahy, USN (Retired), Ambassador to France, receives instructions from President Roosevelt that the U.S. government has learned that French ships are to be used to transport war materiel between France and Tunisia, and that unless the French government gives assurances that no military aid would go forward to any Axis power, and that French ships would not be used in the furtherance of Axis acts of aggression in any theater of war, the ambassador would be recalled to the United States "for consultation in a determination of American future policy with regard to the government of Vichy".

February 11, 1945
-Yalta (ARGONAUT) Conference attended by President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Churchill, and Russian Premier Stalin ends.
-In the Mediterranean Sea, the destroyer McLanahan (DD-615), while withdrawing from bombardment mission off Italian Riviera, is damaged by near-misses from German shore battery at San Remo, Gulf of Genoa.

 

February 12, 1940
-War again comes to the Americas: British heavy cruiser HMS Dorsetshire stops German freighter Wakama 12 miles off Cabo Frio, Brazil; Wakama's crew scuttles her so that their ship will not fall into British hands.
-U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Jefferson Caffery reports to Secretary of State Hull on 20 March 1940 that the Brazilian government's protesting Dorsetshire's stopping Wakama had not pleased the British. The British maintained that they were protecting Brazilian commerce. "Indeed you are not," the Brazilian Minister for Foreign Affairs Oswaldo Aranha retorts, "you are definitely not protecting our commerce by maintaining your warships off our coast. It is apparent to me that your blockade of Germany is plainly ineffective. If it were effective, you could stop the German boats [sic] on the other side before they entered German ports."

February 12, 1942
-U.S. freighter Dixie Sword founders and sinks in Nantucket Sound.
-British freighter Raby Castle comes across lifeboat from torpedoed U.S. tanker W.L. Steed (sunk by German submarine U-103 on 2 February) and rescues the one survivor she finds; sadly, he will die on board on 15 February, of exposure.

 

February 13, 1940
-U.S. freighter Exford, detained at Gibraltar by British authorities since 5 February, is released.

February 13, 1942
-Destroyer Ericsson (DD-440) accidentally sinks Icelandic trawler Greedir in collision off Hvalfjordur, Iceland.

February 13, 1944
-In the Mediterranean Sea, tank landing craft LCT-220 founders in heavy weather and sinks off Anzio.

 

February 14, 1940
-U.S. passenger liner Manhattan is detained at Gibraltar for several hours by British authorities but allowed to proceed; not as fortunate is freighter Exermont, which is also detained there.

February 14, 1941
-Fleet Landing Exercise No. 7, which had begun on 4 February, concludes in Culebra-Vieques, Puerto Rico, area.

February 14, 1945
-U.S. freighter Horace Gray is torpedoed by German submarine U-711 at the entrance to Kola Inlet. Beached the following day, Horace Gray will subsequently be determined a total loss. There are no casualties to either the merchant complement or the 28- man Armed Guard.

 

I just want to interrupt here for a second here Bill and thank you for this thread. I visit here often for my daily dose of Maritime history, and I truly appreciate these posts. Cheers Bill.

 

Thanks for the kind words Blaz. If you are interested I worked a similar thread last year regarding the Pacific and CBI theaters. As for this thread I realize that it is pretty well dominated by the activities of the US Navy with the exceptions of when thier duties crossed with those of other Allied Navy's. This is not meant to be an attempt to put the US Navy in the spotlight but is more indicitive of my lack of a good chronological source for Navy's of Great Britain, Canada, etc. If anyone has a good lead on a chronology for these navy's I would be greatful and more than happy to include them in my daily post.

 

February 15, 1940
-President Roosevelt embarks in heavy cruiser Tuscaloosa (CA-37) at Pensacola, Florida, for a cruise to Panama and the west coast of Central America to discuss Pan-American defense and to inspect the Panama Canal.
-Destroyer Goff (DD-247) collides with and sinks harbor tug Wicomico (YT-26) in Hampton Roads, off Naval Operating Base, Norfolk. Goff, her bow damaged in the mishap, rescues Wicomico's 11-man crew.

February 15, 1942
-Brazilian steamship Buarque is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-432 30 miles southwest of Cape Henry.
-U.S. tanker Point Breeze suffers explosion in engine room that damages steering gear, forcing the ship to go around off Throggs Neck, New York; one man is killed and one is blown overboard. Point Breeze later floats free and is towed to New York for repairs.

February 15, 1943
-U.S. tanker Atlantic Sun, straggling from convoy ON 165, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-607, 150 miles off Cape Race; other than one deckhand rescued by U-607, all hands (45 merchant sailors, a 19-man Armed Guard and one passenger) perish with the ship.

February 15, 1944
-In the Mediterranean Sea, off Anzio, destroyer escort Herbert C. Jones (DE-137) is damaged by radio-controlled bomb, and large infantry landing craft LCI(L)-2 is damaged by mine. Bomb holes freighter Elihu Yale, the explosion starts fires that spread to tank landing craft LCT-35 alongside, destroying that vessel as well. Firefighting efforts by fleet tug Hopi (ATF-71) ultimately prove successful but Elihu Yale is later written off as a total loss. Two of the 40-man Armed Guard perish in the attack, as do three of the 45-man merchant complement and seven of the 182 stevedores working cargo. Tank landing craft LCT-152 rescues survivors from Elihu Yale and LCT-35.

 

February 16, 1940
-U.S. freighter Excalibur is detained for several hours by British authorities at Gibraltar but is released; freighter Exermont, detained since 14 February, is allowed to proceed as well.
-British destroyer HMS Cossack violates Norwegian territorial waters, boards German tanker Altmark in Jøssingfjord, and recovers 303 merchant seamen from ships destroyed by German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee during her commerce-raiding activities.

February 16, 1942
-Unarmed U.S. tanker E.H. Blum blunders into U.S. minefield off Cape Henry, Virginia and is damaged by mine and breaks in half.
-Coast Guard cutter Calypso (WPG-104) rescues 42 survivors from Brazilian steamship Buarque, that had been sunk by German submarine U-432 the day before.
-In the Caribbean Sea, Operation NEULAND begins with simultaneous attacks on Dutch and Venezuelan oil ports to disrupt production and flow of petroleum products vital to the Allied war effort; German submarine U-156 shells refinery on Aruba, N.W.I. and torpedoes and damages U.S. tanker Arkansas as she lies alongside Eagle Dock; a second torpedo misses the ship and runs up on the beach. There are no casualties among the 37-man crew. The enemy does not emerge from the action unscathed, however, for the explosion of a shell prematurely in a gun barrel injures two men on board U-156, which will receive permission to put in to Martinique.

February 16, 1943
-Fleet Air Wing 16 (Captain Rossmore D. Lyon) is established at Norfolk, Virginia.

February 16, 1944
-In the Mediterranean Sea, the destroyer Hilary P. Jones (DD-427) is damaged by near- miss of bomb off Anzio.

 

Okay it looks like I have found another source which expands the scope of this topic. Although not as complete as the sources I have for the US Navy it will give a little more rounded picture of the various theaters. Since I cannot edit today's post at this time I will add the info here.

February 16, 1942
-Dönitz orders all available U-boats in the Atlantic to attack British and American shipping off the US eastern seaboard. German U-boats, with their deck guns, bombard oil storage facilities and refineries on the Dutch islands of Aruba and Curacao in the southern Caribbean.

 

February 17, 1940
-U.S. freighter Exhibitor is detained by British authorities at Gibraltar.

February 17, 1942
-Coastal minesweeper Detector (AMc-75) is accidentally sunk in collision with U.S. tanker Oswego 300 yards east-northeast of Finn's Ledge Buoy, at the entrance to the north channel at Boston, Massachusetts. There are no casualties.
-Coastal minesweeper Paramount (AMc-92) accidentally runs aground off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and is abandoned without loss.
Coast Guard cutter Dione (WPG-107) provides assistance. Paramount is salvaged and returned to service.
-Destroyer Jacob Jones (DD-130) rescues 16 men from Brazilian steamship Buarque, that had been sunk by German submarine U-432 on 15 February; U.S. steamship Eagle rescues 16 more, thus accounting for all survivors.
-Coast Guard cutter Woodbury (WPC-155) rescues all hands (40 men) from mined tanker E.H. Blum. Both halves of the ship are later salvaged and rejoined, and E.H. Blum returns to active service.
-German vessel disguised as a British merchantman is reported sunk by a U-boat off Azores.

February 17, 1943
-Moroccan Sea Frontier (Rear Admiral John L. Hall) is established.

February 17, 1945
-Motor torpedo boat PT-605 is sunk by striking submerged object off Ostend, Belgium.
-U.S. freighter Michael J. Stone, in convoy UGS 72, is torpedoed by German submarine U-300 27 miles from Gibraltar. There are no casualties on board and the damaged freighter reaches her destination under her own power.

 

February 18, 1942
-Destroyer Truxtun (DD-229) and stores issuing ship Pollux (AKS-2) run aground during storm near Placentia Bay, Newfoundland; the former just east of Ferryland Point and the latter off Lawn Point. Minesweeper Brant (AM-24) arrives on scene and contributes rescue parties as well as brings medical officer and corpsmen from destroyer tender and Support Force flagship Prairie (AD-15). The tragedy produces deep admiration for the lifesaving efforts of the local population. "Hardly a dozen men from both ships would have been saved," one observer writes later, "had it not been for the superb work of the local residents." Many men jeopardize their own lives frequently to save the American sailors; several hang by lines over the cliffs to keep survivors from dragging over sharp rocks as they are pulled up from the beach below; others go out in a dory, risking swamping several times in the rough waves; after working all day rescuing Truxtun's people, some of the local inhabitants then toil all night rescuing Pollux's men with a stamina that defies description. Though poor, the men, women, and children of the town of St. Lawrence turn out to outfit the "survivors with blankets, warm clothes, boots, fed them, cleaned them up as best they could and turned them in their own beds." Subsequently, they turn a deaf ear to offers to pay for food and clothing used in succoring the shipwrecked Americans. Destroyer Wilkes (DD-441) also runs aground off Lawn Head, but manages to free herself from her predicament and escape the fates of Truxtun and Pollux.
-Brazilian tanker Olinda is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-432.
-In the Caribbean Sea, the U.S. freighter Mokihana is torpedoed by German submarine U-161 while lying at anchor at Port of Spain, Trinidad; there are no casualties among the 36-man merchant crew or 9-man Armed Guard.

February 18, 1944
-In the Mediterranean Sea, heavy German air attacks, as well as artillery fire, continue on beachhead at Anzio on an almost daily basis; harbor tug YT-198 is sunk by mine off Anzio. Elsewhere in the Mediterranean theater, tank landing craft LCT-205 capsizes in Gulf of Tunis, while being towed; tank landing craft LCT-340 is stranded by heavy weather at Pantelleria, Italy. Heavy weather also damages large infantry landing craft LCI(L)-211, resulting in her being towed to Palermo, Italy; and minesweeper Pilot (AM-104) is accidentally rammed by U.S. merchant ship Samuel Ashe and damaged off Naples, Italy.
-The Cruiser Penelope is sunk by U-410 off Naples and earns the distinction of being the last British cruiser to be lost in the war.

February 18, 1945
-District patrol craft YP-94 sinks after running aground off Trinity Islands.
-A Russian torpedo hits the ex-’Strength through Joy’ Nazi cruise liner leaving Danzig for Denmark with 5,000 refugees and 3,800 U-boat personnel on board. Only 1,000 are reported as saved.

 

February 19, 1940
-Destroyer HMS Daring torpedoed, 157 are killed.

February 19, 1941
-Rear Admiral William P. Blandy relieves Rear Admiral William R. Furlong as Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance.
-Coast Guard Reserve is established.

February 19, 1942
-Destroyer Dallas (DD-199) rescues 46 survivors from Brazilian tanker Olinda, sunk the day before by German submarine U-432.
-Unarmed U.S. tanker Pan Massachusetts is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-128 about 20 miles off Cape Canaveral, Florida; Coast Guard lighthouse tender Forward (WAGL-160) and British tanker Elizabeth Massey rescue 18 survivors from the 38-man crew.
-U.S. freighter Lake Osweya is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-96 in the North Atlantic. Although U-96 sees three lifeboats pull away from the ship, no survivors from the 30-man merchant complement or the seven-man Armed Guard are ever found.
-In the Caribbean Sea, transport William P. Biddle (AP-15) arrives at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and disembarks the 9th Defense Battalion.

February 19, 1943
-Submarine Blackfish (SS-221) torpedoes and sinks German patrol craft VP 408 (ex-trawler Haltenbank) but is damaged by depth charges from what she reports as two converted trawlers, and is forced to terminate her patrol.

February 19, 1944
-In the Mediterranean Sea motor torpedo boats engage German convoy southeast of Elba.
-Light cruiser Philadelphia (CL-41) arrives off Anzio to provide gunfire support; she is thrice under shore battery fire but suffers no damage in the encounters.
-Destroyer Madison (DD-425) conducts unsuccessful hunt for enemy submarine believed off Anzio.

 

February 20, 1942
-Commander in Chief U.S. Fleet directs Atlantic and Pacific Fleets to establish Amphibious Forces.
-U.S. freighter Delplata is torpedoed by German submarine U-156 about 60 miles west of Martinique. Small seaplane tender Lapwing (AVP-1) rescues the 52 survivors (including the 13-man Armed Guard) and then scuttles the irreparably damaged merchantman with gunfire.
-Unarmed U.S. freighter Azalea City is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-432 about 125 miles east-southeast of Ocean City, Maryland. There are no survivors from the 38-man crew.
-Admiral William D. Leahy writes to President Roosevelt that he expects a recall "for consultation" since the French have not responded positively to Roosevelt's message of 11 February. President Roosevelt, while sympathetic to Admiral Leahy's position, subsequently informs his ambassador to Vichy that "to hold the fort [in Vichy] is as important a military task as any other in these days." Leahy is thus retained in France. On the same day that Leahy writes to the President, however, German submarine U-156 puts in to Martinique to put ashore one of the men wounded by the premature barrel explosion on 16 February.

February 20, 1943
-German submarines sight New York-bound convoy ON 166, which is escorted by Coast Guard cutters Spencer (WPG-36) and Campbell (WPG-32), one British and four Canadian corvettes. During the night of 20-21 February, Coast Guard cutter Spencer (WPG-36) depth charges U-604.
-USAAF B-24 locates German prize tanker Hohenfriedberg 500 nautical miles southwest of Cape Finisterre; consequently, British heavy cruiser HMS Sussex intercepts and sinks the Axis vessel.

February 20, 1944
-Tank landing ship LST-348 is sunk by German submarine U-410, 40 miles south of Naples, Italy.
-LCT-340 founders and sinks in heavy weather off coast of Algeria.
-The Admiralty announces an 11-day battle with U-boats in Straits of Gibraltar, during which three ships are sunk and several damaged.

 

HMS Daring picture and infomation.

http://www.model-dockyard.com/deans/daring.htm

They launched a new HMS Daring Feb 1, 2006. It is the 6th ship to have the name.