Posted on 01/16/2011 6:04:02 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
Gordon W. Prange, At Dawn We Slept
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/jan41/f16jan41.htm
Axis aircraft target Maltese port
Thursday, January 16, 1941 www.onwar.com
In the Mediterranean...There are German and Italian attacks on Malta and especially the damaged carrier Illustrious. A force of about 80 Stuka dive-bombers attacks and, although 10 are shot down, they hit the carrier again as well as the cruiser Perth. The harbor facilities are also badly hit.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/16.htm
January 16th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM: Bristol: Incendiaries and high explosives are dropped in a severe air raid tonight.
The former US presidential candidate, Wendell Wilkie, arrives on a morale-boosting visit.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Desiree mined and sunk in Thames Estuary.
Corvette HMS Cowslip laid down
Corvette KNM Soroy (ex-HMS Eglantine) laid down.
Destroyer FS La Combattante (ex-HMS Haldon) laid down.
Corvette HMS Armeria launched.
Corvette HMS Fennel commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
MALTA: Now it is Malta’s turn to withstand the full onslaught of the Luftwaffe. The Fuhrer has ordered the “neutralising” of the island. In successive waves 80 Stukas hit Valetta harbour, causing major damage to port installations and several nearby churches. The casualty figures are said to be high - and soldiers and sailors were called in to unload ships when stevedores refused to work under fire.
The Luftwaffe’s principal target HMS Illustrious was hit by only one bomb, but more damage was caused to her hull be underwater explosions. HMAS Perth was also damaged in the raid.
The Maltese population failed to take adequate shelter in today’s raids. Tonight, they are digging deep into Malta’s limestone strata, suddenly aware that, despite the defending British aircraft - which shot down five Stukas today - the Luftwaffe will not let up.
U.S.A.: In the current ‘Aviation’ magazine T.P. Wright, of the Curtis-Wright corporation states that the aircraft industry of the US is at present working upon some 45 or 50 different military models and that this is a condition which does not make for speed. He estimates the present air strength of Germany and Italy at 41,000 planes, of Great Britain at 24,500 and the United States at 6,000.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt President asks the Congress for an immediate appropriation of US$350 million for 200 new merchant ships. (With inflation, the US$350 million in 1941 is equal to US$4.268 billion in year 2002 dollars.) (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: MS Zealandic sunk by U-106 at 58.28N, 20.43W - Grid AL 2599.
At 0356, the unescorted SS Oropesa was hit in the stern by one torpedo from U-96 SE of Rockall. She was missed by a coup de grâce at 0440 and sank at 0616 after being hit by two coup de grâce at 0503 and 0559 hours. The master, 98 crewmembers, one gunner and six passengers were lost. 109 crewmembers, one gunner and 33 passengers were picked up by rescue tugs HMS Superman and Tenacity along with destroyer HMS Westcott. Survivors landed at Liverpool. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 504 January 16, 1941
80 Luftwaffe Stuka dive-bombers attack Valletta Harbour, Malta, trying to finish off British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious which was badly damaged by Stukas while escorting the Excess convoy on January 10. HMS Illustrious, destroyer HMS Decoy (on the day when repairs from bomb damage in November 1940 are completed) and Australian cruiser HMAS Perth are hit or damaged by splinters from near misses, but none sink. British steamer Essex is also damaged. 10 Stukas are shot down.
British minesweeping trawler HMT Desiree hits a mine and sinks in the Thames estuary.
At 6.16 AM 150 miles Northwest of Ireland, U-96 sinks British troopship SS Oropesa with 3 torpedoes (99 crew, 1 gunner and 6 passengers killed). 109 crew, 1 gunner and 33 passengers in 5 lifeboats are picked up by destroyer HMS Westcott and tugs HMS Superman and HMS Tenacity and landed at Liverpool. Another lifeboat is launched but never found. Italian submarine Luigi Torelli continues the attack on a small convoy West of Ireland, sinking Greek SS Nicolas Filinis (3 crew killed, 26 rescued).
That’s because, no matter what you may say, the JU-87 (Stuka) was not nearly as good a dive bomber as the SBD (Dauntless) and the Luftwaffe pilots were not as well trained in anti-ship operations as were American, British, or Japanese naval aviators.
So Rear Admiral C.W. Nimitz is accepting “delivery” of a training facility in January 1941. I think by this time next year, he is going to be busier...
Agreed, he might have a long to-do list this time next year.
But I give up. Where is the reference to Adm. Nimitz and a training facility in today's thread?
Never mind. I read the story about Henry Ford.
Thank you. Nice addition to the thread. I figured the final chapter of this gruesome tale would be a double date with ol' sparky.
So whose idea was it to transport these two psychos (I use the term in the non-clinical, non-legal sense) to the death house in a taxi? Were all the secure police vehicles out for oil changes or something?
Oops, my bad. I forgot to put the words “from Henry Ford” in my post. I thought them, but I forgot to type them. Nimitz’s name is buried in the story.
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