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http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/03.htm

December 3rd, 1941

UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Tenacious laid down.

AA cruiser HMS Charybdis commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

GERMANY: U-389, U-420 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

SWITZERLAND: Eggs and products based on eggs are rationed. (William Jay Stone from http://www.geschichte-schweiz.ch/en/worldwar2.html)

BALTIC SEA: Finnish Submarine Vetehinen makes a surface attack on a 7-ship convoy shooting both bow and stern torpedoes. Enemy artillery fire was heavy, no hits on either side. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.S.R.: General Walther von Reichenau succeeds von Rundstedt as commander of Army Group South.

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Brereton returns and is instructed by MacArthur to plan on leaving on 8th December for another trip, this time a 5,733-mile journey to Djakarta, Singapore, Rangoon, and Chunking, to co-ordinate defensive measures with the Dutch, British, and Chinese, and to receive a report on Japanese air activities from Chennault.

Hart personally briefs Lieutenant John Walker Payne, Jr, Commander of the US Yacht Isabel and assigns his ship to the “Defensive Information Patrol”. Payne sails the same day.
(Marc Small)

The men of the 5th Air Base Group at Del Monte field, are joined by two ordnance companies and a second contingent is due on December 10th with ammunition and 110,000 US gallons (91,594 Imperial gallons or 416,395 litres) of aviation fuel. (Jack McKillop)

AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Pirie launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Red Deer arrived Halifax from builder Montreal, Province of Quebec.

U.S.A.: Roosevelt again meets with British Ambassador, Lord Halifax, and indicates the US would enter the war on the British side the British if they were attacked by Japan, but did not explicitly promise this. (Marc Small)

Submarine USS Halibut launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-124 sank SS Sagadahoc. (Dave Shirlaw)

Nagumo Task Force roughly 2/3 of the way to Pearl. roughly south of the midpoint of the Aleutians.
The entire Task Force makes a final refuel from Supply Group Two consisting of three tankers. this refueling was one of the great unknowns in the plan, it wasn't clear it could be done, and had never been done by the IJN at sea under such conditions and at such scale.
The effective range of the task force, was well short of the distance needed to traverse and return, even after stripping out all unnecessary gear and packing the fleet with drums of fuel below decks. The US, and particularly Kimmel and Short at “Fortress Hawaii” believed it was impossible for the IJN to come so far east and attack. Their lack of imagination on this point, and their underestimation of the willingness of the IJN to take huge operational risks were the main factors in the surprise element, even though numerous war warnings were issued.

From “At Dawn We Slept”

At 11:30, after refueling the entire task force, Supply Group Two, consisting of the tankers and their escort destroyer, headed Northwest for its rendezvous point, where it would pick up the rest of the fleet on its return voyage. As they pulled away, their officers and crew lined up on the deck and saluted the task force in farewell. Toho Maru signaled “Good-bye and we hope your brave mission will be honored with success”. Everyone felt “deeply moved by this” Chigusa recorded.

This cutting down of Nagumo’s oil reserves reduced his margin of safety....and left him little or no room for evasive actions or unplanned high-speed runs.

I have to say, that is a moving scene. Like a gambler going all in, Nagumo and the IJN drop the fuel tanks, and are now on an all or nothing run to the target. You cant help but feel a little emotional at the scene in the middle of the Pacific with the support vessel crew on deck, saluting the attack force as it steams away to uncertainty.