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May 19th, 1942

UNITED KINGDOM:
Rescue tug HMS Empire Fairy commissioned.

Frigate HMS Spey commissioned.

Destroyer HMS Zenith laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

GERMANY: U-520 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.S.R.: A strong German counterattack at Kharkov in the Ukraine against the Russians begins.

ICELAND: While at anchor at Hvalfjordur, some of the crewmen of the U.S. freighter SS Ironclad break into a cargo of liquor that is being shipped to the U.S. Ambassador in Moscow resulting in fights among the crew. The officer in command of the Armed Guard reports the incident to the battleship USS Washington (BB-56) and a detachment of marines board the ship and restore order. (Jack McKillop)

CANADA: Ottawa: Canada is becoming the “aerodrome of democracy”, President Roosevelt announced today as Allied representatives met to co-ordinate air strategy. Rossevelt’s words were conveyed by his assistant war secretary, Robert A. Lovett. The Russians sent no one.

Since the Empire Training Scheme began in Canada in December 1939, almost 50 flying schools have been opened. An enlarged scheme was signed on 5 May, and soon 4,000 aircraft will be in constant use. The scheme, operating in Australia and Rhodesia as well as Canada, will be able to train 20,000 pilots annually. The first 2,200 have already graduated. Volunteers include thousands of Americans.

U.S.A.: Three more armed U.S. merchant ships are sunk by German submarines. Two freighters are sunk in the Gulf of Mexico, one off Louisiana by U-506 and the second near the Yucatan Channel by U-103. The third freighter is sunk south of Navassa Island Light in the Caribbean by U-751. (Jack McKillop)

Destroyer USS Laws laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

GULF OF MEXICO: At 08.56 hours on 19 May 1942, the unescorted Heredia was hit by three torpedoes from U-506 two miles SE of the Ship Shoal Buoy, while proceeding on a nonevasive course at 13.5 knots. The first and second torpedoes struck the port quarter aft at the #3 and #4 holds. The third torpedo struck amidships on the starboard side, causing her to sink within three minutes. The explosions blew the decks up, stopped the engines and destroyed two lifeboats and two rafts. The survivors of the eleven officers, 37 crewmen, eight passengers and six armed guards (the ship was armed with one 3in and two .30cal guns) had no time to launch boats and only two rafts got away. 23 survivors were picked up by the shrimp trawlers Papa Joe (1), Conquest (2), J. Edwin Treakle (10) and Shellwater (10) and landed at Morgan City, Louisiana. A seaplane picked up three other survivors and landed them at New Orleans. Six officers, 24 crewmen, one passenger and five armed guards were lost. (Dave Shirlaw)

CARIBBEAN SEA: At 1040, the unescorted and unarmed Isabela was torpedoed by U-751 35 miles south of Navassa Island Light. One torpedo struck on the starboard side at a coal bunker at the waterline slightly abaft the bridge. The explosion caused extensive damage, immediately stopped the vessel and killed two firemen and a coal passer on watch below. All partial bulkheads on the main deck and above broke and jarred the galley range off its foundation, causing it to fall through the tremendous hole in the various decks at least to the bottom of the ship and perhaps right through the bottom. The U-boat then surfaced and began shelling the ship off the port side from about 350 yards. Four shots were fired before the surviving eight officers and 26 crewmen abandoned ship in two lifeboats and three rafts and three shots after it. The ship finally sank over the bow with a port side list at 1058 hours. The men on the rafts later transferred to the boats the next morning and they rowed to Cape Briton, Haiti. One lifeboat made landfall in 18 hours and the other in 30 hours. (Dave Shirlaw)