Wednesday, 10 December 1941
FEAF: B-17's, P-40's, and P-35's attack a convoy landing troops and equipment at Vigan and at Aparri. One transport at Vigan is claimed as destroyed. The strikes include the much publicized attack by B-17C 40-2045 piloted by Captain Colin P Kelly Jr. against a Japanese Battleship Haruna (actually heavy cruiser Ashigara) and bombardier Cpl Meyer Levin salvoed all three bombs from 22,000' and claimed one hit and observed a seaplane taking off from warship. In fact, no damage was sustained to Ashigara and no battleship was part of the invasion force. Returning B-17C 40-2045 was intercepted by A6M2 Zeros from Tainan Kokutai and force landed near Clark Field. During an explosion or the crash landing Kelly was Killed In Action (KIA). Posthumously, he earned the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) for destroying a "battleship". In fact, he bombed heavy cruiser Ashigara and only achieved near misses that caused no damage. Returning, B-17D 40-3086 pilot 1st Lt. Guilford R. Montgomery was told to fly further south and out of fuel ditched four miles off Zamboanga.
USAAF: 39th Pursuit Squadron moves to Belingham Field in Washington State and began flying anti-submarine patrols off the west coast.
USN: USS Enterprise (CV-6) planes attack and sink Japanese submarine I-70 north of Hawaii. This was one of the submarines
used to scout the Hawaii area in connection with the surprise attack against Pearl Harbor and was
the first Japanese combatant ship sunk by United States Navy aircraft during World
War II.
IJN: Japanese forces land on Guam.
G3M2 Nells and G4M1 Bettys sink HMS Repulse (34) at 12:33pm and HMS Prince of Wales (53) at 1:20pm in the South China Sea off Kuantan in Malaysia. In the Philippines, Japanese planes bomb Cavite Naval Base and cause heavy damage to the central wharf and hit a torpedo warehouse causing torpedoes to explode and burn. They also damage USS Peary DD-226 and heavily damage is USS Sealion SS-195 later scuttled on December 25, 1941.
IJA: Japanese Army troops make amphibious landings at Vigan, Aparri and Gonzaga on northern Luzon in the Philippines.
RAAF: Crashed after take off is Hudson A16-69 (MIA).
IJN: Cavite Navy Yard, P.I., is practically obliterated by Japanese land attack planes (Takao Kokutai and 1st Kokutai). Destroyers Peary (DD-226) and Pillsbury (DD-227), submarines Seadragon (SS-194) and Sealion (SS-195), minesweeper Bittern (AM-36), and submarine tender Otus (AS-20), suffer varying degrees of damage from bombs or bomb fragments; ferry launch Santa Rita (YFB-681) is destroyed by direct hit. Submarine rescue vessel Pigeon (ASR-6) tows Seadragon out of the burning wharf area; minesweeper Whippoorwill (AM-35) recovers Peary, enabling both warships to be repaired and returned to service. Bittern is gutted by fires. Antiaircraft fire from U.S. guns is ineffective. During bombing of Manila Bay area, unarmed U.S. freighter Sagoland is damaged.
While flying to safety during the raid on Cavite, Lieutenant Harmon T. Utter's PBY (VP-101) is attacked by three Japanese Mitsubishi A6M2 Type 0 carrier fighters (ZERO) (3rd Kokutai); Chief Boatswain Earl D. Payne, Utter's bow gunner, shoots down one, thus scoring the U.S. Navy's first verifiable air-to-air "kill" of a Japanese plane in the Pacific War. Utter, as a commander, will later coordinate the carrier air strikes that lead to the destruction of Japanese battleship Yamato on April 7, 1945.
Japanese forces land on Camiguin Island and at Gonzaga and Aparri, Luzon. Off Vigan, minesweeper W.10 is bombed and sunk by USAAF P-35 at 17°32'N, 120°22'E; destroyer Murasame and transport Oigawa Maru are strafed; the latter, set afire, is beached to facilitate salvage. USAAF B-17s bomb and damage light cruiser Naka and transport Takao Maru; the latter is run aground at 17°29'N, 120°26'E (see 5 March 1942). Off Aparri, minesweeper W.19 is bombed by a B-17 and grounded (total loss) at 18°22'N, 121°38'E; light cruiser Natori is also damaged by a B-17. The B-17 is probably the one flown by Captain Colin P. Kelly, Jr., who is awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, posthumously, for heroism when Japanese fighters attack his bomber over Clark Field as he returns from his mission over Aparri.
Governor of Guam, M.I. (Captain George J. McMillin) surrenders the island to Japanese invasion force (Rear Admiral Goto Aritomo). District patrol craft YP-16 and YP-17; open lighters YC-664, YC-665, YC- 666, YC-667, YC-6687, YC-670, YC-671, YC-672, YC-673, YC-674, YC-685, YC-717, YC-718; dredge YM- 13; water barges YW-50, YW-55, YW-58; and miscellaneous auxiliary Robert L. Barnes (AG-27) are all lost to the Japanese occupation of that American Pacific possession.
SBD (CEAG) from carrier Enterprise (CV-6) sinks Japanese submarine I 70 in Hawaiian Islands area, 23°45'N, 155°35'W. Plane is flown by a VS 6 pilot.
Japanese naval land attack planes (Chitose Kokutai) bomb Marine installations on Wilkes and Wake islets, Wake Island. During the interception of the bombers, Captain Henry T. Elrod, USMC, executive officer of VMF 211, shoots down a Mitsubishi G3M2 Type 96 land attack plane (NELL); this is the first USMC air- to-air "kill" of the Pacific War. Japanese submarines RO 65, RO 66, and RO 67 arrive off Wake. Shortly before midnight, submarine Triton (SS-201), patrolling south of the atoll, encounters a Japanese warship, probably a picket for the oncoming assault force.
Unarmed U.S. freighter Mauna Ala, re-routed back to Portland, Oregon, because of Japanese submarines lurking off the U.S. west coast, runs aground off the entrance to the Columbia River; she subsequently breaks up on the beach, a total loss.
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