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January 11th

1940
1940 - Three German destroyers are bombed off Horn's Reef by RAF Coastal Command
1940 - Luftwaffe aircraft performed reconnaissance of East Scotland, Firth of Forth, Humber, South Shields, Newcastle, Thames Estuary. Two trawlers were machine gunned but escaped. Enemy aircraft driven off
1940 - The USN's Fleet Landing Exercise (FLEX) No. 6 begins at Culebra, Puerto Rico. Lack of transports compels the Navy to substitute combatant ships in that role for purposes of the exercise; an important exception is the prototype high speed transport USS Manley (APD-1), converted from a World War I-emergency program "flush-deck, four-pipe" destroyer, which amply proves her worth
1940 - U-755 laid down
1940 - At 1632, SS Fredville (enroute to obtain a cargo of coal for Oslo) was torpedoed by U-23 about 100 miles east of the Orkney Islands and broke in two. The forepart remained afloat and five survivors left their lifeboats several times to go back on board and look for more survivors. The survivors were picked up by a Swedish ship and taken to Kopervik
1940 - At 1100, tanker El Oso in Convoy HX-14B, struck a mine laid on 6 January by U-30 and sank six miles 280° from the Bar Lightship, Liverpool. Three crewmembers were lost. The master and 31 crewmembers were picked up by HMS Walker & landed at Liverpool
1940 - Escort carrier USS Long Island launched

1941/42

1941 - Light cruiser HMS Southampton sunk Central Mediterranean east of Malta by German Ju-87 divebombers. 81 killed
1941 - U-598 laid down


1942 - Japan declared war against the Netherlands Celebes and Borneo; the same day that Japanese forces invaded the Dutch East Indies
1942 - Operation Paukenschlag ("roll of the kettledrums") descends upon the eastern seaboard of the US like a "bolt from the blue." The first group of five German submarines takes up station off the East Coast of the United States on this date. Over the next month, these boats (U-66, U-109, U-123, U-125 and U-130) will sink 26 Allied ships. The presence of the enemy off the eastern seaboard takes US Navy antisubmarine forces by surprise. The first ship, the British freighter SS Cyclops, is sunk by U-123 300 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts
1942 - Seven USAAF Far East Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses based at Singosari Airdrome, Java, are dispatched to attack the Japanese landing forces on Tarakan Island. Four abort due to mechanical problems and the other three abort due to poor weather over the target
1942 - USN Patrol Squadron Twenty Two (VP-22), with PBY-5 Catalinas, joins Patrol Wing Ten (PatWing-10) at Ambon Island, the first aviation reinforcements from the Central Pacific to reach SW Pacific Forces opposing the Japanese advance through the Netherlands East Indies. (PatWing-10 had been based at Cavite, Philippine Islands on 8 December 1941.) Unfortunately, the PBY-5 aircraft they received in Hawaii were the early models without self-sealing fuel tanks and armor. PatWing-10 later received five newer model PBY-5 Catalinas from the Dutch in Java. All of the rest of the PatWing's original aircraft were the older PBY-4 models. Almost immediately after arrival several of the VP-22 Catalinas were caught at anchor at Ambon and destroyed
1942 - While sailing for a rendezvous with USS Enterprise 500 miles SW of Hawaii, aircraft carrier USS Saratoga is torpedoed by submarine HIJMS I-6. Although six men are killed and three firerooms are flooded, the carrier returns to Oahu under her own power
1942 - US Naval Station Pago Pago, Samoa, is shelled by a Japanese submarine

1943/44/45

1943 - Minesweeper HMCS Fort William damaged collision with SS Lisgar at Halifax. Fort William was under repair for a month following the incident. Fort William was transferred to the Turkish Navy after the war and renamed Bodrum. She was removed from service and scrapped in 1971
1943 - U-1226 laid down
1943 - At 2025, the CS Flight was shelled and sunk by U-105
1943 - At 0033, the Ocean Vagabond, a straggler from Convoy SC-115, was torpedoed by U-186 south of Iceland & sank at 0307 following two coups de grâce at 0059 & 0145 hours. One crewmember was lost. The master, 41 crewmembers and four gunners were picked up by HMS Wanderer & landed at Liverpool
1943 - At 0040, U-522 attacked Convoy TM-1 NW of the Canary Islands (grid DH 5110) and reported one tanker sunk and one other damaged. In fact, the British Dominion was struck by three torpedoes and was abandoned. After 0300 the wreck was sunk by U-620 by a coup de grâce and gunfire. 33 crewmembers and four gunners were lost. The master, ten crewmembers and five gunners were picked up by corvette HMS Godetia & landed at Gibraltar
1943 - Escort carrier HMS Hunter commissioned
1943 - USS PT-43 damaged by Japanese warships beached destroyed to prevent capture on Guadalcanal
1943 - USS PT-112 destroyed by Japanese warships off Guadalcanal Solomon Islands
1943 - Destroyer USS Stockton commissioned
1943 - Corvette HMCS Louisburg laid down
1943 - Minesweepers HMS Pincher & Pickle laid down
1943 - Destroyer USS Caperton laid down
1943 - Destroyer escort USS Huse laid down
1943 - Minesweeper HMS Ready launched
1943 - Treaty with China with Britain and the US relinquishing extraterritorial rights


1944 - Corvette HMCS Lunenburg attacked by U-953 Oblt Karl-Heinz Marbach CO, 50N-18W, the attack was unsuccessful & there was no further contact. U-953 was a type VIIC U-boat built by Blohm & Voss at Hamburg, commissioned 17 Dec 42, She conducted 11 Patrols & had a record of 1 ship sunk for 1,927 tons, on 29 May 45 she was transferred from Trondheim, Norway to England. She was broken up in 1950 following RN Trials. Karl-Heinz Marbach was born in 1917, at Kolberg. He joined the navy in 1937. His first operational service was from Jun to Sep 39 in the light cruiser Leipzig, after which he served in the personnel branch of the Fleet Headquarters until he transferred to the U-boat in Oct 40. After conversion training, he served from May to Dec 41 as the Second Watch Officer in U-101, commanded by the 'ace' Kptlt. Ernst Mengersen (14 ships sunk for 77,000 tons, plus two damaged). He served as the First Watch Officer from Jan to Mar, & was the Acting/CO for part of this time. OLtzS Marbach was selected for command & underwent his U-boat Commander's Course from Apr to May 42. He commanded the training boats U-28 & U-29 between May & Nov 42 & was then appointed to command the new type VIIC U-boat U-953 on 30 Nov 42, at the age of 25. He was awarded the Knight's Cross "for acts of bravery" on 22 Jul 44 (the 124th presented in the U-boat force) & was promoted to Kptlt. on 01 Sep 44. After completing his tour of duty in U-953, he commissioned the new type XXI boat U-3014 in Dec 44. After the surrender, he became a POW & detained until Feb 48, being among the last U-boat men to be set free. Karl-Heinz Marbach died in 1995
1944 - Escort carrier USS Hoggatt Bay commissioned
1944 - Destroyer escort USS Doyle C Barnes laid down
1944 - Corvettes HMS Bamborough Castle & Pevensey Castle launched
1944 - Destroyer escorts USS Stafford & Richard W Suesens launched
1944 - HMS Tally Ho, one of the Royal Navy submarine flotilla based at Trincomalee, caught the Japanese light cruiser Kuma in the Malacca Strait, one of the very few large Japanese warships then operating in the area, and sank her with two torpedo hits
1944 - Aircraft from USS Block Island make first aircraft rocket attack on German submarine
1944 - U-879 launched
1944 - U-246, U-1006 commissioned
1944 - SS Triona damaged by U-532 at 00.03N, 80.43E - Grid LO 52


1945 - Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-356 was commissioned at New York with LT RV Flouton, USCGR, as her commanding officer. She operated in the Southwest Pacific and Western Pacific area during the war. She was decommissioned 30 October 1945.
1945 - Destroyers HMCS Algonquin & Sioux departed Kola Inlet with Convoy RA-63 for the Clyde
1945 - Soviet minesweeper T-76 Korall sunk by U-745 at 59.45N, 24.47E - Grid AO 3528
1945 - U-2362, U-4705 launched
1945 - U-2352, U-2354 commissioned
1945 - At 1515, U-1055 attacked some ships from a just dispersed coastal convoy in the Irish Sea west of Anglesey and reported two ships sunk. A first torpedo exploded behind the Yugoslavian steam merchant Senga, while other torpedoes sank the Roanoke & Normandy Coast. The Normandy Coast sank within two minutes, taking 18 crewmembers and one gunner with her. The master, five crewmembers and two gunners were picked up by patrol ship HMS PC-74 and landed at Holyhead on 12 January
1945 - High Speed Transport USS Belknap damaged beyond repair Kamikaze attack at Lingayen Philippines
1945 - USS YMS-14 sunk collision Boston