19 December 1941
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The British destroyer HMS
'Stanley' [I 73, ex-USN USS '
McCalla' (DD-253)] is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine
'U-574' about 336 nautical miles (622 kilometers) north of the Madeira Islands in position 38.12N, 17.23W.
'Stanley' is escorting about 30 ships in convoy HG76 (Gibraltar to the U.K.); only 25 of her 161 man crew survive. Within 12-minutes,
'U-574' is sunk by ramming and depth charges from another escort, the British sloop HMS
'Stork' (U 81); 16 of the 44 crewmen on the sub survive.
EASTERN FRONT: The Germans continue their attack on Sevastopol, while the Soviets bring 14,000 men and supplies into the area as reinforcements.
GERMANY: With the retirement of Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch as Commander in Chief of the Army yesterday, Chancellor Adolf Hitler himself assumes personal command of the Army, especially of its operations on the Eastern front. Initial success leads Hitler to a hypnotic belief in his ability. When the success turns, Hitler remains convinced and therefore believes that the efforts of others is at fault.
MEDITERRANEAN: While on their way to intercept an Italian convoy bound for Tripoli the British Force K [light cruisers HMS
'Neptune' (20),
'Aurora'(12),
'Penelope' (97) and the destroyers HMS
'Kandahar' (F 28 ),
'Lance' (G 87),
'Lively' (G 40) and
'Havock' (H 43)] run into a newly laid Italian minefield. HMS
'Neptune' sinks while HMS
'Aurora' and
'Kandahar' are badly damaged and HMS
'Penelope' is lightly damaged. HMS
'Aurora' is patched up at Malta before returning home for repairs at Liverpool from April to June 1942. HMS
'Penelope' is repaired at Malta but is bombed on 26 March 1942 while still under repair. She leaves Malta on 8 April 1942 for full repairs at the New York Navy Yard in the U.S. These repairs are completed in September 1942.
NORTH AFRICA: During the night of 18/19 December, the Italian submarine R. Smg. Scir launches three SLC (Slow Moving Torpedo) human torpedoes off the British naval base at Alexandria. The SLCs are a 21-inch (53 centimeter) torpedo fitted with an electric motor powered by batteries with an explosive charge in the detachable head. The weapon is manned by two operators using breathing apparatus. After release the SLCs, the submarine returns to La Spezia, Italy. Anticipating the return of the British Force B to Alexandria, the harbor nets are left open allowing the three SLCs to slip in and direct their weapons toward the designated targets. Since the expected aircraft carrier HMS
'Eagle' (94) is no longer in the harbor, the three attach their explosive charges to the battleships HMS
'Valiant' (02) and
'Queen Elizabeth' (00) and the large tanker SS
'Sagona'. Two Italian frogmen are captured, Lieutenants Luigi Durand de la Penne and Bianchi. They refuse to divulge any information until moments before the explosion (because they are being interrogated right above the area of the keel where the explosion is to occur). At 0600 hours local, the first charge detonates under the tanker SS
'Sagona' and badly damages both the tanker and the destroyer HMS
'Jervis' (F 00), which is moored alongside for refueling. The charge under HMS
'Valiant' detonates at 0620 hours, and the one under HMS
'Queen Elizabeth' at 0624 hours. The depth of water is 15 to 50 feet (4,6 to 15 meters) and the charges weighed about 300 kilograms (661 pounds). Both battleships were severely damaged and remained out of the war for a period of time. The Italians are interned in a POW camp for the rest of the war. This attack, which neutralizes the ability of the British to oppose the Italian Regia Marina with its battleships, allows deeply needed convoys to supply Axis forces in Africa. Additionally, de la Penne and Bianchi are awarded the Gold Medal for Military Valour in 1945 by Vice-Admiral Charles Morgan, the
'Valiant's' skipper at the time.
Axis forces continue their retreat in Cyrenaica. The XIII Corps, British Eighth Army, continues to follow the withdrawing Axis forces, the Indian 4th Division advancing along the coast to Derna and the British 7th Armoured Division across the desert. Dictator Benito Mussolini requests German assistance for his hard-pressed troops in the Cyrenaica region of Libya in the form of a Panzer Division and various logistical support.
NORTH AMERICA: The US Selective Service (draft) Act is amended requiring the registration of all males 18-64. The age for those subject to military service is 20-44. Lieutenant General John DeWitt, Commanding General of the Fourth Army and the Western Defense Command, recommends to the War Department to round up
"all alien subjects 14 years of age or over, of enemy nations and remove them to the Zone of the Interior (ZI),"
because the West Coast had become a wartime Theater of Operations. DeWitt also writes,
"...that there are approximately 40,000 of such enemy aliens and it is believed that they constitute an immediate and potential menace to vital measures of defense."
....Vice Admiral Randall Jacobs relieves Rear Admiral Chester W. Nimitz as Chief of the Bureau of Navigation.
The U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1942 is graduated early, due to the National Emergency.
SOUTH AMERICA: Colombia breaks relations with Germany and Italy; Mexico breaks diplomatic relations with Hungary and Nicaragua declares war on Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.