14 Dec 1942 | World War II Database

14 Dec 1942

American submarine USS Wahoo detected hospital ship Hikawa Maru and allowed her to pass after seeing her red cross marking. Hikawa Maru arrived at Buin, Bougainville later that day. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]
Australian troops captured Gona, New Guinea. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 2 | CPC]
LST-1 was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [LST-1 | CPC]
USS Grampus began her fifth war patrol. ww2dbase [Grampus | CPC]
S-36 received an urgent radio message requesting her position. ww2dbase [S-36 | CPC]

Japan

Tatsuta Maru departed Sasebo, Japan and arrived at Nagasaki, Japan later in the same day. ww2dbase [Tatsuta Maru | Sasebo, Nagasaki | CPC]
Light carrier Ryuho arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [Ryuho | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]

Pacific Ocean

Pharmacist's Mate Harry Roby performed an emergency appendectomy on a sailor aboard USS Grayback while at sea. ww2dbase [Grayback | CPC]
USS Wahoo sighted a hospital ship sailing toward the Shortland Islands and took no action. Later on the same day, she sank Japanese submarine I-15, hitting her with 1 of 3 torpedoes. ww2dbase [Wahoo | CPC]
Submarine USS Spearfish had two false alarms this day. First, after stalking a large unescorted ship for over an hour south of New Hanover and almost at the point of firing torpedoes, the ship was identified as a properly marked hospital ship and was allowed to pass. Later, Spearfish stalked a single-stack ship for 20 minutes before identifying it as a large floating tree trunk with a branch extending 20 feet into the air. ww2dbase [Spearfish | Bismarck Sea | DS]