Japanese Planes Attack The Fleet in The Philippines
On 7 December 1941, Japanese planes struck Pearl Harbor and plunged the United States into the Pacific War. On the next day, Japanese planes destroyed General Douglas MacArthur's Far East Air Force on the ground on its Philippine fields and struck the Cavite Navy Yard on the 10th. Tanager lay alongside Machina Wharf when the high-level bombers came over. In the attack, the minesweeper managed to leave the area.
Others were not so fortunate. The minesweeper Bittern was wrecked; the submarine Sealion was sunk alongside a pier; and the destroyers Peary and Pillsbury were damaged. More importantly, Cavite was destroyed as an operating base for the Asiatic Fleet.
With Cavite out of commission and Manila declared an open city on Christmas Day 1941, American and Filipino forces withdrew to Bataan and Corregidor. Tanager carried the equipment and staff of the Commandant, 16th Naval District, Rear Admiral Francis W. Rockwell, out to the "Rock" during his withdrawal; and she subsequently operated out of Corregidor on inshore patrol duties.
Read more about this topic: USS Tanager (AM-5)
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