DECEMBER 8, 1941
The Thayne Reports are published by allied intelligence and distributed to senior officers serving in the Pacific Theater of Operation in order to give these officers an understanding of the overall military situation. These top secret reports contain the best and most up-to-date information available at the time of their writing. Revealing any of the contents of these reports will be punished as treason.
USS Oklahoma, New Orleans, Among 9 Ships Destroyed at Pearl Harbor
(Hawaii) - The office of the Pacific Fleet Headquarters under Admiral Husband E. Kimmel released an updated list of the damages suffered at Pearl Harbor air and naval stations just before the Thayne Report went to press. The battleship USS Oklahoma capsized in the port, and the heavy cruiser USS New Orleans was destroyed in a massive explosion during the air raid. Other ships destroyed in the Japanese sneak attack include the destroyers USS Blue, Selfridge, and Farragut, as well as a number of smaller craft.
Twenty-two other ships, including seven battleships and six cruisers, also suffered severe damage. One of the battleships, USS Nevada, is so severely damaged that there is some concern that it may need to be written off as a total loss as well.
Emergency personnel at the naval air station are still focusing their efforts on saving human lives. Medical facilities have been swamped with a sudden flood of patients, many of still lay in the hospital lawn due to a shortage of room inside. Barracks and hangers are also being turned into makeshift hospitals.
British Fleet Attacked Outside of Singapore
(Singapore) - A British task force sailed out to intercept the Japanese amphibious landings in northern Malaya today and immediately found itself set upon by Japanese long-range torpedo bombers. The British battleship the Prince of Whales was hit with two torpedoes before finding sanctuary in a nearby storm squal. The HMS Repulse was also attacked but remained unharmed until it, too, could find safety inside of a rain squal.
Captain Leach radioed back from the Prince of Whales that it is foolish to send capital ships into battle without the benefit of air cover. The Prince of Whales is limping back home to Singapore where it is hoped that they can get the ship in good enough shape to make it back home for repairs.
Allied Command Orders American Carriers South
(Hawaii) - In light of the threat posed by Japanese carriers around Pearl Harbor, Admiral Kimmel of the Pacific Command ordered the carriers Lexington and Enterprise to head south, where they are not at risk of being ambushed by the Japanese carrier force. The orders were said to have invited a string of expletives in response by Vice Admiral William Halsey of the USS Enterprise. There is some concern among the staff at Pacific Command that Halsey might disobey a direct order and attack the Japanese fleet on his own initiative.
However, Kimmel says that to lose the Enterprise and Lexington would give the Japanese uncontested control of the Pacific Ocean, to the great detriment of American interests in that region. "It will be necessary to preserve a credible threat to Japanese expansion in the area," Admiral Kimmel said. "Otherwise, the enemy will be free to take what it wants."
Soldiers Given 48 Hours to Report to Duty, Prepare Defenses
(Washington DC) - Allied military leaders with troops in the new battle zone in the Pacific cancelled all passes and ordered all soldiers and civilian personnel serving on American military bases or institutions to report to duty within 48 hours or face potential fine and imprisonment. While waiting for individual soldiers to report to duty, West Coast military units were ordered to drill and to prepare for embarkation.
Allied military leaders also told all units in the Pacific Theater of Operation that their duty to focus on reinforcing their current positions. They were to spend their energies building up their defenses and fortifications. Units will be free to return to the task of build airfields and ports once allied command is confident that the facilities can be defended, and the allies are not building facilities that will simply fall into Japanese hands.
Air units throughout the Pacific immediately went on alert, flying combat air patrols over allied bases and flying out in search of more Japanese ships and submarines. Smaller ships were also ordered out to patrol for enemy ships and submarines as well.
Even on the West Coast of the United States, military units are preparing defenses, streatching barbed wire along the beaches and preparing bunkers and trenches further inland with fields of fire across the beaches and into the Pacific Ocean.
Ships Ordered Out of Hostile Waters
(Washington DC) - Allied leaders ordered all ships to leave hostile waters that are currently under either the control or the threat of attack from Japanese forces. Ships in and around the Philippines were ordered to Java, while ships from Rangoon to Calcutta are ordered to report to Java. At the same time, ships from Singapore to Calcutta were ordered to move to Columbo on the island of Ceylon.
In addition to the losses at Pearl Harbor, Japan also attacked ships in Rangoon harbor in Burma, as well as Davao in the Philippines. Allied leaders are confident that Japan plans to systematically sink any ship that it can find in its waters, and that the only hope for survival would be to get the ships out of there.
Ships currently in Hong Kong will have to sail half way through hostile waters before they will make it to safe waters. Allied military leaders expect to get reports on the losses of a number of ships while they travel through this gauntlet of enemy aircraft.
