23 Nov 1940 | World War II Database

23 Nov 1940

German submarine U-100 attacked Allied convoy SC-11 100 miles off Ireland throughout the day, sinking 6 ships totaling 24,601 tons and killing 119. ww2dbase [CPC]
German submarine U-123 attacked Allied convoy OB-244 250 miles west of Ireland between 0416 and 0914 hours, sinking 4 ships totaling 20,885 tons and killing 119. After one of the attacks, U-123 collided with one of the sinking ships, damaging the periscope and conning tower, forcing her to sail for Lorient, France for repairs. ww2dbase [CPC]
German bombers attacked Southampton, England, United Kingdom overnight, damaging British troopship Llandovery Castle and paddle minesweeper Duchess Of Cornwall. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | CPC]
Vasily Kuznetsov was made the commanding officer of 1st Shock Army. ww2dbase [Vasily Kuznetsov | CPC]

Atlantic Ocean

At 0418 hours the 5,407-ton unescorted British steam merchant ship Oakcrest (Master Samuel Gordon Dyer), in ballast and a straggler from Allied convoy OB-244 due to steerage gear trouble since the evening of 21 Nov 1940, was hit on starboard side underneath the bridge by one G7e torpedo from German submarine U-123 (Karl-Heinz Moehle) between Ireland and Iceland. She immediately developed a heavy list and sank about 170 miles west-southwest of the granite islet of Rockall at 0424 hours. Moehle had first sighted the ship when she suddenly appeared out of a rain squall the previous afternoon and he had to order an immediate crash dive to avoid hitting the ship and to avoid detection. It was another nine hours before the submarine found the ship again. The Oakcrest's master, chief officer, chief engineer officer and nine other crew members were lost in the sinking. A lifeboat with four young sailors drifted away never to be seen again. Another lifeboat carried 24 crew members and a gunner; 11 of this group died of exposure before the boat reached the Isle of Barra in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland, United Kingdom on 1 Dec 1940, two more men died when the boat capsized while trying to make landfall in a rocky gully near Tangasdale, and six others died ashore during the following night before they received proper medical attention. ww2dbase [HM]

China

Japanese 11th Army began to prepare for an offensive in Hubei Province, China. The army was organized into five groups under the overall command of Lieutenant General Waichiro Sonobe. ww2dbase [Battle of Han River | Hubei | CPC]

Germany

Ion Antonescu of Romania signed the Tripartite Pact in Berlin, Germany. ww2dbase [The Tripartite Pact | Berlin | TH]

Japan

Nachi arrived at Sasebo, Japan. ww2dbase [Nachi | Sasebo, Nagasaki | CPC]

United States

It was announced in the United States that Admiral William Leahy was to be appointed Ambassador to France in place of Mr. William Bullitt. ww2dbase [William Leahy | AC]

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis

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