Table of Data Points

The Japanese assault on the Allied stronghold at Singapore, the "Gibraltar of the East". About 80,000 British, Australian and Indian troops became POWs. Churchill called the fall of Singapore the "worst disaster" in British history.

The Japanese Navy conducts a surprise attack on the US Navy based at Pearl Harbor, resulting in the United States becoming militarily involved in World War II. It was intended as a preventive action to detain the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Light cruiser HMAS Sydney and the German aux cruiser Kormoran fought each other off Western Australia. The two ships severely damaged one another, and Sydney was lost with all of her 645 crew members. Kormoran was scuttled and her crew became POWs.

The Italian convoy "Duisburg", named after the German steamer, was destroyed by the Royal Navy's Force K with no loss and almost no damage.

Position Unknown. Reuben James was hit forward by a torpedo and her entire bow was blown off when a magazine exploded. The bow sank immediately. Of the 159-man crew, only 44 survived. It was the first U.S. Navy vessel sunk by enemy action in WWII.