Air Operations, Europe

4 Wellingtons are sent on a cloud-cover raid to Essen. The target is not found, but 3 aircraft drop their bombs. Mulheim is identified as one of the areas hit. There are no losses.

Air Operations, New Guinea

• 5th Air Force B-17s and 22nd Medium Bomb Group B-26s, based in the Bismarcks, attack the Rabaul/Lakunai and Rabaul/Vunakanau airfields as well as shipping in the Rabaul harbor.
• 2 8th Pursuit Group P-39s down 2 A6M Zeros over Port Moresby/Seven-Mile Drome during noon hour sorties.

Atlantic

• British MTBs sink the torpedo boats Iltis and Seeadler escorting the disguised raider Stier from Rotterdam to Bordeaux. 200 men are killed. the British lose MTB-220
• The Mexican tanker Portrero del Llano is sunk by a U-boat off Miami. 13 are killed. Mexico demands compensation on May 15.

The victim of the German u-boat U-564 in this photo is the Mexican tanker Portrero del Llano. The Mexican ship was en route to New York. After the Germans sunk a 2nd Mexican tanker on May 22, 1942, Mexico declared war on Nazi Germany.

U-Boat Victim Mexican Tanker Portrero del Llano

Gulf Oil Tanker Penn On May 13, 1942, was hit by a torpedo from the German U-boat U-506 in the Gulf of Mexico. Out of the 38 crew members, 26 made it into lifeboats. One crew member died in lifeboat before being rescued by the Honduran vessel Telde.

Gulf Oil Tanker Penn Torpedoed by U-506

Battle of the Atlantic

The unarmed US freighter Norlantic 2606t) is shelled by U-69 while en route to Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela from Pensacola, Florida. Six of the 29-man crew are lost.

Burma

Japanese troops, pursuing the Chinese 6th Army, cross the Salween on the way to Kengtung.

Diplomatic Relations

Adm Robert agrees to the immobilization of French ships in ports under his jurisdiction in the West Indies.

Fiji

American troops replace New Zealanders in the islands' garrison.

Eastern Front

Russian troops begin to withdraw from the Kerch peninsula in the face of German attacks. About 80,000 manage to get away.[MORE]

British Ships at Diego-Suárez, Madagascar, 13 May 1942

Gulf of Mexico

U-506 attacks the unarmed US tanker Gulfprince (6561t) about six miles south of the Ship Shoals Sea Buoy. The Gulfprince escapes to New Orleans after receiving only a glancing blow from the submarine's torpedoes. U-506 then torpedoes and sinks the unarmed tanker Gulfpenn (8862t) losing 12 men in the initial explosion. The Honduran freighter Telde rescues the 26 survivors. The US freighter David McKelvy (6821t) is the next victim of U-506 about 35 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi. The ship's cargo of crude oil is ignited forcing the crew to abandon ship. The Coast Guard cutter Boutwell (WPC-130) rescues the survivors.

Pacific

• The Japanese liner Nagasaki Maru sinks after hitting a Japanese mine off Nagasaki. 39 are killed. The captain is rescued but he commits hara-kiri.
• The US submarine Drum (SS-228) sinks the Japanese merchant cargo ship Shonan Maru (5624t) northeast of Mikimoto, Honshu.