Pensacola Convoy
[1][2] The convoy, dispatched in peacetime, was intended to reinforce the United States Army Forces Far East (USAFFE), created to defend the U.S. Commonwealth of the Philippines and commanded by General Douglas MacArthur, with artillery, aircraft, munitions and fuel, as the threat of war with the Empire of Japan loomed.
"[4] Reinforcement convoys began in September and continued through November 1941, escorted from Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, by naval vessels.
[Note 2] The convoy was carrying a provisional field artillery brigade, made up of 2,000 National Guard troops: 2,600 U. S. Army Air Forces personnel were also on board,[5] along with aircraft shipped disassembled in crates: Fifty-two Douglas A-24 dive bombers of the 27th Bombardment Group (Light) sent on the Meigs.
The ships left San Francisco individually and arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 27 November to form the convoy.
On 9 December, at a meeting of the Joint Board, the chief planners of the respective services, Brigadier General Leonard T. Gerow and Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner agreed that the convoy should be recalled immediately.
[3] The Pensacola convoy was also discussed in a meeting at the White House the following day, and Roosevelt suggested that the materiel should be delivered to the Southwest Pacific.
He referred the matter back to the Joint Board, which decided at a meeting that same day to send the convoy to Brisbane, Australia by way of Suva, Fiji.
Crace hoisted his flag in Canberra and departed for the New Caledonia vicinity to be joined by the light cruiser HMNZS Achilles.
It had been decided to send the most important articles of equipment by air to Manila, and General George Brett was en route to Australia to establish a supply system for reinforcing the Philippines.
The airplanes sent with the convoy were assembled but no engine coolant had been provided for the fighters, and the dive bombers were without trigger motors, gunsight solenoids, and gun mounts.
[13] The circumstances that led to the omission of these parts were found to be due to inexperience in loading and peacetime lack of standard nomenclature and practices.
[14][15] The Pensacola was directed on 24 December to escort ongoing elements of her convoy as far as the Torres Strait before returning and rejoining the fleet.
[16] On 28 December, after six days of prolonged unloading because cargo had been haphazardly loaded under peacetime standards, two artillery battalions sailed on Holbrook and Bloemfontein, the two fastest ships, destined for Manila.
[17] Japanese bases established in Borneo by this time made the blockade of the Philippines effective so that most of the troops were unloaded at Darwin Australia with some sent forward to Surabaja, Java.
