Navy Department Communique No. 103

AUGUST 11, 1942

The following communiqué is based on reports received up to 6 p. m. (e. w. t.) on August 11, 1942:

North Pacific Area

1. Information received by the Navy Department now makes it possible to report the following incidents in the Aleutian Islands:
2. On July 22 Army bombers dropped bombs through the fog in the area of Kiska Harbor. Results were unobserved.
3. On July 29 Navy patrol planes conducted a night attack on Kiska and Army bombers attacked shore installations and ships in the same vicinity.
4. On August 3 Japanese aircraft attacked the U. S. destroyer Kane off Atka Island, about 305 miles east of Kiska. No damage was inflicted. Army bombers again attacked the Kiska Harbor area, with unobserved results.
5. On August 4 Army pursuit planes shot down two Kawanishi 97 seaplane bombers.
6. On August 8 a task force of the Pacific Fleet, protected by Navy patrol planes, heavily bombarded a group of enemy ships, camp facilities, and shore installations at Kiska. The attack was a complete surprise.  The enemy, mistaking the first salvos of shells for bombs, opened fire with antiaircraft batteries on imagined planes. The intensive bombardment from cruiser and destroyer guns soon silenced short batteries, started fires and inflicted severe damage to the camp area.  The only enemy resistance encountered was from aircraft. Our loss was one observation plane.
7. On August 9 naval patrol planes followed up the bombardment by an attack on two cargo ships in Kiska Harbor. Two bomb hits were scored on each of the two ships, resulting in severe damage. On this flight, observers reported sighting a sunken cargo ship, which is believed to have been sunk near the beach during the previous day’s bombardment by surface forces.

South Pacific Area

8. While the action in the Tulagi area of the Solomon Islands continues, nothing further can be reported at this moment.