the beginning. Her klaxon sounded general quarters three minutes later, and by 08:00 her anti-aircraft batteries opened up on the Japanese. At 0803 torpedoes hit Utah and a minute later at berth F-12 was hit by a bomb. At 0811 Utah rolled over. By 0830 Tangier was ready for getting underway and lines were singled by 0850 but the ship did not get underway. During the ensuing melee, Tangiers gunners claimed three enemy aircraft and hits on a midget submarine which had penetrated the harbor's defenses. She and another seaplane tender——shelled the submarine, but the destroyer finished it off with a two-pronged attack, subjecting it to a ramming and following up with a cascade of depth charges. By 09:20, the skies were clear of aircraft, and only the smoke from the burning ships and shore installations remained. Tangier began rescuing survivors from the capsized Utah. In the air were aircraft from Tangier, among them a PBY-5 Catalina aircraft that was conducting an assigned search mission on 7 December 1941. This aircraft was attacked by a formation of approximately nine enemy aircraft and succeeded in defeating the surprise attack and landing safely, only to discover the devastation on land after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. During the next few days, it became apparent that the Japanese would soon attempt a landing on Wake Island, a strategic American outpost located almost astride the 20th parallel, some two-thirds of the way from Oahu to Guam and almost due north of the Marshall Islands. By mid-December, Tangier was loaded with supplies, ammunition, and equipment for the desperate but thus far victorious defenders of Wake Island. Then, she rode idly at anchor for two days while the aircraft carrier —around which the Wake relief force was to be built—steamed to Pearl from San Diego. Saratoga entered Pearl Harbor on 15 December, and Tangier departed the same afternoon in company with the fleet oiler and a destroyer division while the carrier refueled. Saratoga caught up to the slow-moving little convoy on 17 December, and the task force advanced on Wake. However, the relief expedition was ordered back to Oahu after a Japanese force of at least two fleet carriers and two heavy cruisers were spotted headed for Wake. On 23 December after a three-day struggle, the Wake defenders succumbed. Tangier sailed via Midway Island, where she disembarked the men and equipment of Marine Fighting Squadron 221