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• Operation Neuland: German submarine U-156 sank two ships and bombarded shore facilities at Aruba, U-502 sank three small tankers in the Gulf of Venezuela, while other German and Italian submarines conducted similar attacks on Allied shipping in the region. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• HMS Indomitable departed Trincomalee, Ceylon for Aden, escorted by Australian destroyers Napier and Nestor. ww2dbase [Indomitable | CPC]
• First Lieutenant Peter Roberts risked his life to dislodge an unexploded bomb from the casing of the submarine he served aboard, HMS Thrasher, while in enemy waters off Crete, Greece. He was later awarded the Victoria Cross. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The keel of submarine Puffer was laid down. ww2dbase [Puffer | CPC]
• HMS Eagle made rendezvous with Allied convoy WS 16 toward Gibraltar. ww2dbase [Eagle | CPC]

• Six 1st American Volunteer Group pilots departed Kunming, Yunnan Province, China for Calcutta, India aboard a DC-3 passenger aircraft to pick up P-40E fighters being delivered to them, currently in Africa. ww2dbase [Kunming, Yunnan | CPC]

• 46 Japanese aircraft based in Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies attacked an Allied troop convoy (carrying Australian and American troops) intended for Timor; although the attack was driven off, the convoy was turned back in fear of further attacks. ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Java | CPC]
• Small Dutch steamer Tandong Pinang rescued 200 women and children, survivors of HMS Kuala, an auxiliary patrol boat serving as a civilian evacuation transport and sunken by Japanese aircraft two days prior. Tandong Pinang set sail from Pompong island for Batavia, Dutch East Indies; she would soon be captured by the Japanese while still at sea, and all aboard were taken as prisoners. ww2dbase [Kuala | Pompong, Riau | HM]

• USS Astoria departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Astoria (New Orleans-class) | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]
• Katori arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [Katori | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]

• USS Lexington set sail with US Navy Task Force 11 for a raid on Rabaul, New Britain. ww2dbase [Lexington (Lexington-class) | CPC]

• The Sook Ching massacre began in Singapore during which somewhere between 5,000 (Japanese estimates) and 100,000 (Singaporean estimates) ethnic Chinese civilians were killed during the following 3 weeks. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | Singapore | CPC]

• US tanker E. H. Blum struck a US naval mine and at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay just off Virginia, United States; she broke in half but all 40 aboard survived. The two pieces of the wreck would later be recovered and rejoined. ww2dbase [Virginia | CPC]
• Battleship Alabama was launched at Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, United States, sponsored by Henrietta McCormick Hill, the wife of US Senator J. Lister Hill. ww2dbase [Norfolk Navy Yard | Alabama | Portsmouth, Virginia | CPC]

16 Feb 1942 Interactive Map