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• Weather data for 16 Feb 1942

• HMS Eagle made rendezvous with Allied convoy WS 16 toward Gibraltar. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• HMS Indomitable departed Trincomalee, Ceylon for Aden, escorted by Australian destroyers Napier and Nestor. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• The keel of submarine Puffer was laid down. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• 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 [Main Article | 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]

• 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 [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 [Main Article | HM]
• 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 [Main Article | CPC]

• USS Astoria departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Main Article | Facility | CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• USS Lexington set sail with US Navy Task Force 11 for a raid on Rabaul, New Britain. ww2dbase [Main Article | 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 [Main Article | 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 [Main Article | Facility | 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 [CPC]

16 Feb 1942 Interactive Map