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• At 0640 hours, British aircraft spotted a German fleet centered around battleship Tirpitz. At 0730 hours, British carrier HMS Victorious launched 12 Albacore aircraft to attack, reaching Tirpitz and destroyer Friedrich Ihn at 0830 hours. The attack caused no damage to the German warships; two Albacore aircraft were lost. Tripitz and her escorts arrived at Bogen near Narvik, Norway later that day. ww2dbase [Tirpitz | CPC]
• Tatsuta Maru departed Kwajalein, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Tatsuta Maru | CPC]
• US Navy Admiral Ernest King was appointed Chief of Naval Operations; he was to maintain his responsibility as the Commander-in-Chief (CominCh) of the US Navy. ww2dbase [Ernest King | CPC]
• Joseph Stilwell had dinner with Chiang Kaishek and his family; in a private conversation afterwards, Chiang hinted to Stilwell that he had no intention of sacrificing Chinese troops in the doomed defense of Mandalay, Burma. ww2dbase [Chiang Kaishek | Joseph Stilwell | CPC]
• Japanese troops entered undefended Rangoon, Burma, abandoned by British troops two days prior. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | CPC]
• British anti-submarine whaler HMS Shera, escorting Allied convoy PQ-12, capsized possibly due to being top-heavy from heavy ice build-up and having low levels of fuel, although the weather was not particularly bad on this date; only 3 of those aboard survived the sinking. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]

• German submarine U-94 sank Brazilian ship Cayrú 100 kilometers east of Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States at 0225 hours; 53 were killed, 36 survived. At 1317 hours, 10 miles east of Cuba, U-126 sank Panamanian tanker Hanseat; all 39 aboard survived. In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, German submarine U-587 sank Greek ship Lily 470 miles east of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada at 1845 hours (all 32 aboard survived the immediate sinking, but only 29 would live to be rescued) and Italian submarine Tazzoli sank Uruguayan ship Montevideo 650 miles east of Florida, United States (14 were killed, 35 survived). In the evening, at 2109 hours, U-96 sank Norwegian ship Tyr 100 miles east of Halifax; all 31 aboard survived the immediate sinking, but 13 of them would never be seen again. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• Leonardo da Vinci sighted a hostile aircraft in the Atlantic Ocean at 1350 hours and submerged to avoid detection. ww2dbase [Leonardo da Vinci | Second Happy Time | CPC]

• Tenryu arrived at Buka island, Bougainville, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Tenryu | Buka, Bougainville | CPC]

• Akagi returned to Staring Bay, Celebes, Dutch East Indies after the fall of Java. ww2dbase [Akagi | Staring Bay, Celebes | CPC]

• A second British air raid to Essen, Germany, again using the new GEE navigational system, had similar dismal results as the first raid on the previous day, as the haze made the target difficult to spot. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Essen | TH]

• Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto issued orders to the fleet to prepare for Operation C, a raid into the Indian Ocean. ww2dbase [Raids into the Indian Ocean | Isoroku Yamamoto | CPC]

• Japanese cruisers Kumano, Chokai, and cruiser division 7 depart Singapore to cover Operation T - The Invasion of Northern Sumatra ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Sumatra | Kumano | Chokai | DS]

• Admiral Harold Stark, formerly the American Chief of Naval Operations, was appointed as Commander of the United States Naval Forces in European waters with his headquarters in London, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Harold Stark | London, England | AC]

9 Mar 1942 Interactive Map