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• Shokaku arrived off Singapore naval yard. ww2dbase [Shokaku | CPC]
• Mineichi Koga passed away when the flying boat that carried him from Palau Islands to Philippine Islands crashed into the sea in bad weather. ww2dbase [Mineichi Koga | CPC]
• Aircraft from ships Beagle and Tracker in Allied convoy JW-58 sank German submarine U-355 in the Arctic Sea. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]
• Destroyer USS De Haven (DD-727) was commissioned with Commander J. B. Dimmick in command. ww2dbase [AC]
• Smalley was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Smalley | CPC]
• USS Pintado set sail for the Panama Canal. ww2dbase [Pintado | CPC]
• US Navy canceled its contracts signed prior to the Pacific War with civilian construction firms for projects across the Pacific Ocean. Those signed after the start of the war would continue. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Destroyer Yukikaze was assigned to Destroyer Division 17, Destroyer Squadron 10, 3rd Fleet. ww2dbase [Yukikaze | CPC]
• USS Flying Fish was attacked by a Japanese submarine; she was able to evade the torpedoes fired at her. ww2dbase [Flying Fish | CPC]

• At 0530 hours, Japanese artillery on the American positions at Nhpum Ga, Burma intensified, paving way for a second day of infantry assaults. Meanwhile, another group of Japanese troops moved toward the clearing at Hsamshingyang and set up a roadblock, cutting off Nhpum Ga's main supply route; this roadblock was discovered by troops of Orange Combat Team of 3rd Battalion of US 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), but the Americans were unable to break the roadblock. Lieutenant Colonel George McGee, Jr., commanding officer of 2nd Battalion of US 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), reported 3 men dead, 9 men wounded, and many mules killed; though casualties were relatively few, McGee nevertheless feared that the supply situation would become impossible to overcome by the next day. Colonel Charles Hunter, in command of US 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), at Hsamshingyang, began to organize a mule train to leave for Nhpum Ga the next day, to ensure his own position did not get surrounded by the Japanese, and to request fresh water to be delivered by air. ww2dbase [Charles Hunter | Battle of Myitkyina | Nhpum Ga | CPC]

• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) launched air strikes on enemy installations located in the Palau Islands, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Essex-class) | Palau | DS]

• USS Saratoga, HMS Cumberland, USS Cummings, USS Fanning, USS Dunlap, and ships of the Royal Navy Eastern Fleet arrived at Trincomalee, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). ww2dbase [Operation Cockpit and Operation Transom | Saratoga | Cummings | Cumberland | Trincomalee | DS]

• The newly-formed German Jagdverband 44, flying Me 262 jet fighters, flew its first mission out of München (Munich), Germany. ww2dbase [Me 262 Schwalbe | München, München-Oberbayern | CPC]

• USS S-43 departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [S-43 | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• Naka was struck from the Japanese Navy list. ww2dbase [Naka | CPC]
• Katori was stricken from the Japanese Navy list. ww2dbase [Katori | CPC]

• USS Portland screened fleet carriers as their aircraft struck enemy installations located in the Palau Islands, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Palau Islands and Ulithi Islands Campaigns | Portland | DS]

31 Mar 1944 Interactive Map