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21 Apr 1942
  • Large number of Japanese warships were dispatched in search for the carriers that launched the Doolittle Raiders. ww2dbase [Doolittle Raid | CPC]
  • US President Roosevelt ordered the seizure of all patents owned by enemy nations. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | CPC]
  • British submarine HMS Torbay sank German ship Delpa II 12 miles north of Crete, Greece at 1536 hours with her surface guns; Germans counterattacked with coastal guns followed by the dispatch of two torpedo boats, but Torbay would be able to dive and escape. ww2dbase [CPC]
Atlantic Ocean
  • German submarine U-84 sank Panamanian ship Chenango 30 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, United States at 0300 hours; 30 were killed, 2 survived. At 0236 hours, U-201 sank Norwegian ship Bris in the middle of the North Atlantic; 5 were killed, 21 survived. German submarine U-752 sank US freighter West Imboden 150 kilometers east of Boston, Massachusetts, United States; all 35 aboard survived. Meanwhile, German submarine U-459 departed from Germany on a resupplying mission for other submarines; she was the first of such supply submarines in the German Navy. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
  • German submarine U-576 sank US freighter Pipestone County 450 kilometers east of Virginia, United States at 1854 hours; all 35 aboard survived and were rescued by US Coast Guard cutter Calypso. ww2dbase [U-576 | Second Happy Time | CPC]
Australian Papua
  • Japanese aircraft based in Rabaul, New Britain attacked Port Moresby, Australian Papua. ww2dbase [Port Moresby | CPC]
Burma France
  • 20 French civilians were killed by Germans at Saint-Nazaire, France in retaliation of the 28 Mar 1942 raid by British commandos. ww2dbase [Saint-Nazaire, Pays de la Loire | CPC]
  • William Leahy's wife Louise Tennent Harrington Leahy passed away from a post-surgery embolism in France, with Leahy at her side. She would later be buried at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, United States. ww2dbase [William Leahy | CPC]
  • Comandante Cappellini departed Bordeaux, France at 0957 hours and arrived at Le Verdon-sur-Mer, Aquitaine, France at 1425 hours. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | Bordeaux, Aquitaine | CPC]
Hawaii Iceland Japan
  • USS S-35 remained off Paramushiro, Hokkaido, Japan in the Kurile Islands due to heavy fog. ww2dbase [S-35 | Paramushiro, Hokkaido | CPC]
Malta
  • Axis aircraft sank British anti-submarine trawler HMT Jade at Grand Harbour, Malta. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | CPC]
United States
  • The newspaper San Francisco News reported that the city government of San Francisco, California, United States was considering the banning the employment of Japanese-Americans. ww2dbase [San Francisco, California | CPC]
  • The 7,417-ton neutral Argentinian motor tanker Victoria, hit by two torpedoes from German submarine U-201 200 kilometers east of Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States three days prior, arrived at New York, New York, United States after emergency repairs performed at sea. Although the German government would admit responsibility in Jun 1942, the matter of cost was difficult to determine as witnesses were scattered all over the world. In the meantime, Victoria was repaired at New York without a clear sense of who was going to pay for the repairs. ww2dbase [New York | HM]
Photo(s) dated 21 Apr 1942
British Martlet IV (Wildcat) fighter at Naval Air Station, Anascotia, Washington DC, 21 Apr 1942, photo 1 of 2British Martlet IV (Wildcat) fighter at Naval Air Station, Anascotia, Washington DC, 21 Apr 1942, photo 2 of 2

21 Apr 1942 Interactive Map

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, 16 Mar 1945


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