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• US destroyer escort USS Francis M. Robinson of Task Group 22.2 sank Japanese submarine RO-501, formerly German submarine U-1224, off the Cape Verde islands, killing the entire crew of 52 including Lieutenant Commander Norita Sadatoshi. RO-501 had a cargo of mercury, lead, steel, aluminum drawings, optical glass, IXC-type submarine blueprints, and Me 163A Komet jet fighter blue prints on board. USS Francis M. Robinson would later receive the Presidential Unit Citation for this action. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | CPC]
• Major Wolfgang Späte, in a Me 163 jet aircraft launched from Bad Zwischenahn in northern Germany, pursued two USAAF P-47 fighters. Mechanical problems with the aircraft cause Späte to eventually lose contact with the US fighters. ww2dbase [Me 163 Komet | CPC]

• One of the escort ships in USS Bogue’s task group, destroyer escort USS Francis M. Robinson, made sonar contact with a submerged submarine and attacked with Hedgehogs and depth charges with magnetic fuzes resulting in large underwater explosions. The Japanese submarine RO-501 was lost with all hands, although this was unclear to the US Navy for several weeks. [RO-501 was the former German U-1224 that had been transferred to the Japanese Navy 3 months earlier in Kiel, Germany. RO-501 was sailing to Japan with a cargo of mercury, lead, steel, uncut optical glass, aluminum, and blueprints for Type IXC submarines and Messerschmitt Me-163 "Komet" rocket interceptors.] ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | Bogue | DS]

• USS Honolulu, USS Birmingham, and USS St. Louis arrived at Hathorn Sound at the south end of Kula Gulf. ww2dbase [Walden Ainsworth | Honolulu | St. Louis | New Georgia, Solomon Islands | DS]

• Colonel Henry Kinnison ordered K Force of US 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) to fall back and then to move toward Myitkyina, Burma. ww2dbase [Battle of Myitkyina | Henry Kinnison | CPC]

• Japanese troops attacked Luoyang, China. ww2dbase [Operation Ichigo | Luoyang, Henan | CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Surabaya, Java. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Surabaya, Java | CPC]
• Patrol Boat No. 102, Patrol Boat No. 104, minelayer Shirataka, netlayer Korei Maru, and submarine chaser No. 38 departed Wasile Bay, Halmahera, Dutch East Indies to escort a convoy consisted of Teikai Maru, Mitsuki Maru, Mazuura Maru, Brazil Maru, and Atlas Maru. ww2dbase [Stewart | Wasile Bay, Halmahera | CPC]

• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against Stettin, Germany (now Szczecin, Poland). ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | RAF Thurleigh | Stettin | DS]

• By this date, Anglo-Indian troops had control of Jail Hill, GPT ridge, and FSD ridge near Kohima, India. ww2dbase [Battle of Imphal-Kohima | Kohima, Assam | CPC]

• Allied troops captured Ponte Sant'Angelo and Castelforte, Italy. ww2dbase [Battle of Anzio | Ponte Sant'Angelo | TH]

• USS Lapon made contact with a Japanese force consisted of carriers Shokaku, Zuikaku, and Taiho in the South China Sea west of Dutch Borneo at 0618 hours, and was in turn detected by the Japanese as well. The Japanese attacked the America submarine with depth charges, which kept the submarine away but caused o damage. ww2dbase [Taiho | Shokaku | Zuikaku | Lapon | South China Sea | CPC]

13 May 1944 Interactive Map