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• Allied convoy PQ-16 encountered heavy fog but managed to remain with each other by keeping eyes on fog buoys towed by the ship immediately in front of each trailing ship. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]

• U-103 sank US tanker New Jersey 90 miles southwest of Grand Cayman island (41 survived) in the Caribbean Sea. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | U-103 | Caribbean Sea | CPC]
• U-506 sank British ship Yorkmoor with 55 round from her deck gun; all 45 aboard survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• American freighter Sylvan Arrow (of the Standard Oil and Transportation Company), damaged by German submarine U-155 on 20 May 1942, sank in the Caribbean Sea while under tow. Captain Arthur Beck and others were taken to nearby Curaçao. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | Caribbean Sea | CPC]
• U-106 sank British ship Mentor (4 were killed, 82 survived) in the Gulf of Mexico. ww2dbase [U-106 | Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | Gulf of Mexico | CPC]
• U-502 sank US ship Alcoa Pilgrim (31 were killed, 9 survived) in the Caribbean Sea. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | Caribbean Sea | CPC]
• German submarine U-155 sank Dutch ship Poseidon 150 miles east of Martinique; all 32 aboard survived. ww2dbase [U-155 | Second Happy Time | CPC]
• Alpino Bagnolini fired two bow torpedoes at 0029 hours at a tanker she had sighted in the Atlantic Ocean on the previous date; they both missed and detonated well beyond the target. At 0316 hours, two additional torpedoes were launched. An explosion was heard after 91 seconds, but no visual confirmation was possible. Commanding Officer Mario Tei chose not to approach the target again as the Italian submarine only had stern torpedoes left. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | CPC]
• Comandante Cappellini sighted an aircraft in the Atlantic Ocean at 1450 hours; she submerged by avoid detection. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | CPC]

• Seaplane tender USS Tangier conducted a small raid on Tulagi in the Solomon Islands; during the attack, she transmitted radio messages that were purposefully composed as if she was a fleet carrier, thus giving the Japanese a false impression that the US was still operating fleet carriers in the South Pacific when in actuality all fleet carriers had been shifted back to the Hawaiian Islands. ww2dbase [Battle of Midway and the Aleutian Islands | Tulagi | CPC]

• USS Enterprise and Task Force 16 departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for Midway Atoll. ww2dbase [Enterprise | Northampton | Minneapolis | Pensacola | New Orleans | Vincennes | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]
• USS Yorktown moved into Dry Dock No. 1 at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, US Territory of Hawaii at 0645 hours. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Yorktown (Yorktown-class) | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]
• USS Hornet departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for Midway Atoll. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Hornet (Yorktown-class) | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | CPC]

• Japanese Navy changed code books. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Tatsuta Maru arrived at Yokohama, Japan. ww2dbase [Tatsuta Maru | Yokohama, Kanagawa | CPC]
• Destroyer Yuzuki arrived at Sasebo, Japan for a scheduled overhaul. ww2dbase [Sasebo Naval Arsenal | Yuzuki | Sasebo, Nagasaki | CPC]
• Repair ship Akashi departed Kure, Japan in support of the Midway invasion as a member of the Supply Group. ww2dbase [Akashi | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]

• The Allies began counterattacks two days after the Axis offensive began in Libya, forming the "Cauldron" that attempted to envelope Axis forces on three sides. British General Neil Ritchie still believed that the feint that the Axis forces launched on 26 May 1942 near the coast to be the main attack, however, thus refusing to send additional tanks to the southern end of the Gazala Line. ww2dbase [Battle of Gazala | CPC]

• A force of about 500 US Army troops moved from Efate to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides to build an airfield in support of the proposed Solomon Islands landings. ww2dbase [Espiritu Santo | CPC]

• USS Salmon sank Japanese passenger-cargo ship Ganges Maru in the South China Sea. ww2dbase [Salmon | South China Sea | CPC]

• Alfons Bentele was transferred away from Majdanek Concentration Camp in occupied Poland. ww2dbase [Majdanek Concentration Camp | Lublin | CPC]

• Semyon Timoshenko ordered all offensives in the Kharkov, Ukraine region to cease, thus effectively conceding the Second Battle of Kharkov and granting victory to the German Unternehmen Fridericus I. When all actions were wrapped up, the Germans would count over 200,000 prisoners of war, 1,200 tanks, and 2,000 artillery pieces captured. ww2dbase [Second Battle of Kharkov | Izium, Kharkov | TH, CPC]

• Winston Churchill despatched Lord Louis Mountbatten, the British Chief of Combined Operations, to Washington DC, United States to persuade the Americans that an invasion across the English Channel into occupied France would, at this time, only lead to disaster. As an alternative he proposed an Anglo-American landing in French North Africa later in the year. Mountbatten was authorised to tell the Americans that Great Britain would only agree to a 1942 attack across the Channel if the Soviets were to be in immediate danger of surrendering. ww2dbase [Winston Churchill | AC]

• USS Ranger anchored in Narragansett Bay, Newport, Rhode Island. ww2dbase [Ranger | Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island | DS]

28 May 1942 Interactive Map