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• USS S-28 crossed the International Date Line. ww2dbase [S-28 | CPC]
• British Lieutenant General Sir Ronald Weeks was appointed Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff. ww2dbase [AC]
• German submarine U-552 attacked Allied convoy HG-84 400 miles west of Brest, France between 0000 and 0500 hours, sinking four British freighters and Norwegian tanker Slemdal. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Allied convoy KN-109 sailed into a minefield 5 miles off Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States, which was laid by U-701 four days prior; British anti-submarine trawler HMT Kingston Ceylonite (33 were killed, 18 survived) and US tanker Robert C. Tuttle (1 was killed, 46 survived) were sunk, US tanker Esso Augusta and destroyer USS Bainbridge were damaged. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• German submarine U-502 sank 2 US ships and 1 Panamanian ship 90 miles west of Grenada. On the same day, U-172 sank Norwegian ship Bennestvet 50 miles off Costa Rica. 20 miles off Colombia, U-68 sank Vichy French tanker Frimaire in a case of mis-identification; all 60 aboard were killed. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• Soviet submarine M-95 struck and was damaged by a German naval mine in the Gulf of Finland near Hogland Island (Finnish: Suursaari Island); shortly after, she was spotted by Finnish aircraft, which sank her, killing all 19 aboard. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The British 8th Army withdrew from Libya and fell back to Egypt. ww2dbase [Battle of Gazala | CPC]

• Comandante Cappellini sighted an aircraft in the Atlantic Ocean at 1356 hours; she submerged to avoid detection. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | CPC]

• Italian midget submarine CB-3 sank Soviet submarine S-32 in the Black Sea off Yalta, Ukraine. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Joseph Rochefort was made the temporary chief of the Intelligence Center of Pacific Ocean Areas, a new intelligence branch in the US Navy Pacific Fleet based in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Joseph Rochefort | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• Naka was named a special reserve vessel; she departed Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [Naka | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]
• Tenryu departed Maizuru, Japan. ww2dbase [Tenryu | Maizuru, Kyoto | CPC]

• Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down four P-40 fighters over El Adem, Libya between 1801 and 1806 hours, increasing his score to 91 kills. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | El Adem | CPC]

• Italian cruisers attacked the Allied Harpoon convoy in the Strait of Sicily at 0539 hours, damaging British cruiser HMS Cairo (2 were killed), damaging destroyer HMS Partridge, and disabling destroyer HMS Bedouin (under the command of Commander B. G. Scurfield; 28 were killed, 213 captured; later sunk by Italian aircraft); British return fire damaged Italian destroyer Vivaldi. In concert, German aircraft attacked freighters of the Harpoon convoy, seriously damaging freighter Burdwan, freighter Chant, and tanker Kentucky (all three abandoned and later sunk by Italian warships). The Harpoon convoy reached Malta after sundown, but the ships ran into a new minefield in the Grand Harbour, sinking Polish destroyer Kujawiak (13 were killed, 20 were wounded), damaging British destroyer Badsworth (9 were killed), damaging destroyer HMS Matchless, and damaging freighter Orari. From the other side of the Mediterranean Sea, the Allied Vigorous convoy also sailed for Malta. At dawn, British Beaufort torpedo bombers from Malta attacked the Italian fleet moving to intercept the convoy, disabling Italian cruiser Trento at 0515 hours; she would be sunk by submarine HMS Umbra at 0910 hours, over 360 were killed. The detection of this Italian fleet turned back the entire Vigorous convoy. En route back to Alexandria, Egypt, Axis aircraft sank British destroyer HMS Airedale (44 were killed, 133 survived) and damaged British cruiser HMS Birmingham and Australian destroyer HMAS Nestor. In Germany, Adolf Hitler postponed Operation Herkules, the planned invasion of Malta. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | AC, CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru took on 500 wounded survivors from the Battle of Midway. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]
• Nagara transferred 500 wounded survivors of the Battle of Midway to hospital ship Hikawa Maru. ww2dbase [Nagara | CPC]

• USS Seawolf sank Japanese auxiliary gunboat Nampo Maru 10 miles north of Lubang Island and west of the opening of Manila Bay in the Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Seawolf | CPC]

• Soviet cruiser Molotov and destroyer Bezuprechny landed 3,855 troops at Sevastopol, Russia and then embarked 2,908 wounded personnel for evacuation; meanwhile, their guns bombarded German positions. ww2dbase [Battle of Sevastopol | Sevastopol | CPC]

• USS Copahee was commissioned into service at Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, United States with Commander J. G. Farrell in command. She was the first of 10 Bogue-class escort carriers converted from hulls of merchant ships. ww2dbase [Copahee | Puget Sound Navy Yard | Bremerton, Washington | CPC]

15 Jun 1942 Interactive Map