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• UK Task Force 37 and US Task Force 38.2 launched their first strike on the Japanese home islands; it was the first British attack on Japan in the Pacific War. British Seafire carrier fighters were launched against Japanese airfields at Kionoke, Naruto, and Miyakawa. American warships bombarded Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. 1,207 16-inch shells from battleships and 292 6-inch shells from cruisers were fired. ww2dbase [Preparations for Invasion of Japan | CPC]
• At the Potsdam Conference in Germany, top Allied leadership set up a Control Council to administer occupied Germany. ww2dbase [Potsdam Conference | CPC]
• Rescue tug HMS Athlete hit a mine and sank off Leghorn, Italy. ww2dbase [CPC]
• 4 B-25 bombers of the 77th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 28th Bombardment Group (Composite), US Eleventh Air Force based in the Aleutian Islands searched for Japanese shipping in the northern Kurile Islands off Shumshu and Atlasov Islands. 2 of the bombers were forced to land in Kamchatka and became the last American airmen to be interned by the Russians. ww2dbase [CPC]
• After sundown, in Japan, 27 B-29 bombers deployed naval mines in the Straits of Shimonoseki between the islands of Honshu and Kyushu, waters off the Nanao-Fushiki area on the northern coast of central Honshu, off Henashi Cape in northern Honshu, and off Iwase in eastern Honshu. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Canadian corvettes HMCS Trail and HMCS Dundas were decommissioned at Sorel, Quebec, Canada; corvette HMCS Athol was decommissioned at Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. ww2dbase [Sorel, Quebec | CPC]

• Over 200 American bombers attacked Jiangwan, Shanghai, China, which held the largest concentration of Japanese aircraft in China. ww2dbase [Jiangwan Airfield | Shanghai | CPC]

• USS Wake Island arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii with 300 sacks of mail and 30 defective aircraft from Guam, Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Wake Island | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• USS Springer began patrolling the Kii Channel between Honshu and Shikoku islands of Japan. ww2dbase [Springer | CPC]
• I-14 departed Mutsu, Japan. ww2dbase [I-14 | Mutsu, Aomori | CPC]
• I-14 departed Ominato Guard District in Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan at 1500 hours. ww2dbase [I-14 | Mutsu, Aomori | CPC]
• USS St. Louis departed Buckner Bay, Okinawa and resumed patrols and training around Okinawa. ww2dbase [St. Louis | Buckner Bay, Okinawa | DS]

• USS Parche made rendezvous with USS Cero and took on three rescued aviators, then set sail for Midway Atoll. ww2dbase [Parche | CPC]
• During a single afternoon, escorts for carrier USS Steamer Bay's replenishment group exploded four separate Japanese floating mines and six more the next two days 850 miles east of Honshu, Japan. ww2dbase [Steamer Bay | DS]

• Kamikaze began an escort assignment for a small tanker convoy out of Singapore toward Ha Tien, Cochinchina, French Indochina. ww2dbase [Kamikaze | Singapore | CPC]

17 Jul 1945 Interactive Map