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• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Singapore. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]
• The German 1.Panzerarmee captured Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Meanwhile, Soviet Marshal Semyon Budyonny's North Caucasus Front absorbed the remains of General Rodion Malinovsky's shattered South Front, launching what was called the Tikhoretsk-Stavropol Defensive Operation. ww2dbase [Caucasus Campaign | TH]
• As USS Nicholas escorted USS South Dakota from Casco Bay, Maine to the Delaware Capes, she made a sound contact and dropped 5 depth charges with no observable results. These were Nicholas’s first shots of the war. ww2dbase [Nicholas | South Dakota | DS]

• German submarine U-160 sank Dutch ship Telamon 75 miles southeast of Trinidad at 0144 hours; 23 were killed, 14 survived. At 0352 hours, U-552 attacked Allied convoy ON-113 580 miles east of St. John's, Newfoundland, damaging British tanker British Meriton (1 was killed) and British ship Broompark (4 were killed). At 0955 hours, U-89 sank Canadian fishing boat Lucille M. with her deck gun 75 miles south of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada; all 11 aboard survived. Finally, at 2305 hours, U-201 sank British minesweeping trawler HMS Laertes 185 miles southwest of Freetown; 19 were killed. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• Completed in July 1937 as Petrofina for Sigurd Herolfson & Co A/S of Oslo, Norway, the ship was renamed in 1939 to Tankexpress for the same owner. Since 1940 she had been in the British Admiralty service as Royal Fleet Auxiliary. The 10,095-ton tanker was sailing unescorted in ballast for Trinidad when at 1653 hours, about 900 miles west of Freetown of British West Africa, she was hit on the starboard side behind the bridge in no. 4 tank by two torpedoes fired by German submarine U-130. The boat deck was destroyed and a raft and lifeboat rendered useless, moments later the flying bridge collapsed. The Tankexpress developed a list to starboard and the entire crew of 39 abandoned the ship in the motorboat and two remaining lifeboats. Distress calls had been put out by the radio operator, but no reply had been returned. A coup de grâce was fired that struck the ship in the engine room, but the tanker remained afloat the German submarine surfaced and fired 87 rounds from the deck gun after which the tanker capsized and sank. The lifeboats were tied together and set off for Freetown towed by the motorboat. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | HM]

• Japanese leadership paused the advance along the Kokoda Trail in Australian Papua as they overestimated the strength of defending Allied forces. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 2 | CPC]

• US B-17 bombers attacked Tobruk, Libya. ww2dbase [Tobruk | CPC]

• Japanese submarine I-169 sank Dutch ship Tjinegara 74 miles southwest of Nouméa, New Caledonia at 2330 hours; all 36 aboard survived but the 477 horses aboard would all drown. ww2dbase [CPC]
• While refueling south of Kodiak Island, Alaska, Captain Robert Hayler came aboard USS Honolulu by boatswain's chair from oiler USS Guadalupe and, pursuant to orders, assumed command of Honolulu, relieving Captain Harold Dodd. ww2dbase [Honolulu | DS]

• Nikolai Kamanin arrived at Moscow, Russia and took command of the newly formed 292nd Ground Attack Air Division. ww2dbase [Nikolai Kamanin | Moscow | CPC]

• German bombers attacked Middlesbrough, England, United Kingdom, damaging buildings in the city center. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | Middlesbrough, England | CPC]

• USS Flying Fish arrived at Midway Atoll, ending her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Flying Fish | Midway Bases | Midway | CPC]

25 Jul 1942 Interactive Map