Strictly Submersibles & Aircraft

MON 21 FEB 1944
Pacific
Navy SBDs and TBFs bomb antiaircraft positions at Lakunai aerodrome and shore installations at Rabaul, sinking guardboat No.2 Yawata Maru.

USAAF B-25s (5th Air Force) strike Japanese five-ship convoy (evacuating 751st Air Group maintenance people to Japan, via Palau) off New Hanover, sinking auxiliary submarine chasers Cha 38 and Cha 48, 02°30'S, 149°55'E, transport Kokai Maru and gunboat Kowa Maru, 02°30'S, 150°15'E, and damaging tug Nagaura, which, after effecting repairs, rescues some of the survivors of the two Marus and continues on her voyage north (see 22 February).

Submarine Cero (SS-225) damages Japanese army cargo ship Hasshu Maru north of New Guinea, 00°10'S, 139°45'E.

British submarine HMS Tally Ho sinks Japanese army cargo ship No.6 Taigen Maru in Strait of Malacca, 04°00'N, 101°00'E.