Pacific
TF 11 (Vice Admiral Wilson Brown Jr.), which includes ships of TF 17 (Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher), on the heels of initial nuisance raids by RAAF Hudsons, attacks Japanese invasion fleet (Rear Admiral Kajioka Sadamichi) off Lae and Salamaua, New Guinea. SBDs (VB 2, VS 2, VB 5, VS 5) and TBDs (VT 2, VT 5), supported by F4Fs (VF 3 and VF 42) from carriers Lexington (CV-2) and Yorktown (CV-5) sink armed merchant cruiser Kongo Maru, auxiliary minelayer Ten'yo Maru, and transport Yokohama Maru; and damage light cruiser Yubari; destroyers Yunagi, Asanagi, Oite, Asakaze and Yakaze; minelayer Tsugaru; seaplane carrier Kiyokawa Maru; transport Kokai Maru; and minesweeper No.2 Tama Maru. One SBD (VS 2) is lost to antiaircraft fire. USAAF B-17s and RAAF Hudsons conduct follow up strikes but inflict no appreciable additional damage. In a message to Prime Minister Churchill, President Roosevelt hails the raid as "the best day's work we've had." The success of the U.S. carrier strike (the first time in which two carrier air groups attack a common objective) convinces Japanese war planners that continued operations in the New Guinea area will require carrier support, thus setting the stage for confrontation in the Coral Sea (see 4-8 May).
Japanese invade Finschhafen, New Guinea.
Japanese collier Kosei Maru is sunk by mine in Lingayen Gulf, P.I., 16°05'N, 120°20'E.
USMC F2As (VMF 221) from Midway shoot down Japanese reconnaissance flying boat (Yokosuka Kokutai) attempting to reconnoiter the atoll.
Atlantic
U.S. tanker Gulftrade is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-588 about two miles east of Barnegat, New Jersey, 39°50'N, 73°52'W; net tender Larch (YN-16) Coast Guard cutter Antietam (WPC-128) Eagle Boat PE-48
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| U.S.S. Eagle 57 at dock in Vancouver, B.C., 1933. Walter Edwin Frost (1898-1988). |
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