Eniwetiok Atoll Secured

TUE 22 FEB 1944
Pacific
TF 58 (Rear Admiral Marc A. Mitscher) planes bomb Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and Guam, in first strike against the Marianas. TF 58 planes sink Japanese transport Shoan Maru off Saipan, 15°15'N, 145°42'E; planes from TG 58.2 and TG 58.3 sink transport Seizan Maru off Saipan, 15°00'N, 145°30'E.

Marines land on Parry Island, Eniwetok Atoll, under cover of naval bombardment and carrier-aircraft bombing; this operation completes U.S. control of Eniwetok Atoll. Infantry landing craft LCI-365, LCI-440, and LCI-442 are damaged by friendly fire.

TG 39.4 (Captain Arleigh A. Burke) bombards Japanese airstrips, pier area, and anchorages at Kavieng; destroyers Charles Ausburne (DD-570), Dyson (DD-572), and Stanly (DD-478) sink Japanese minelayer Natsushima off New Ireland, 02°40'S, 149°40'E; the same three destroyers, joined by Conway (DD-507) and Spence (DD-512), sink tug Nagaura about 160 miles northwest of Kavieng, 00°54'S, 148°38'E. Other Japanese ships sunk during this action include auxiliary submarine chaser No.8 Tama Maru and small cargo vessels Choryu Maru and No.9 Tokuyama Maru. Destroyer Division 45 sinks Japanese auxiliary netlayer Kyosei Maru in Isabel Channel, New Hanover.

Submarine Gato (SS-212) sinks Japanese repair ship Yamashiro Maru off Truk, 07°13'N, 151°38'E.

Submarine Puffer (SS-268), despite presence of escort vessel, sinks Japanese army transport Teiko Maru (ex- French passenger liner D'Artagnan) about 120 miles northwest of Kuching, Borneo, 03°10'N, 109°15'E.

Submarine Ray (SS-271) lays mines off Saigon, French Indochina.

Submarine Tang (SS-306), in attack on Japanese convoy, sinks gunboat Fukuyama Maru about 60 miles southwest of Saipan, 15°14'N, 144°55'E.

Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 29 is sunk by mine (possibly laid by submarine Silversides (SS-236) on 4 June 1943) near Kavieng.

Navy SBD and TBF aircraft pound Japanese shipping in Keravia Bay, Rabaul, sinking guardboats No.2 Fuku Maru and No.2 Tenjin Maru, army cargo ship Taisho Maru, merchant tanker Takatori Maru, and damaging minelayer Nasami.

Vichy French river gunboat Francis Garnier is sunk by mine sown by USAAF planes (14th Air Force) in South China Sea off Cape St. Jacques, French Indochina, 10°30'N, 108°00'E.

Atlantic
Motor torpedo boatPT-200 is sunk in collision with unknown object off Long Island, N.Y., 41°23'N, 71°01'W.

Mediterranean
Five German E-boats approach Anzio beachhead during the night, but all are driven off without inflicting any damage. Submarine chaser PC-621 claims destruction of one E-boat and drives another ashore.

German submarine U-969 attacks convoy GUS 31 off the coast of Algeria, irreparably damaging U.S. freighters Peter Skene Ogden and George Cleeve, 37°18'N, 06°59'E; other than one fatality on board the former, there are no casualties to the American ships. Both ships are towed and beached to facilitate salvage: Peter Skene Ogden at Herbillon and George Cleeve to Bone, Tunisia. Both are later written off as total losses.