U.S.S. England (DE-635) Begins Reign Of Anti-Submarine Terror

FRI 19 MAY 1944
James V. Forrestal of New York, Under Secretary of the Navy since 1940, becomes Secretary of the Navy. [Will not end well for Mr. Forrestal.]

Pacific
Aircraft from TG 58.6 (Rear Admiral Alfred E. Montgomery) bomb Marcus Island; attacks continue on 20 May.

Japanese radio traffic intercepted by U.S. Navy intelligence allows deductions to be made as to where the new submarine cordon established to intercept American carriers (see 16 May 1944) will be; consequently, destroyer escort England (DE-635) sinks Japanese submarine I-16, on a resupply run to Buka, 140 miles northeast of Cape Alexander, Solomon Islands, 05°10'S, 158°10'E. I-16 is the first of five Japanese submarines that England will sink in a week's time as U.S. antisubmarine forces work their way down the NA line (see 22, 23, 24, 26, and 31 May 1944).

Submarine Skate (SS-305) sinks Japanese guardboat Meisho Maru off Ogasawara-Gunto, 28°56'N, 141°38'E.

USAAF B-24s (14th Air Force) on antishipping sweep of the South China Sea bomb Japanese convoy no.87, but only succeed in inflicting minor damage upon cargo ship Yamadori Maru (see 20 May 1944 et.seq.).

Mediterranean
Light cruiser Brooklyn (CL-40) shells German supply dumps at Terracina, Sperlonga, and Ganta, Italy.

Motor torpedo boat PT-204 is mistakenly torpedoed and damaged by PT-304 off Vada Rocks, Corsica.

Destroyers Niblack (DD-424) and Ludlow (DD-438) and British aircraft sink German submarine U-960, western Mediterranean, 37°20'N, 01°35'E.