Patuxent (AO-44) Gets Vapors

FRI 16 FEB 1945
Pacific
TF 58 (Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher) planes bomb airfields, aircraft factories, and shipping in the Tokyo area, Japan; attack is repeated on 17 February.

Fire support vessels and carrier-based aircraft begin three-day pre-landing bombardment and bombing of Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands. Destroyers Ingraham (DD-694) and Barton (DD-722) are damaged in collision off Iwo, 31°45'N, 141°54'E.

TF 92 (Rear Admiral John L. McCrea) bombards Japanese installations at Kurabu Zaki, Paramushiro, Kurils.

Army forces, preceded by naval bombardment and attack by army aircraft, land on Corregidor, Luzon; 503d Parachute Infantry are air-dropped onto the main plateau while the 3d Battalion, 24th RCT is lifted to the island in navy medium landing craft (LCM). Support landing craft (large) [LCS(L)] and infantry landing craft (rocket) [LCI(R)] provide covering fire close-in. Motor torpedo boats also support the operation, at one point rescuing stranded army paratroopers. Submarine chaser PC-1119 is damaged by shore battery, off Luzon, 14°23'N, 120°35'E.

Special gunfire support unit of six destroyers (Captain Robert W. Cavenaugh) is formed to provide naval gunfire support for the conquest of Corregidor. Between 16 and 28 February, this unit will deliver pin-point fire that proves a considerable help to the final elimination of Japanese troops on the island.

Support landing craft LCS(L)-7 is sunk by Japanese assault demolition boats off entrance to Mariveles harbor.

Submarine Sennet (SS-408) sinks Japanese minelayer Naryu southeast of Honshu, 32°10'N, 135°54'E, but is damaged by depth bombs from enemy aircraft.

Oiler Patuxent (AO-44) is damaged by internal explosion from gasoline vapors.

Coast Guard lighthouse tender Bramble (WAGL-392) is damaged by grounding on Lockwood Rock, Wrangell Narrows, Aleutians (see 17 February).

Japanese army cargo ship No.23 Ryoyu Maru is sunk by aircraft, 14°36'N, 109°06'E.

PB4Y-1 (VPB-117) sinks Japanese army cargo ship Iida Maru in Cape St. Jacques harbor, French Indochina, 10°20'N, 107°06'E.; Japanese merchant cargo ships sunk on this date: No.3 Seikai Maru, by aircraft, Central Pacific (exact location unspecified); Kaian No.10, by aircraft, Yangtze River, Wuhu, China; and No.2 Nagaoka Maru, by aircraft, off Hachijo Jima. Japanese naval vessels damaged on this date: Coast Defense Vessel No.47, by aircraft, Yokohama, Japan; escort destroyer Amakusa, by aircraft, east of Izu Oshima; auxiliary submarine chasers Cha 211, Cha 225, and Cha 236, by aircraft, Shimoda, Japan; and auxiliary minesweeper Hagoromo Maru, by aircraft, 10 miles south of Miyake Jima. USAAF B-24 damages small Japanese cargo vessel No.23 Yoshitomo Maru off Qui Nhon, French Indochina.

USAAF P-51s sink Japanese auxiliary powered sailing vessel Minsui Maru in Yangtze between Wuhu and Hankow.

Mediterranean
Motor torpedo boat PT-303 and two British motor torpedo boats, operating out of Leghorn, Italy, engage two southbound enemy barges off Vernazza with doubtful results.

Atlantic
Destroyer Edison (DD-439) is damaged when accidentally rammed by British merchant tanker Benedick in New York harbor.