Yukon Floods

SUN 27 MAY 1945
Pacific
Admiral William F. Halsey Jr., Commander Third Fleet, relieves Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, Commander Fifth Fleet, of operational control at Okinawa. TF 58 thus becomes TF 38.

Off Okinawa, two kamikazes damage destroyer Braine (DD-630), 26°25'N, 128°30'E; kamikazes also damage destroyer Anthony (DD-515), 26°25'N, 128°30'E, high speed minesweeper Southard (DMS-10), 26°00'N, 127°00'E, high speed transports Loy (APD-56), 26°30'N, 127°30'E, and Rednour (APD-102), 26°29'N, 127°21'E, surveying ship Dutton (AGS-8), 26°15'N, 127°59'E, submarine chaser PCS-1396 and degaussing vessel YDG-10, 26°00'N, 128°00'E; destroyer escort Gilligan (DE-508) is damaged by dud torpedo fired by kaiten from Japanese submarine I 367, 26°47'N, 127°47'E; minesweeper Gayety (AM-239) is damaged by near-miss of bomb, 26°00'N, 128°00'E; large support landing craft LCS-52 is damaged by near-miss of kamikaze; fleet tug Pakana (ATF-108) is damaged by strafing, 26°22'N, 127°44'E.

In the final mine-laying operation of Phase III of Operation STARVATION, eleven USAAF B-29s (20th Bomber Command) mine Shimonoseki Straits and the waters off Moji, Japan. USAAF B-29-laid mines sink cargo vessels Chizan Maru off Wadanomisaki light, 33°30'N, 130°30'E, and Kongo Maru in Shimonoseki Strait off Hakata, 33°41'N, 130°15'E, and merchant tanker Hojo Maru off south coast of Yoshimi Island and damage merchant cargo ship Kifune Maru 1.4 kilometers north of Niigata light.

Submarine Tench (SS-417) sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Kinei Maru off Kushiro light, 42°54'N, 144°18'E.

Submarine Tigrone (SS-419) sinks Japanese guardboat No.3 Yawata Maru off Tori Jima, 29°24'N, 141°01'E.

Japanese auxiliary minesweeper No.3 Misago Maru is sunk by U.S. aircraft at entrance to Ise Wan, Japan, 34°37'N, 137°19'E.

Japanese naval vessel Shinho Maru is sunk by aircraft off Sosa, Chiba prefecture.

Japanese merchant cargo ship No.2 Daito Maru is sunk by aircraft off Yosu.

Commanding General, Alaskan Department, requests Navy assistance in evacuating local citizens endangered as Yukon River floods (see 28 and 31 May).

Europe
U.S. freighter John Woolman, in convoy ATM 167, is damaged by mine 16 miles off Dunkirk, France; there are no fatalities among the ship's complement.