Potsdam (TERMINAL) Conference Begins

TUE 17 JUL 1945
Europe
Potsdam (TERMINAL) Conference begins. Attended by President Truman, British Prime Minister Churchill and Soviet Premier Stalin, this will be the last wartime meeting of the heads of state of those respective powers.

Pacific
Aircraft from TF 38 (Vice Admiral John S. McCain) and British TF 37 (Vice Admiral Henry B. Rawlings, RN) attack airfields in the Tokyo area.

Five battleships, two light cruisers, and ten destroyers of TU 34.8.2 (Rear Admiral Oscar C. Badger) bombard heavily industrialized Mito-Hitachi area of Honshu. British battleship HMS King George V and two British destroyers are attached to the force, making this the first joint U.S.-British bombardment of the Japanese homeland. Carrier Bon Homme Richard (CV-31) provides night combat air patrol to cover the operation.

Twenty-eight USAAF B-29s mine Shimonoseki Straits and the waters off Chongjin, Korea, and Nanao and Fushiki, Japan.

Over 200 USAAF B-24s, B-25s and A-26s, and P-47s, attack Kiangwan airdrome, Shanghai, which contains the largest concentration of Japanese aircraft in China.

Japanese Coast Defense Vessel No.204 is damaged by marine casualty, Senzaki Bay.

Mediterranean
U.S. freighter John H. Hammond is damaged by mine off Elba, 42°55'30"N, 10°08'00"E; the three Armed Guard sailors are uninjured in the incident, but three merchant sailors die and four are injured. The ship is subsequently towed to Piombino, Italy.