Premature Explosion

THU 19 JUL 1945
Pacific
Twenty-nine USAAF B-29s mine the waters off the Japanese ports of Niigata, Kobe, Osaka, Maizuru and Miyazu, and the Korean ports of Wonsan and Hungnam.

TF 38 planes damage Japanese carriers Amagi and Katsuragi, and battleship Haruna at Kure, Japan.

TG 35.4 (Rear Admiral Carl F. Holden) concludes its bombardment of Japanese radar installations at Cape Nojima, Honshu.

Aircraft carrier Antietam (CV-36) is damaged by premature explosion of 5-inch shell during gunnery exercises, Hawaiian Operating Area.

Japanese planes attack U.S. fleet units off Okinawa; one kamikaze crashes and damages destroyer Thatcher (DD-514), 26°15'N, 127°50'E; another nearly crashes destroyer Charles J. Badger (DD-657).

Submarine Bumper (SS-333), attacking Japanese convoy in Gulf of Siam, sinks fleet tanker No.3 Kyoei Maru.

Mines sink Japanese merchant dredger Daikoku Maru inside Niigata harbor.