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• The US Congress appropriated US$26.5 billion for the US Navy; between Jun 1940 and this date, American expenditure on the military totalled at US$115 billion. ww2dbase [CPC]
• HMS Indomitable, with her escorting Australian destroyers Nizam, Nestor, and Napier, arrived at Trincomalee, Ceylon. ww2dbase [Indomitable | CPC]
• Lieutenant-General Thomas Hutton, the GOC Burma Army, was injured when the Lysander aircraft in which he was flying to meet with Chiang Kaishek crash landed near Lashio, Burma. ww2dbase [AC]
• On Ambon, Dutch East Indies, Australian troops fell back to Amahusu while Japanese troops attacked various pockets of resistance. ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Celebes and Moluccas | CPC]
• Japanese minesweeper W-9 struck a Dutch naval mine and sank in the Bay of Ambon, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [CPC]
• US President Franklin Roosevelt officially named Joseph Stilwell as the Chief of Staff to Chiang Kaishek. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | Joseph Stilwell | CPC]
• While at sea, USS Lexington received orders to set sail for Canton Island, Phoenix Islands. ww2dbase [Lexington (Lexington-class) | CPC]
• Kaga set sail for Palau Islands, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Kaga | CPC]

• German submarine U-751 damaged Dutch tanker Corilla off Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada at 0746 hours; Corilla was able to return to Halifax for repairs. To the south, German submarine U-103 sank US tanker W. L. Steed 100 kilometers east of Virginia, United States, killing 34 of 38 aboard. On the far side of the Atlantic Ocean, near Pico Island of the Azores islands, British destroyer HMS Westcott sank German submarine U-581 with depth charges; 3 were killed, 37 of the survivors were captured; commanding officer Leutnant zur see Walter Sitek was able to swim 6 kilometers to shore and eventually return to service via Spain. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• Leonardo da Vinci sighted an aircraft in the Atlantic Ocean at 1045 hours at the distance of about 8,000 meters; she submerged to avoid detection. At 1545 hours, she once again submerged after spotting an aircraft. ww2dbase [Leonardo da Vinci | CPC]

• Major General Tomitaro Horii ordered Lieutenant Colonel Masao Kuwada of Japanese 3rd Battalion to pursue Australian troops who had previously fled into the jungles of southern Gazelle Peninsula on New Britain; Kuwada delegated the task to Lieutenant Tadaichi Noda. After sundown, six Japanese flying boats were launched from Rabaul to attack Port Moresby in British Territory of Papua; they would arrive over the Seven Mile airfield on the next date. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 1, Bismarck Islands | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• Kamoi departed Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Kamoi | Truk | CPC]

• Japanese warships began to patrol in waters near Java, Duth East Indies paving way for the invasion fleet. Ahead of the warships were Japanese bombers, which attacked Surabaya, Java and other military targets. Meanwhile, cruiser USS Houston, cruiser USS Marblehead, and 7 Dutch and American destroyers departed Surabaya to intercept a detected Japanese troop convoy sailing toward Java. ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Java | CPC]
• Japanese minesweeper W-9, W-11, and W-12 were damaged by Dutch mines while minesweeping in the Bay of Ambon in the Dutch East Indies; W-9 would sink shortly after. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Morosini departed Bordeaux, France at 0840 hours, arriving at Le Verdon-sur-Mer, France at 1233 hours. ww2dbase [Morosini | Bordeaux, Aquitaine | CPC]

• USS Gar departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her first war patrol. ww2dbase [Gar | Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• Tatsuta Maru departed Yokohama, Japan. ww2dbase [Tatsuta Maru | Yokohama, Kanagawa | CPC]

• US B-17 bombers, based in the Dutch East Indies, attacked airfields in Kuantan and Kuala Lumpur in Malaya. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | Kuantan, Pahang | CPC]

• USS S-43 arrived at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone (now Cativá, Panama). ww2dbase [S-43 | Colón | CPC]

• US submarine USS Seadragon attacked a Japanese supply convoy north of Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, Philippine Islands and sank transport Tamagawa Maru. ww2dbase [Seadragon | CPC]
• An assault was mounted by US troops, supported by tanks, against the Japanese beachheads at Quinauan Point, Bataan, Luzon, Philippine Islands; it achieved little. To the north, on the Orion-Bagac defensive line, a US-Filipino attack wiped out a small pocket of trapped Japanese attackers. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | CPC]

• Soviet 3rd Shock Army launched an attack on the German troops trapped in Kholm, Russia. ww2dbase [Rzhev-Vyazma Offensive and the Demyansk Pocket | CPC]

• Japanese aircraft attacked naval facilities at Singapore, forcing Allied warships to withdraw for the Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | Singapore | CPC]

• Two British Trawlers under Admiralty Control were bombed and sunk off the River Humber estuary, north-eastern England, United Kingdom. The 356-ton British trawler Cape Spartel was commanded by T/Lt. John Richard Grundy, RNR and the 324-ton Cloughton Wyke (Pennant No. 4446) were both sunk during an attack by German bombers. The skipper of Cloughton Wyke, Charles Seymour Larter, RNR survived the attack although wounded, he survived the war and was commander of HMS Hildina (FY 451) a Trawler/minesweeper. Both Trawlers were armed with a 12-pounder anti-aircraft gun at the time of the attack. John Grundy also survived and went on to command three different minesweepers. ww2dbase [England | CPC, HM]

2 Feb 1942 Interactive Map