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• Japanese Navy Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi, commanding officer of Carrier Division 2, distributed copies of his plans for a new offensive against Hawaii beginning in early 1943. ww2dbase [Tamon Yamaguchi | CPC]
• US Navy Admiral Ernest King presented plans to US President Franklin Roosevelt for conducting the war in the South Pacific for the following 18 months. ww2dbase [Ernest King | CPC]
• US ship Delplata, fatally damaged on the previous day in the Caribbean Sea by German submarine U-156, was sunk by seaplane tender USS Lapwing after all 53 survivors were rescued. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Italian transports departed Messina, Sicily, Italy and Corfu, Greece; they would rendezvous in the Mediterranean Sea to form convoy K7 with the destination being Tripoli, Libya. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-67 sank Norwegian tanker Kongsgaard 7 miles off Curaçao in the Caribbean Sea at 1532 hours; 38 were killed, 8 survived. 20 miles west of Trinidad, U-161 sank British tanker Circe Shell at 2313 hours; 1 was killed, 57 survived. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]

• German submarine U-432 sank US freighter Azalea City 125 miles southeast of Ocean City, Maryland, United States at 0123 hours, killing all 38 aboard. At 1044 hours, 300 miles southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, U-107 damaged Norwegian tanker Egda; Egda was able to return to port despite the torpedo damage. Finally, German submarine U-504 sank US tanker Republic off Florida, United States, killing 5 of 29 aboard. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]

• The 2nd Burma Frontier Force, who had been placed north of the Kyaikto track to warn against outflanking, were heavily engaged by the Japanese 215th Regiment and forced to withdraw north-west, crossing the Sittang River by country boats, and proceeding to Pegu. No report of this contact ever reached the divisional commander "Jackie" Smyth who was still hearing rumours of a threatened parachute landing to the west. To the south, British 7th Armored Brigade arrived at Rangoon by sea from Egypt. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | AC, CPC]

• USS Marblehead arrived at Trincomalee, Ceylon. ww2dbase [Marblehead | Trincomalee | CPC]

• Akagi arrived at Staring Bay, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Akagi | Staring Bay, Celebes | CPC]
• Kaga arrived at Staring Bay near Kendari, Celebes, Dutch East Indies. ww2dbase [Kaga | Staring Bay, Celebes | CPC]
• Ariake and Yugure arrived at Staring Bay, Celebes, Dutch East Indies at 1015 hours. ww2dbase [Yugure | Staring Bay, Celebes | CPC]

• Alpino Bagnolini departed Le Verdon-sur-Mer, Aquitaine, France at 0800 hours, arriving at Bordeaux, France at 1202 hours. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | Le Verdon-sur-Mer, Aquitaine | CPC]

• German cruiser Admiral Scheer, cruiser Prinz Eugen, and 5 destroyers departed Brunsbüttel, Germany for Bergen, Norway. RAF Coastal Command attempted to intercept them, but most of the aircraft failed to find them, and the lone bomber that did was shot down. ww2dbase [Admiral Scheer | Brunsbüttel | CPC]

• Bernard Kuehn was arrested in Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Bernard Kuehn | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]
• Susan Kuehn was arrested in Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Bernard Kuehn | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]
• Friedel Kuehn was arrested in Honolulu, US Territory of Hawaii. ww2dbase [Friedel Kuehn | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]
• 199 Japanese American internees from the Sand Island Detention Camp in Hawai'i were transferred to detention centers on the United States mainland. ww2dbase [Internment of Japanese-Americans and Japanese-Canadians | Honolulu, Oahu | DS]

• Katori entered the drydocks at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal in Japan for repairs. ww2dbase [Yokosuka Naval Arsenal | Katori | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]

• Hans-Joachim Marseille shot down two P-40 fighters in the Gambut and Fort Acroma area in Libya at 1210 hours and 1218 hours; they were his 49th and 50th kills. ww2dbase [Hans-Joachim Marseille | Gambut | CPC]

• Robert Johnson married Barbara Morgan in Benton, Missouri, United States. ww2dbase [Robert Johnson | Benton, Missouri | CPC]
• Gato-class submarine Tinosa was laid down at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, United States. ww2dbase [Mare Island Navy Yard | Tinosa | Vallejo, California | DS]
• Maritime Commission Type C-3-class Hull #178 was launched at the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation’s Tacoma shipyard with Mrs. J. Perry acting as sponsor. The hull would later be repurposed as the Card, an auxiliary aircraft carrier for the United States Navy. ww2dbase [Card | Tacoma, Washington | DS]

21 Feb 1942 Interactive Map