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• US Navy Admiral King ordered a base to be established at Efate, New Hebrides. ww2dbase [Ernest King | CPC]
• The US 1st Marine Brigade (Provisional) arrived in New York, United States from Iceland; the unit was disbanded immediately upon arrival. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Kurt Fricke was awarded Order of the Cross of Liberty 1st Class with Oak Leaves and Swords of Finland. ww2dbase [Kurt Frike | CPC]

• Allied convoy PQ-9 ran into a storm west of Norway; ice accumulated on British whaler/minesweeper HMS Sulla (FY1874), causing her to gain too much top weight, eventually capsizing her; all 21 aboard were killed. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Norwegian Sea | CPC]

• German submarine U-552 attacked Norwegian tanker Ocana 100 kilometers southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada at 0413 hours; 53 were killed, 4 survived; Ocana would remain afloat and burning for several days until scuttled by gunfire. At 0609 hours, U-105 sank British tanker Narragansett 400 miles east of Hampton Roads, Virginia, United States, killing all 49 aboard. Far out to sea, 530 miles east of Newfoundland, U-94 attacked British tanker Imperial Transport, causing the crew to abandon ship, but the men would reboard the ship by 2030 hours and continue the journey. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]

• The main Japanese offensive against Taungoo, Burma began at 0800 hours, striking northern, western, and southern sides of the city nearly simultaneously. Fierce house-to-house fighting would continue through the night. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | CPC]

• 254 RAF Bomber Command aircraft (192 Wellington, 26 Stirling, 20 Manchester, 9 Hampden, and 7 Lancaster aircraft) attacked Krupp iron works and factories at Essen, Germany; 5 civilians were killed, 11 were wounded. The British lost 5 Manchester, 3 Wellington, and 1 Hampden aircraft. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Essen | CPC]

• Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii intercepted a Japanese Navy message that mentioned a campaign against a location with code name RZP. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 2 | Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• Tatsuta Maru departed Tokuyama, Japan and arrived at Kure, Japan. ww2dbase [Tatsuta Maru | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]

• USS Permit fired three torpedoes at a Japanese transport in the Dutch East Indies; all three torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Permit | CPC]
• USS Grayback fired a torpedo a Japanese patrol vessel in the Philippine Sea off Ryukyu Islands, Japan; the torpedo missed. ww2dbase [Grayback | Philippine Sea | CPC]

• The Soviet patrol boat CKA-121 was sunk by coastal batteries, off Streletskaya Bay, Sevastopol, Russia. ww2dbase [Sevastopol | HM]

• USS Washington departed Casco Bay near Portland, Maine, United States. ww2dbase [Washington | Portland, Maine | CPC]
• USS Stewart was struck from the US Navy List. ww2dbase [Stewart | CPC]

25 Mar 1942 Interactive Map