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• The Japanese invasion fleet (troopships Kinryu Maru and Takahata Maru, cruiser Tatsuta, destroyers Uzuki and Yuzuki, and minelayers Okinoshima (flagship) and Tsugaru) for Ocean (Banaba) and Nauru Islands set sail from Rabaul, New Britain. At 0452 hours, US submarine S-42 attacked the convoy, damaging Okinoshima 125 miles east of Rabaul; one of the destroyers took Okinoshima in tow while the other escorts counterattacked S-42 for six hours, which would cause severe damage, forcing S-42 to end her war patrol early. At 0640 hours, Okinoshima sank in the St. George's Channel. ww2dbase [S-42 | CPC]
• USS Yorktown sailed for Tongatapu, Tonga, British Western Pacific Territories for temporary repair for the damage incurred during the Battle of Coral Sea. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Yorktown-class) | CPC]
• USS Enterprise arrived near New Hebrides. ww2dbase [Enterprise | CPC]
• USS Hornet arrived near New Hebrides. ww2dbase [Hornet (Yorktown-class) | CPC]
• Upon the loss of minelayer Okinoshima, destroyer Yuzuki temporarily assumed the role of Rear Admiral Kiyohide Shimazui's flagship. ww2dbase [Yuzuki | CPC]
• Bailey was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Bailey | CPC]
• Australian and American aircraft located the wreck of fleet oiler USS Neosho, damaged during the Battle of the Coral Sea and adrift for four days. Destroyer USS Henley arrived at 1300 hours to pick up the survivors and to scuttle Neosho with gunfire. ww2dbase [Battle of Coral Sea | AC, CPC]
• US Marine Barracks, Fleet Air Base, Naval Operating Base, Iceland, was established. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German pilot Eduard Neumann was awarded the German Cross in Gold. ww2dbase [Eduard Neumann | CPC]
• Six Soviet armies supported by various independent rifle, tank, and cavalry units gathered in preparation of an offensive toward Kharkov, Ukraine. German intelligence gained knowledge of such an offensive and the Germany military prepared for a defense. ww2dbase [Second Battle of Kharkov | CPC]
• Panamanian tanker Lubrafol, damaged by German submarine U-564 3 miles east of Hillsboro Inlet, Florida, United States two days prior, finally sank after two days of burning. On the same day, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean 400 miles northeast of Barbuda island, U-502 sank British ship Cape of Good Hope; 37 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• British destroyers HMS Kipling, HMS Jackal, HMS Jervis, and HMS Lively, having been launched out of Alexandria, Egypt on the previous day to intercept an Axis convoy, was detected by German reconnaissance aircraft based out of Crete, Greece at about 1200 hours. At 1430 hours, 14 German Ju 88 aircraft attacked, sinking HMS Lively 120 miles north of Sidi Barrani, Egypt at 1530 hours (76 were killed). Just before sundown, 7 Ju 88 aircraft attacked again, sinking HMS Kipling (25 were killed) and damaing HMS Jackal (15 were killed) 60 miles north of Sidi Barrani. HMS Jervis rescued 630 survivors and took HMS Jackal, afire, in tow. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Rabaul, New Britain. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]

• German Luftwaffe aircraft sank Soviet gunboat Rion and barge Anakriya in the Black Sea, killing 400, most of whom were wounded troops being evacuated from southern Ukraine. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii intercepted a radio message from Nobutake Kondo noting that the occupation force for the upcoming campaign would proceed to Saipan, Mariana Islands to await the launch of the operation. Rochefort determined that this occupation force was likely to sail east rather than south, and Midway Atoll was a likely target. ww2dbase [Battle of Midway and the Aleutian Islands | Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | CPC]

• The 3rd Battalion of the "San Marco" naval infantry regiment of Italian Navy moved to the coast of Gulf of Bomba in Libya in preparation for a planned amphibious operation behind Allied lines, which would never take place. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Newly arrived Spitfire fighters at Malta intercepted an Axis air fleet aiming to bomb Malta, shooting down 47 Axis aircraft at the loss of only 3. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | CPC]

• Amon Göth ordered the Jewish council of Szczebrzeszyn, Poland to pay 2,000 zloty and 3 kilograms of coffee as payment for the cost of the ammunition that would soon be used to execute the local Jewish people. ww2dbase [Amon Göth | CPC]

• Light cruiser Voroshilov bombarded German troop positions near Tash-Alchin, Russia. ww2dbase [Voroshilov | CPC]

11 May 1942 Interactive Map