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• Weather data for 21 May 1942

• USS Pollack fired four torpedoes at a Japanese carrier off Kyushu, Japan; all torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• The US Navy established the North Pacific force, initially with 2 heavy cruisers, 3 light cruisers, 4 destroyers, 9 destroyer escorts, 5 submarines, and 107 aircraft. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter took flight for the first time. ww2dbase [Main Article | AC]
• Aleksandr Vasilevsky was awarded the Order of Lenin for the first time. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• German submarine U-103 sank US ships Clare at 0348 hours (all 40 aboard survived) and Elizabeth at 0415 hours (6 were killed, 36 survived) 40 miles west of Cuba. A few minutes later, at 0421 hours, U-106 sank Mexican tanker Faja de Oro to the north; 10 were killed, 27 survived. German submarine U-69 sank Canadian ship Torondoc 60 miles northwest of Martinique at 0753 hours; all 21 aboard survived as observed by the Germans, but none would be seen again. 40 miles northwest of Jamaica, U-558 sank Canadian ship Troisdoc by the deck gun at 1917 hours; all 18 aboard survived. U-156 sank Dominican ship Presidente Trujillo off Fort de France, Martinique at 1829 hours; 24 were killed, 15 survived. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• German submarine U-159 sank British ship New Brunswick (3 were killed, 59 survived) and damaged British fleet oiler Montenol (3 were killed, 61 survived) of Allied convoy OS-28 140 miles east of the Azores islands at 0323 hours. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Allied convoy QP-12 departed Murmansk, Russia; it was consisted of 17 merchant ships, escorted by 1 catapult aircraft merchantman, 6 destroyers, 4 trawlers, and 1 anti-aircraft vessel. From the other end of the Arctic convoy route, PQ-16 departed Reykjavík, Iceland with 35 merchant ships, 1 minesweeper, and 4 trawlers. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• The US Navy cryptanalytic team in Melbourne, Australia belatedly voiced its agreement that the Japanese Navy was likely targeting Midway Atoll. In Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, Joseph Rochefort furnished the official report noting that Midway Atoll was confirmed as the Japanese target. Chester Nimitz, who had already began to prepare for such an attack, ordered his carriers to exercise radio silence to prevent the Japanese from learning of his attempt to gather Pacific Fleet carriers at Pearl Harbor. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Destroyer Yuzuki departed Truk, Caroline Islands for Saipan, Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Destroyer Yukikaze departed Kure, Japan. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Raizo Tanaka led the 2nd Destroyer Squadron, consisted of light cruiser Jintsu and 10 destroyers, out of Kure, Japan to escort the invasion fleet of the Midway operation. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• Kamoi departed Jabor, Marshall Islands; later on the same day, she arrived at Emidji, Marshall Islands. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

• Japanese troops occupied Leyte and Samar in the Philippine Islands unopposed. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• German 6th Army and 1st Panzer Army continued to threaten the Soviet troops near Izium, Ukraine with encirclement. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• George Marshall and Henry Stimson met in Washington DC, United States, concluding that there was a risk that the Japanese fleet suspected of sailing for Midway Atoll could actually be planning on conducting a major air raid against cities on the west coast of the United States. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

21 May 1942 Interactive Map