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• Five Japanese I-class submarines, carrying 4 midget submarines and 1 aircraft, departed for Sydney, Australia. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-588 sank US freighter Plow City 150 kilometers east of New Jersey, United States at 2010 hours, killing 1 of 30 aboard. U-158 sank Canadian ship Frank B. Baird with the deck gun 465 miles southeast of Bermuda; all 23 aboard survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• German submarine U-753 stopped British schooner E. P. Theriault with the deck gun 90 miles north of Cuba at 0730 hours and damaged her with depth charges during a failed scuttling attempt; the wreck would float and beach at Cuba, where she would later be repaired and pressed into Cuban service. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]

• Alpino Bagnolini sighted a freighter escorted by a destroyer in the Atlantic Ocean at 1045 hours; the destroyer forced her to dive. At 1717 hours, she sighted an aircraft, and dove to avoid detection. At 1839, she sighted smoke on the horizon, and she soon noted a freighter heading in her direction. She surfaced at 2230 hours to approach at full speed, but would lose contact with the target by 2300 hours. ww2dbase [Alpino Bagnolini | CPC]
• Comandante Cappellini sighted an aircraft in the Atlantic Ocean at 2116 hours; she submerged to avoid detection. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | CPC]

• Japanese merchant ship Naruto Maru arrived at Rabaul, New Britain. ww2dbase [Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• Lieutenant Colonel Tateo Kato, flying a Ki-43 fighter, was shot down and killed by British RAF Flight Sergeant "Jock" McLuckie, a turret gunner aboard a Blenheim bomber, over the Bay of Bengal. ww2dbase [Tateo Kato | Bay of Bengal | CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Yokosuka, Japan and departed for Kure, Japan later that day. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]
• Gato-class submarine USS Silversides made a torpedo attack on the Japanese transport Asahisan Maru off Susami, southern Honshu, Japan. The ship's bow was blown off but was able to beach herself before sinking. ww2dbase [Silversides | Kii Suido | DS]

• Mexico declared war on the Axis powers. ww2dbase [CPC]

• In Ukraine, German 14th Division and 16th Panzer Division occupied Chepel and Bayrak, while 3rd Panzer Division and 23rd Panzer Division reached Chervonyi Donets and Krasnaia Gusarovka, closing the gap on the Soviet forces near Izium. ww2dbase [Second Battle of Kharkov | Kharkov | TH, CPC]

• Grand Duchess Charlotte arrived in New York, New York, United States and met with Foreign Minister Joseph Bech. ww2dbase [Charlotte | New York | CPC]
• USS Saratoga departed Puget Sound Naval Shipyard after repairs from torpedo damaged. ww2dbase [Puget Sound Navy Yard | Saratoga | Bremerton, Washington | DS]

22 May 1942 Interactive Map