25 May 1945
  • Operation Olympic, the invasion of Japan, was approved by the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, setting the date at 1 Nov 1945. ww2dbase [Preparations for Invasion of Japan | TH]
  • Philippe Leclerc was promoted to the rank of corps general. ww2dbase [Philippe Leclerc | CPC]
  • USS Parche began her sixth war patrol, the first half of which would be on lifeguard station south of Japan. ww2dbase [Parche | CPC]
  • USS Ray sank 2 small Japanese vessels west of Japan with her deck gun. ww2dbase [Ray | CPC]
  • USS Iowa arrived off Kyushu, Japan. ww2dbase [Iowa | CPC]
  • The Japanese Navy reorganized the 3rd Air Fleet (now with 13th, 25th, and 27th Air Flotillas) and the 5th Air Fleet (now with 12th and 72nd Air Flotillas and 13 air groups). ww2dbase [CPC]
  • The destroyer escort USS Bates was sunk by a Japanese special attack aircraft off Okinawa, Japan. ww2dbase [AC]
  • Bataan (Tribal-class) was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Bataan (Tribal-class) | CPC]
  • Submarine I-369 was taken out of commission for conversion into an aviation gasoline submarine-transport. ww2dbase [I-369 | CPC]
  • Australian Private Leslie Starcevitch won the Victoria Cross during the capture of Beaufort, North Borneo by destroying a series of Japanese bunkers that had been holding up the Australian advance. ww2dbase [AC]
  • Japanese special attack aircraft sank destroyer USS Bates and damaged several other ships off Okinawa, Japan. Part of these attacks included an Ohka combat sortie by 11 G4M bombers, most of which were turned back due to poor weather while the few that launched their Ohka weapons reported no hits. ww2dbase [Okinawa Campaign | CPC]
  • USS Blenny reported sinking a small Japanese craft with torpedoes. ww2dbase [Blenny | CPC]
Japan
  • 464 American B-29 bombers conducted a raid on Tokyo, Japan. 26 aircraft were lost, which was the highest one-day loss. ww2dbase [Bombing of Tokyo and Other Cities | Tokyo | CPC]
  • Yukio Araki and the 72nd Shinbu Squadron was relocated to Bansei Airfield, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. ww2dbase [Yukio Araki | Kaseda, Kagoshima | CPC]
United States Photo(s) dated 25 May 1945
The first US soldiers to return home from France under the ArmyMap noting the progress of the Battle of TarakanPost-liberation identification paper of former Mauthausen-Gusen Concentration Camp prisoner Jacek Jablonski, issued by the US Army on 25 May 1945

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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US Navy Task Force 77 performing an uniform turn in the South China Sea, Mar 1965; among them were USS Yorktown, USS Hancock, and USS Canberra


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