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• USS S-27, which had run aground two days prior off Amchitka Island, Aleutian Islands, was discovered filled with chlorine gas, thus she was now regarded as officially abandoned. ww2dbase [S-27 | CPC]
• 56 British RAF Bomber Command aircraft deployed naval mines in the Bay of Biscay west of France. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Italian destroyer Strale was damaged by British Fleet Air Arm Swordfish torpedo bombers off Cape Bon, Tunisia; she ran aground to prevent sinking. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Milton Miles was promoted to the war time rank of captain. ww2dbase [Milton Miles | CPC]

• Canadian minesweeper HMCS Georgia attacked a unidentified submarine by ramming off Newfoundland at 0300 hours, sinking what turned out to be British submarine HMS P-514, killing all 29 aboard. At 0400 hours, German submaine U-128 sank US ship West Ira 120 miles east of Barbados; all 49 aboard survived but 1 of them would die before being rescued. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]

• Captured coast watcher Cornelius Page was transferred to Kavieng, New Ireland. ww2dbase [CPC]

• USS S-44 sank converted gunboat Keijo Maru in northern Savo Sound, Solomon Islands. She was immediately counterattacked by Japanese aircraft, causing damage to her depth gauges, gyrocompass, and the ice machine due to flooding. ww2dbase [S-44 | CPC]

• The "San Marco" naval infantry regiment of the Italian Navy formed the "Mazzuchelli" battalion; it would soon be renamed "N" (swimmer) battalion. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru departed Hashirajima, Japan. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | CPC]
• Naka arrived at Maizuru, Japan. ww2dbase [Naka | CPC]

• At dawn, Allied troops attempted a breakout from Tobruk, Libya, but was met with failure. At 0645 hours, South African minesweeping whalder HMSAS Parktown was disabled by four Italian MAS torpedo boats just outside the harbor, killing many; Parktown would be scuttled after all survivors were rescued. At 0800 hours, the 35,000-strong Allied garrison (19,000 British, 13,400 South African, and 2,500 Indian) surrendered. ww2dbase [Battle of Gazala | CPC]

• An US PBY Catalina aircraft rescued two airmen who had lost their TBD Devastator torpedo bomber during the Battle of Midway. They were the last survivors to be rescued from the battle. ww2dbase [Battle of Midway and the Aleutian Islands | CPC]

• Adolf Hitler reluctantly decided to delay his summer offensive due to the heavy Soviet defense of Sevastopol, Russia. ww2dbase [Adolf Hitler | TH]

• 50 German Luftwaffe aircraft conducted a raid on Southampton, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | TH, CPC]

• Japanese submarine I-25 bombarded Fort Stevens, Oregon in northwestern United States at about 2330 hours, causing no damage. ww2dbase [CPC]
• In Washington, United States, President Franklin Roosevelt handed a telegram to Winston Churchill without comment. It announced that the 33,000-man garrison in Tobruk, Libya had surrendered. The American President immediately offered to send, by the fastest American ships, 300 new Sherman tanks and a hundred self-propelled guns to Egypt. ww2dbase [Battle of Gazala | Franklin Roosevelt | AC]

21 Jun 1942 Interactive Map