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• US President Harry Truman informed Soviet leader Joseph Stalin that the United States had successfully constructed atomic weapons. Stalin showed surprise, but in actuality he had already learned this through the Soviet intelligence network. ww2dbase [Operation Trinity and Manhattan Project | CPC]
• I-402 was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [I-402 | CPC]
• USS Chub sank a Japanese tug in the Java Sea with her deck gun. ww2dbase [Chub | CPC]

• The Allied Control Commission for Austria was established in Vienna. ww2dbase [Vienna | CPC]

• More than 100 B-24 bombers based in Okinawa, Japan attacked Japanese airfields at Shanghai, China. ww2dbase [Shanghai | CPC]

• USS Gunnel arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her eighth war patrol. ww2dbase [Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Gunnel | Pearl Harbor, Oahu | CPC]

• British TF 37 launched 416 sorties, 261 of which were sent against the Japanese home islands and 155 were for defensive patrols; escort carrier Kaiyo was damaged by British carrier planes. On the same day, American TF 38 launched 600 aircraft against Kure, Nagoya, Osaka, and Miho, sinking battleship-carrier Hyuga, heavy cruiser Tone, and target ship Settsu, and damaging carrier Ryuho, carrier Amagi, battleship-carrier Ise, battleship Haruna, heavy cruiser Aoba, light cruiser Oyodo, transport Kiyokawa Maru; the Aichi aircraft factories at Nagoya were seriously damaged. ww2dbase [Preparations for Invasion of Japan | CPC]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) and TF58 pounded shipping and installations around the Kure naval base. ww2dbase [Yorktown (Essex-class) | Kure, Hiroshima | DS]
• Light carrier Hosho was hit by a bomb or a rocket during an attack by US aircraft at Kure, Japan; the damage was minor. ww2dbase [Hosho | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]
• USS Yorktown (Essex-class) and TF58 pounded shipping and installations around the Kure naval base. ww2dbase [Preparations for Invasion of Japan | Kure, Hiroshima | DS]
• Settsu was attacked by 30 US Navy F6F-3 fighters while off Kure, Hiroshima, Japan after 1500 hours, suffering one direct bomb hit and five near misses. Captain Masanao Ofuji grounded her on the island of Etajima to prevent sinking. ww2dbase [Settsu | Preparations for Invasion of Japan | Etajima, Hiroshima | CPC]

• A test bomb in the shape of the atomic bomb Little Boy, designated L-2, was dropped in the sea near Tinian, Mariana Islands from a B-29 bomber piloted by Paul Tibbets. ww2dbase [Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki | Paul Tibbets | Tinian | CPC]

• The destroyer escort USS Underhill was sunk off the Philippine Islands by a Japanese Kaiten midget submarine with the loss of 112 crew. ww2dbase [Kaiten-class | AC]
• USS Sea Robin fired three torpedoes at a Japanese oiler in the East China Sea; all torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Sea Robin | East China Sea | CPC]
• USS Blenny reported sinking a small Japanese craft with the deck gun in the South China Sea off Malaya. ww2dbase [Blenny | South China Sea | CPC]
• USS Bugara sank 4 small enemy craft with her deck gun in the Gulf of Siam and South China Sea area during the day. ww2dbase [Bugara | South China Sea | CPC]

• General Henry Arnold, head of the USAAF, was presented with a top-secret memorandum specifying possible targets recommended for attack with atomic bombs. ww2dbase [Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki | AC]

24 Jul 1945 Interactive Map