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• USS S-28 arrived at Port Angeles, Washington, United States. ww2dbase [S-28 | CPC]
• German He 111 torpedo bombers and Ju 88 bombers attacked Allied convoy PQ-16 475 miles northeast of Iceland; one He 111 was shot down by a British Hurricane fighter. To the east, German Fw 200, Bv 138, and two Ju 88 aircraft successively shadowed QP-12 starting at 1400 hours; British catapult aircraft merchantman Empire Moon launched her Hurricane fighter which shot down a Ju 88 aircraft but Flying Officer John Kendal would die when his parachute failed to open in time after he bailed out. At 1910 hours, 6 German Ju 88 and 7 He 111 aircraft attacked QP-12, damaging US freighter City of Joliet. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | CPC]
• Destroyer Yukikaze arrived at Saipan, Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Yukikaze | CPC]
• USS Drum sank Japanese merchant ship Kitakata Maru 125 miles southwest of Tokyo, Japan. ww2dbase [Drum | CPC]
• USS Pompano sank Japanese tanker Tokyo Maru 50 miles west of Okinawa, Japan. ww2dbase [Pompano | CPC]
• USS Tautog sank Japanese merchant ship Shoka Maru 440 miles southwest of Ulithi, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Tautog | CPC]
• Japanese submarine I-9 launched her floatplane for a reconnaissance mission over Adak and Kanaga islands in the Aleutian Islands; on the same day, the Japanese Northern Area Fleet under Admiral Boshiro Hosogaya departed Japan for the conquest of nearby Attu and Kiska islands. On the US side, the Japanese radio message intercepted on 20 May 1942 was partially decrypted, giving the Americans a good idea of the scale of the Midway attack; the Americans missed one critical component, however, as the part regarding the battleship fleet, with Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's personal participation aboard battleship Yamato, was not decrypted. ww2dbase [Battle of Midway and the Aleutian Islands | CPC]
• 1942-05-25 German submarine-558 sank US ship Beatrice 50 miles southwest of Kingston, Jamaica at 0134 hours; 1 was killed, 30 survived. At 1552 hours, U-156 damaged destroyer USS Blakeley off Martinique, blowing away 60 feet of bow with a torpedo (6 were killed, 116 survived); Blakeley would be able to make it to Port de France, Martinique for temporary repairs. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• Léon Degrelle was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class. ww2dbase [Léon Degrelle | CPC]
• The construction of LST-412 was ordered. ww2dbase [LST-412 | CPC]

• Engineers and staff officers of the Japanese 25th Air Flotilla and 8th Base Force departed Rabaul, New Britain by flying boat to inspect prospective airfield building sites on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Guadalcanal Campaign | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• Destroyer Yuzuki arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. She was assigned to Destroyer Division 29 of Destroyer Squadron 6 of the Fourth Fleet. ww2dbase [Yuzuki | Truk | CPC]

• Chinese 38th Infantry Division began to cross the border from Burma into India. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | CPC]

• Captain Jojima was relieved by Captain Masafumi Arima as the commanding officer of Shokaku. ww2dbase [Shokaku | CPC]

• USS Permit fired four torpedoes at a Japanese transport in the Makassar Strait; all four torpedoes missed. ww2dbase [Permit | Makassar Strait | CPC]

• Soviet troops trapped at Izium, Ukraine made a major attempt to break the encirclement in failure, and the continued German pressured reduced the Soviet pocket to an area roughly 10 miles wide and 2 miles deep. ww2dbase [Second Battle of Kharkov | Izium, Kharkov | CPC]

• German submarine U-593 sank Panamanian tanker Persephone 10 miles off New Jersey, United States at 2053 hours; 9 were killed, 28 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | New Jersey | CPC]
• Andrew Higgins' landing craft competed with US Navy's standard landing craft in choppy waters at Norfolk, Virginia, United States; Higgins' boat defeated the US Navy boat in all categories. ww2dbase [Andrew Higgins | Norfolk, Virginia | CPC]
• Stephen Hopkins began its service. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Companies C and D of the 2nd Raider Battalion and the 37mm battery of the 3rd Defense Battalion of the United States Marine Corps arrived at Midway via USS St. Louis. St. Louis departed the same day bound for Cold Bay, Alaska. ww2dbase [St. Louis | Midway Bases | Midway | CPC]

25 May 1942 Interactive Map