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• Battleship Musashi was reassigned to the Second Fleet. ww2dbase [Musashi | CPC]
• USS Tang sank Japanese transport Echizen Maru. ww2dbase [Tang | CPC]
• Destroyer Yuzuki arrived at Palau Islands. ww2dbase [Yuzuki | CPC]
• Bruce Fraser was awarded Soviet Order of Suvorov, First Class. ww2dbase [Bruce Fraser | CPC]

• A British Catalina aircraft sank German submarine U-601 near Allied convoy JW-57; all 51 aboard were killed. At 2055 hours the British destroyer HMS Mahratta (G 23) (Lieutenant Commander E. A. F. Drought, DSC, RN) was hit by a G7es acoustic torpedo from German submarine U-990 about 280 miles from the North Cape, Norway, while escorting the stern sector of convoy JW-57. The destroyer exploded and sank within minutes. HMS Impulsive (D 11) (Lieutenant Commander P. Bekenn, RN) and HMS Wanderer (D 74) (Lieutenant Commander R. F. Whinney, DSC, RN) were quickly on the scene to pick up survivors, but only 16 survivors could be recovered from the freezing waters. The commander, ten officers and 209 ratings lost their lives. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Norwegian Sea | CPC, HM]

• The supply depot on the coast near Kokopo, New Britain was bombarded by US destroyers for 30 minutes starting at about 2330 hours; a warehouse was damaged by fires. 2,000 5-inch shells were expended by the US Navy on this bombardment. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | Kokopo, New Britain | CPC]

• The American submarine USS Rasher (SS-269) (Lieutenant Commander Willard R. Laughon) intercepted a Japanese convoy of Ryusei Maru and Tango Maru escorted by minesweepers W-8 and W-11 together with an auxiliary submarine chaser TakunanMaru No. 3. The convoy was proceeding from Surabaya to Ambon in the Dutch East Indies. Ryusei Maru was carrying approximately 6,000 Japanese soldiers and Tango Maru had 3,500 Javanese workers and 3,500 Allied prisoners of war on board. At 2045 hours Rasher torpedoed and sank Tango Maru about 25 miles north of Bali Island, an hour and a half later Rasher fired four torpedoes at Ryusei Maru, three torpedoes hit, and the vessel sank quickly taking most of the men on board her down. ww2dbase [Rasher | Bali Sea | AC, HM]

• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against the Messerschmitt factory at Augsburg, Germany. ww2dbase [RAF Thurleigh | Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Augsburg | DS]

• Five Italian motor torpedo boats attacked the Allied beachhead at Anzio, Italy before dawn, causing no damage and suffering no losses. ww2dbase [Battle of Anzio | Anzio, Lazio | CPC]

• Assigned to the Second Fleet, Yamato was drydocked at Kure, Japan to receive upgrades. Two beam triple 6.1 inch (155-mm) turrets were to be removed and replaced by six (3x2) 5-inch (127-mm) HA AA mounts. Twenty-four (8x3) and 26 single 25mm AA mounts were to be added. Shelters were also added on the upper deck for the increased AA crews. Type 13 air search and Type 22 Mod 4 surface search/gunnery control radars were to be installed. The main mast was to be altered. Two 150-mm searchlights were to be removed (later installed ashore at Kure, Japan). Yamato was to be fitted with Type 2 infrared (IR) Identification Friend-or-Foe (IFF)/signaling devices mounted midway up on each side of the bridge; the system might had been based on the German Seehund IR device, built around a telescopic sensor that received light-waves in the IR range and registered a readout in the radio shack. The IFF system also included a pair of 20-mm binoculars coaxially mounted with the transmitting IR lamp on the bridge so that another ship could use the IR detector for elementary signaling or as a formation light for station keeping. About this time, Yamato was also fitted with multiple E27 radar detectors copied from the German FuMB 1 Metox R.600. ww2dbase [Kure Naval Arsenal | Yamato | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]
• Landing ship No. 129 was launched. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]
• The keel of landing ship No. 132 was laid down by Kawanami Kogyo. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• Carriers USS Corregidor and USS Coral Sea with destroyers USS Nicholas, USS LaVallette, and USS Taylor departed Kwajalein, Marshall Islands as escorts to bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ww2dbase [Anzio | Corregidor | Nicholas | Kwajalein | DS]

• USS Grayback sank tanker Nanho Maru and damaged freighter Asama Maru. ww2dbase [Grayback | CPC]

• USS Hoe sank Japanese fleet tanker Nissho Maru and damaged fleet tanker Kyokuto Maru with a night time surfaced torpedo attack south of Davao Gulf, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Hoe | Mindanao | CPC]

25 Feb 1944 Interactive Map