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• German submarine U-352 attacked United States Coast Guard Cutter Icarus 50 kilometers east of Wilmington, North Carolina, United States; both torpedoes missed; Icarus' counterattack damaged U-352, forcing her to surface for the crew to scuttle the submarine; 15 were killed, 33 survived. German submarine U-564 attacked Panamanian tanker Lubrafol 3 miles east of Hillsboro Inlet, Florida, United States, detonating the oil she was carrying, though she would burn for two days before sinking; 13 were killed, 31 survived. German submarine U-162 sank Canadian ship Mont Louis 50 miles north of Anna Regina, British Guiana; 13 were killed, 8 survived. ww2dbase [Second Happy Time | CPC]
• HMS King George V arrived at the Gladstone Dock in Liverpool, England, United Kingdom to repair the damage caused by the 1 May 1942 collision with HMS Punjabi. ww2dbase [King George V | CPC]
• US Marine Observation Squadron 151 arrived at American Samoa from Norfolk, Virginia, United States. ww2dbase [CPC]
• By this date, most troops of the Burma Corps had withdrew west of the Chindwin River. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | CPC]
• German submarine U-125 sank Canadian tanker Calgarolite 50 miles west of Grand Cayman island; all 45 aboard survived. ww2dbase [Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico Campaigns | CPC]
• German minesweepers M-533 and R-45 collided and sank in the English Channel. ww2dbase [CPC]

• USS S-41 departed Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, starting her third war patrol. ww2dbase [S-41 | Brisbane, Queensland | CPC]

• USS S-44 spotted a Japanese destroyer in the New Britain-New Ireland region, but failed to close in for an attack. ww2dbase [S-44 | CPC]

• Leonardo da Vinci departed La Pallice, La Rochelle, France at 0810 hours for sea trials, returning to La Pallice at 1210 hours. At 1740 hours, she set out to sea again for a war patrol. ww2dbase [Leonardo da Vinci | La Rochelle, Poitou-Charentes | CPC]

• Joseph Rochefort's cryptanalytic team in Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii intercepted a Japanese Navy radio message ordering carrier Akagi to make rendezvous with another fleet at Sasebo, Japan on 20 May 1942. ww2dbase [Battle of Midway and the Aleutian Islands | Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• German Schnellboot S-31 whilst laying FMC Contact mines off Malta suddenly exploded killing 13 of her crew; it was thought that a mine had cut loose from its mooring and rose into the boat. ww2dbase [HM]

• USS Wasp and HMS Eagle launched 47 and 17 Spitfire fighters, respectively, for Malta; 61 of them would arrive safely to reinforce the island. Meanwhile, to the west, British minelayer HMS Welshman, carrying 240 tons of supplies for Malta and disguised as a French destroyer, encountered Axis aircraft but her disguise kept her safe. ww2dbase [Malta Campaign | CPC]

• Yugure and Ushio took on fuel from a tanker in the Coral Sea at 0015 hours. At 0515 hours, Yugure was ordered to escort the damaged Shokaku to Yokosuka, Japan; Shokaku was administratively reassigned to Carrier Division 5 of 1st Air Fleet for the upcoming dramatic dash past a cordon of American submarines alerted to intercept the Japanese carrier. Meanwhile, Ushio was ordered to escort Zuikaku, which was ordered to pursue any American ships remaining in the Coral Sea area. ww2dbase [Yugure | Zuikaku | Shokaku | Coral Sea | CPC]

• Troops of the Japanese Kawamura Detachment wiped out American and Filipino troops under Brigadier General William Sharp near Dalig on Mindanao, Philippine Islands. ww2dbase [Invasion of the Philippine Islands | Bukidnon | CPC]

• Semyon Timoshenko's 28th Army (Lieutenant-General D. I. Ryabyshev), reinforced to 16 infantry and three cavalry divisions supported by six armouired brigades, launched an offensive in the Volchansk sector near Kharkov, Ukraine, but were checked after pushing out a salient of some 20 miles into the enemy lines. ww2dbase [Second Battle of Kharkov | Vovchansk, Kharkov | AC]

• Fred Korematsu went into hiding in Oakland, California, United States, defying the orders to assemble for deportation. ww2dbase [Fred Korematsu | Oakland, California | CPC]
• USS St. Louis departed San Francisco as an escort for a convoy bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ww2dbase [St. Louis | San Francisco, California | DS]

9 May 1942 Interactive Map