Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Thursday, 18 June 1942

US NAVY

PACIFIC—USAAF B-17s, B-24s, and an LB-30 (11th Air Force) bomb Japanese shipping in Kiska harbor, sinking fleet tanker Nissan Maru, 51°58'N, 177°40'E.

           Japanese cargo ship Tairyu Maru is stranded and wrecked off Gyoji Island, Korea, 34°33'N, 125°53'E.

ATLANTIC—U.S. freighter Seattle Spirit is torpedoed by German submarine U-124 at 50°23'N, 42°25'W; four merchant seamen perish in the attack. Survivors (33 merchant sailors, the 11 man Armed Guard and seven passengers) are rescued by steamship Perth and Canadian corvette HMCS Agassiz. Agassiz scuttles the irreparably damaged merchantman with gunfire.

           Cuban boats rescue survivors of U.S. freighter Millinocket, torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-129 the previous day.

           Naval Air Facility, La Fe, Cuba, is established.

US ARMY AIR FORCE

INTERNATIONAL—Churchill arrives in Washington for series of conferences (until 25 Jun) with Roosevelt. Subjects discussed include war production, shipping, help for China, diversion of Germany from Eastern Front, and atomic research.

EIGHTH AF—HQ opens in London with General Spaatz commanding. Air Ministry publishes tentative list of 87 airfields to be made ready for Eighth AF.

ELEVENTH AF—1 LB-30, 3 B‑17’s and 4 B‑24’s make a precision high-altitude attack on Kiska Harbor. A transport is left burning and sinking, another is mauled, and 2 scout planes are possibly shot down. 1 B‑24 crashes at sea; part of its crew is saved.

US ARMY

UNITED STATES—Prime Minister Churchill arrives for series of Anglo-American conferences with President Roosevelt in Washington.

LIBYA—Axis forces drive to Gambut. This is a blow to the Tobruk garrison, since air support from forward landing grounds in Gambut area is now denied the garrison.

USSR—Germans report reduction, after 12 days of hard fighting, of northern part of Sevastopol fortifications except for one coastal fort.

UNITED KINGDOM—General Spaatz, in London, takes command of U.S. Eighth Air Force.

US MARINE CORPS

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