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• » 4 Mar 1942

• USS Enterprise launched aircraft against Marcus Island. Cruisers USS Salt Lake City and USS Northampton shelled Marcus Island. ww2dbase [Salt Lake City | Northampton | Enterprise | TH]
• Harold Alexander arrived in Burma. ww2dbase [Harold Alexander | CPC]
• Australian sloop HMAS Yarra was sunk by Japanese cruisers 300 miles south of Java, Dutch East Indies at 0800 hours whilst attempting to protect a convoy of vessels withdrawing to Australia; 158 were killed, 13 survived. The other three ships in the small convoy (minesweeper MMS-51, depot ship Anking, and tanker Francol) were sunk during the same attack. ww2dbase [AC, CPC]
• HMS Edinburgh completed her refitting at Tyne, England, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Edinburgh | CPC]
• USS Grampus sank Japanese tanker Kaijo Maru in the Pacific Ocean, killing all 90 aboard. ww2dbase [Grampus | CPC]
• USS Narwhal sank Japanese Army cargo ship Taki Maru 200 miles south of Japan in the Pacific Ocean. ww2dbase [Narwhal | CPC]

• Light cruiser HMS Sheffield (Captain A. W. Clarke, RN) was mined off Iceland. She was under repair until Jul 1942. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | HM]
• The 6,675-ton British steam merchant Frumenton, carrying 10,393 tons of wheat, struck a mine eleven miles east of Great Yarmouth, England, United Kingdom and sank whilst on passage from St John's to London. ww2dbase [North Sea | HM]

• US 7th Pursuit Squadron, flying P-40 fighters, was sent to Horn Island off Queensland, Australia. ww2dbase [Horn Island, Queensland | CPC]

• In Burma, Japanese troops enveloped Chinese troops at Toungoo while British 7th Queen's Own Hussars regiment clashed with Japanese troops at Pegu. ww2dbase [Invasion of Burma | CPC]

• All Dutch troops evacuated Batavia and Leuwiliang, Java, Dutch East Indies after sundown for Bandoeng 70 miles to the southeast. ww2dbase [Dutch East Indies Campaign, Java | Java | CPC]

• At 0000 hours, US radar operators detected two signals approaching Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii; they were two H8K flying boats from Wotje, Marshall Islands via French Frigate Shoals (where they took on fuel from submarines I-15 and I-19). At 0130 hours, five PBY Catalina aircraft were launched, armed with torpedoes, to search for the carriers that the Americans thought where the flying boats must have launched from; at the same time, five US Army fighters were launched to attack the flying boats. At 0210 hours and 0230 hours, the two flying boats dropped their payloads uncontested, although the first bombs fell harmlessly in the mountains 10 miles from Pearl Harbor and the second bombs landed in the water just outside of Pearl Harbor. The two aircraft flew back to Wotje unscathed. ww2dbase [H8K | Pearl Harbor Navy Base and Ford Island Naval Air Station | Honolulu, Oahu | CPC]

• British submarine HMS Rover (Lieutenant Commander G. H. Reynolds, RN) arrived at Bombay, India where her refit was to be continued by the Bombay Dockyard. A lot of her equipment was lost at Singapore and had to be shipped from the United Kingdom. It would therefore take considerable time before Rover would be completed. Her completion date was delayed several times due to other priorities and equipment that was being sent from the United Kingdom being lost. ww2dbase [Bombay | HM]

• The 865-ton Dutch steam merchant Merkus en route to Bombay, India from Tjilatjap, Java, Dutch East Indies, was attacked and sunk by gunfire by the Japanese submarine I-7 in the Indian Ocean close to the Cocos Islands. The crew of the Merkus would reach Sumatra, Dutch East Indies. I-7 then went on to torpedo and sink another Dutch vessel, the 3,271-ton passenger vessel Le Maire. ww2dbase [HM]

• Jack Kleiss, flying a SBD Dauntless dive bomber, participated in the raid of Minami-Tori-Shima ("Marcus Island"). ww2dbase [Jack Kleiss | Minami-Tori-Shima | CPC]

• Japanese killed 300 civilians, mostly ethnic Chinese, in Geland Patah, Johor in Malaya. ww2dbase [Invasion of Malaya and Singapore | Geland Patah, Johor | CPC]

• USS S-39 (SS-144; Lieutenant J. W. Coe) fired four Mark 10 torpedoes at Japanese fleet oiler Erimo south of Belitung Island in western Java Sea, scoring three hits. Erimo's commanding officer, Captain Soma, beached Erimo to prevent sinking. The light cruiser Yura rescued survivors, but four crewmen were lost. Erimo was abandoned as a constructive total loss. ww2dbase [S-39 | Yura | Java Sea | CPC, HM]

• Sir William Jowitt was appointed Paymaster-General of the United Kingdom with special responsibility for post-war reconstruction. ww2dbase [AC]

4 Mar 1942 Interactive Map