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• Yamato was visited by the German Naval Attaché to Tokyo Konteradmiral Paul Wenneker, who wore a Japanese naval uniform. His tour of Yamato did not include the main turrets, and he was told that the primary armament of Yamato consisted of 40-cm guns rather than the actual 46-cm. ww2dbase [Yamato | CPC]
• In Sicily, Italy, Canadian troops captured Caltagirone, American troops captured Agrigento, while British troops secured the Primosole Bridge and marched for Catania. On the same day, Allied aircraft attacked Valguarnera, Vibo Valentia, Randazzo, and other targets in Sicily. ww2dbase [Invasion of Sicily and Italy's Surrender | TH]
• Apogon was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [Apogon | CPC]
• British President of Edution R. A. Butler announced a plan to remodel secondary schools (for children between the ages of 11 and 15) in the United Kingdom, dividing the existing schools into grammar, modern, and technical tiers. ww2dbase [CPC]
• 14 B-26B bombers of USAAF VIII Air Support Command attacked the rail marshalling yard at Abbeville, France at 2000 hours. This was VIII Air Support Command's first combat operation. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British patrol vessel HMS Kilbernie was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [CPC]
• British sloop Lapwing and corvette Rushen Castle were launched. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Theophil Wurm, the bishop of Württemberg, Germany, wrote to Adolf Hitler in protest of the deaths that were occurring in concentration camps. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-366 was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-1192 was launched. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt jointly issued an announcement to the Italian people, urging them to remove Benito Mussolini from power and to seek surrender. On the same day, Allied aircraft dropped leaflets containing the same message over Italian cities. ww2dbase [Franklin Roosevelt | CPC]
• Before dawn, British Wellington bombers of the Allied Northwest African Strategic Air Force attacked Crotone, Reggio di Calabria, and Villa San Giovanni in southern Italy. During the day, American B-24 Liberator bombers of the USAAF Ninth Air Force Bari in southern Italy; 3 American bombers and 11 German fighters were shot down during the aerial battle. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Generaloberst Walter Model, already the commanding officer of the German Ninth Army, assumed a second role as the commander of the Second Panzer Army upon the arrest of Generaloberst Rudolf Schmidt by the Gestapo. ww2dbase [Walter Model | CPC]
• German submarine U-181 sank transport Fort Franklin southwest of Réunion island in the Indian Ocean at 1558 hours; 2 were killed, 53 survived. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Destroyer USS Stembel was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Destroyer escort USS Dionne was commissioned into service. ww2dbase [CPC]
• American destroyer escort Vance was launched. ww2dbase [CPC]
• American frigate El Paso was launched. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-306 attacked Allied convoy SL-133 in the Atlantic Ocean, damaging Kaipara at 0352 hours; she would attack again at 0801 hours with two spreads of two torpedoes, but none would cause any damage. Several hours later, TBF Avenger aircraft of US Navy Composite Squadron 13 from escort carrier USS Core sank German submarine U-67 with depth charges in the Atlantic Ocean; 48 were killed, 3 survived. At 2115 hours, German submarine U-513 sank transport Richard Caswell 150 miles southeast of Florianopolis, Brazil with two torpedoes; 9 were killed, 60 survived in 3 lifeboats and 2 rafts. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Lydia Litvyak shot down the German Bf 109G fighter pilot by Oberfeldwebel Hans Grünberg and another Bf 109G fighter while flying a Yak-1b fighter. ww2dbase [Lydia Litvyak | CPC]
• While supporting the Sicily, Italy operations, HMS Indomitable was torpedoed either by a SM.79 bomber (crewed by Captain Carlo Capelli and Lieutenant Ennio Caselli) of 204a Squadriglia of the Italian 41st Torpedo Bomber Group or a German Ju 88 bomber. The British carrier would be sent to the United States for repairs. ww2dbase [Invasion of Sicily and Italy's Surrender | Indomitable | CPC]
• USS Bailey departed the San Francisco area bound for San Diego, California. ww2dbase [Bailey | DS]
• After midnight, destroyers USS Nicholas, USS O’Bannon, USS Radford, and USS Jenkins covered the force engaged in recovering 165 USS Helena survivors, 1 Japanese pilot taken as prisoner, 16 Chinese citizens, and 1 Australian coast watcher from the island of Vella Lavella. Upon retiring, Radford came across one of Nicholas's whaleboats left behind after Helena's sinking for the benefit of her survivors still in the water. In the boat were two Japanese sailors from the cruiser Jintsu sunk in the early morning of 13 Jul 1943. Radford took them prisoner. ww2dbase [Nicholas | Helena (St. Louis-class) | Solomon Islands Campaign | DS]

• Yugure departed Rabaul, New Britain, Bismarck Islands at 2200 hours. ww2dbase [Yugure | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• More than 30 B-24 Liberator and B-17 Flying Fortress bombers of the US Thirteenth Air Force attacked Kahili Airfield on Bougainville, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Kahili Airfield | Solomon Islands Campaign | Buin, Bougainville | CPC]

• The keel of Canadian frigate Beacon Hill was laid down at Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada. ww2dbase [Esquimalt, British Columbia | CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Four new barracks turned over to station. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• British submarine HMS Tactician under Lieutenant Commander A. F. Collett, DSC, RN fired six torpedoes against the Italian submarine Luigi Settembrini that had traveled from Pola and was about to enter Brindisi harbour in southern Italy. No hits were obtained, but the Italians observed two torpedo tracks astern, one at about 200 meters and another just only 15 meters. Later on, she set course to return to the Gulf of Taranto. At 1300 hours, HMS Tactician sighted a trawler leaving Brindisi and proceeding up the swept channel. At 1350 hours the trawler was seen to proceed back towards Brindisi. The Tactician followed the trawler and at 1403 hours fired six torpedoes. No hits were obtained. Tactician now set course to retire from the Adriatic Sea. ww2dbase [Brindisi, Puglia | HM]

• USS S-35 and a Japanese destroyer gave chase to each other off Paramushiro, Hokkaido, Japan; no hits were scored by either side when night fell and they lost sight of each other. ww2dbase [S-35 | Paramushiro, Hokkaido | CPC]

• Italian submarine Dandolo damaged British light cruiser HMS Cleopatra (Captain J. F. Stevens, RN) with a torpedo off Sicily, Italy. HMS Cleopatra would receive temporary repairs at Malta and would later sail for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States for permanent repairs. All told, Cleopatra would be out of action for over a year. ww2dbase [CPC, HM]

• USS Honolulu and USS St. Louis arrived at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. St. Louis moored alongside repair ship USS Vestal. ww2dbase [St. Louis | Honolulu | Walden Ainsworth | Segond Channel, Espiritu Santo | DS]

16 Jul 1943 Interactive Map