First U.S. aircraft carrier offensive of the war as YORKTOWN and ENTERPRISE conduct air raids on Japanese bases in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands.

PT boats and P-40's repulse Japanese landing attempt on southwest Bataan.

Japanese begin evacuation of Guadalcanal.

U.S. Troops started to capture Kwajalein and Majura Atolls in the Marshall Islands.

Japanese invade Java in the Dutch East Indies.

RAdm Fletcher is officer in tactical command; force consists of three carriers, seven heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, 16 destroyers.

Japanese naval land attack planes bomb ABDA operating base at Surabaya;

U.S. Sixth Army attacks Japanese in Manila.

Japanese naval land attack planes bomb ABDA ships, damaging Houston (CA-30) and light cruiser Marblehead (CL-12).

Japanese planes bomb Allied shipping off Soembawa Island, N.E.I.

Hammondsport delivered 120 P-40 fighters to Brisbane.

Japanese artillery on Cavite coast shell Corregidor.

U.S. Troops finally captured Kwajalein and Majura Atolls in the Marshall Islands.

Japanese invade Singapore.

Japanese troops land on New Britain.

British-Indian forces begin guerrilla operations against Japanese in Burma.

Japanese resistance on Guadalcanal ends.

General Instructions for Refueling, tech bulletin 2-42

First large troop convoy to garrison S. Pacific Islands.

Passenger ship President Taylor, transporting 900 troops to occupy Canton Island, runs aground.

Japanese invade Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies.

Enterprise (Halsey) leaves Pearl Harbor for Wake Island.

British surrender at Singapore.

Japanese army paratroops secure vital oil refineries at Palembang, Sumatra, N.E.I.

Yorktown (Fletcher) left Pearl Harbor to patrol South Pacific.

Japanese planes bomb U.S. Timor-bound convoy ; convoy recalled.

Lexington TF 11 (VAdm Brown) heads for an attack on Rabaul, New Britain.

U.S. Troops recapture Bataan in the Philippines.

Seabees (First Naval Construction Battalion) arrive at Bora Bora, Society Islands.

U.S. Carrier-based planes destroy the Japanese naval base at Truk in the Caroline Islands.

4 BB and other ships join up from European theater. American forces enter Corregidor.

Largest Japanese air raid since Pearl Harbor occurs against Darwin, Australia; Japanese invade Bali.

Battle of Badoeng Strait begins; ABDA force attacks retiring Japanese Bali occupation force with 1 Dutch DD sunk, 2 CL and 1 DD damaged.

U.S. Marines invade Iwo Jima.

First U.S. fighter ace of the war, Lt. Edward O'Hare from the LEXINGTON in action off Rabaul.

Philippine government evacuated by submarine Swordfish (SS-193)

U.S. Carrier-based and land-based planes destroy the Japanese base at Rabaul.

Adm King presents plan for SoPac campaign followed for next 18 months.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General MacArthur out of the Philippines.

First Japanese attack on the U.S. mainland as a submarine shells an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California.

U.S. Carrier-based planes attack the Mariana Islands.

ENTERPRISE attacks Japanese on Wake Island.

Merrill's Marauders begin a ground campaign in northern Burma.

Japanese force lands north of Surabaya, Java.

Jap carriers depart Kendari for sweeps between Java and Australia.

Storms and collisions damage 2 cruisers and 6 destroyers off Iwo Jima.

Japanese naval victory in the Battle of the Java Sea as the largest U.S. warship in the Far East, the HOUSTON, is sunk.

Seaplane tender Langley (AV-3), carrying 32 P-40's for the defense of Java, is sunk by Japanese naval land attack planes.

Battle of Sunda Strait begins shortly before midnight as heavy cruiser Houston (CA-30) and Australian light cruiser HMAS Perth, attempting to retire from Java, accidentally encounter Japanese transport force and escorting ships in Banten Bay, Java, and engage them.