May 25th, 1942 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Escort carrier HMS Slinger laid down.
ITALY: La Spezia: An Italian naval flotilla continues its journey to Lake Ladoga in the USSR. It is loaded onto trucks and driven to Stettin. From there it is loaded on a ship (the German Thielbeck) to Helsinki, towed by sea from Helsinki to Punkasami (through the Saimaa Channel), then by rail to their logistical base at Lahdenpohja, and then finally by their own means to their new operational base at Sortanlahti. (Arturo Lorioli)INDIA: Elements of the 38th Division of the Japanese Army reach India.
JAPAN: The Japanese army issues orders to several units to begin preparing for an amphibious attack against Hawaii. Training for the assault is to be completed by September 1942. The original operational order (Dairikushi no. 1159) gave notification to the Seventh and Second Divisions to prepare for the invasion. (Johjn Stephen, Hawaii Under The Rising Sun, p117) (Jon Parshall)
PACIFIC OCEAN: Two light carriers and two cruisers leave Hokkaido, Japan to begin diversionary raids on the Aleutian Islands as part of the Japanese Midway operation.
The Japanese submarine HIJMS I-9 launches a Yokosuka E14Y1, Navy Type 0 Small Reconnaissance Seaplane, Allied Code Name "Glen," to fly a reconnaissance mission over Kiska and Amchitka Islands in the Aleutian Islands.
The light cruiser USS St. Louis (CL-49), part of a reinforcement group carrying Marine aircraft and personnel to Midway, disembarks Companies C and D of the Second Marine Raider Battalion and a 37mm gun battery of the Third defence Battalion.
US submarines sail to patrol positions from Hawaii to counter the Japanese Midway operation.
MIDWAY ISLANDS: Light cruiser USS St. Louis (CL-49) arrives and disembarks Companies "C" and "D," 2d Marine Raider Battalion, and a 37 mm gun battery of the 3d defence Battalion.
CANADA: Patrol vessel HMCS Raccoon returned Gaspe Defense Force, escorting Convoys Quebec-Sydney.
U.S.A.: MIS Language School is moved from San Francisco, California to Camp Savage, Minnesota because of the exclusion order, restricting all people of Japanese ancestry from military zones. (Gene Hanson)
GULF OF MEXICO: Another unarmed U.S. merchant freighter is sunk by torpedoes and shellfire from the German submarine U-103.
During a patrol in the Caribbean one man from U-594 was lost during crash-diving. [Matrosengefreiter Walter Kunde].
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 1552, USS Blakeley was patrolling off Martinique in the French West Indies, when she was hit by a torpedo from U-156 which carried away 60 feet of her bow. The explosion killed six men and wounded 21, but the ship did not sink and reached Port de France, Martinique for emergency repairs. After additional repairs in Port Castries, Santa Lucia and in San Juan, Puerto Rico the destroyer sailed to Philadelphia where she was refitted with the bow taken from her stricken sister ship USS Taylor and was thoroughly overhauled. She returned to duty in the Caribbean in 1942.
At 2053, the Persephone sailing in an unknown convoy was torpedoed by U-593 off Barnegat Light and sank later in only eight fathoms of water in 46°15N/74°02W after breaking in two. The bow section was salvaged and towed to New York, where 21,000 barrels of oil were saved by barges. Her midship house was even removed intact and placed on the tanker Livingston Roe. The USCG later blew up the stern section after passing ships collided with it more than once.
At 0416, the Haakon Hauan was hit by one torpedo from U-753 amidships. The U-boat had then to evade an escort vessel and did not find the tanker again. The damaged ship was taken to New Orleans, then towed to Mobile where she was repaired for three months.