June 17th, 1943 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The first units of supporting naval forces sail for the invasion Sicily, Operation Husky.The BBC warns civilians in occupied Europe to evacuate the vicinity of all factories working for the German war effort.
No. 186 Squadron RAF flying the Hawker Hurricane MK IID makes the first rocket attacks against targets at Flushing in the Netherlands. (22)
Escort carrier HMS Campania launched.
Minesweeping trawlers HMS Lindisfarne and Skomer launched.
Destroyer HMS Terpsichore launched.
GERMANY:
ITALY: The RAF bombs Naples.
PACIFIC OCEAN: During the night of 17/18 June, four B-24 Liberators of the USAAF's Seventh Air Force take off from Funafuti Atoll, Ellice Islands at 2-hour intervals to bomb Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. One aborts and another fails to find the target. The two B-24s bombing the target hit runways, silence an AA battery, and blow up an ammunition dump. The raid is a diversion in support of the first night photo-reconnaissance mission by the VII Bomber Command, during which three B-24s photograph Mille Atoll in the Caroline Islands and nearby waters in the Marshall Islands.
U.S.A.: Minesweeper USS Dextrous launched.
Frigate USS Coronado launched.
Light fleet carrier USS Monterey commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: HMT Yoma sunk by U-81 at 33.03N, 22.04E.
An RAF 206 Sqn Fortress damaged U-338, killing one and wounding three.