Day 902 February 18, 1942

German bombers sink British minesweeping trawler HMT Botanic in the North Sea.

WWI-era US destroyer USS Truxton runs aground and disintegrates in heavy weather on Ferryland Point, Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. Despite the help of locals, 119 crew die (33 survivors).

In the Gulf of Mexico 95 miles North of the Panama Canal, the massive Free French submarine Surcouf (an "underwater cruiser" armed with two 8-inch guns), en route for Tahiti via the Panama Canal, collides with American merchant ship Thomson Lykes and sinks (all 130 hands lost).

Dutch East Indies. Allied air reconnaissance spots Japanese troop convoys on the move towards Bali and Timor. ABDA Naval forces are scattered around Indonesia following their sortie into the Bangka Strait 3 days ago, so Dutch Admiral Karel Doorman orders them to converge in the Java Sea. Japanese bombers attack Surabaya harbor, Java. Dutch WWI-era coastal defense ship Surabaya (a pantserschip sporting a 75mm mortar and 2 Krupp 11-inch guns) is sunk in shallow water but will be raised by the Japanese and used as a floating battery. Dutch submarine K7 is submerged as protection from the bombs (unfortunately this does not work, K7 is destroyed with all 13 hands lost).

Burma. General Hutton, GOC Burma Command, visits the rapidly disintegrating defenses of Indian 17th Infantry Division along the Bilin River. He gives 17th Division’s commander General Smyth permission to fall back 30 miles to better defenses on the Sittang River.