Bombardment At Bougainville

MON 27 DEC 1943
Pacific
Two cruisers and four destroyers (Rear Admiral Walden L. Ainsworth) bombard Kieta area, Bougainville, Solomons.

Coastal transport APc-15 is damaged by dive bomber, New Britain, 06°12'S, 149°03'E.

Submarine Flying Fish (SS-229) sinks Japanese fleet tanker Kyuei Maru, 21°25'N, 118°05'E.

Submarine Gurnard (SS-254) damages Japanese transport (ex-armed merchant cruiser) Gokoku Maru, 34°23'N, 138°24'E.

Submarine Ray (SS-271) sinks Japanese fleet tanker Kyoko Maru (ex-Dutch Semiramis) west of the Celebes, 05°00'S, 121°22'E.

Submarine Tautog (SS-199) damages Japanese seaplane carrier Kimikawa Maru off Shionomisaki, 33°25'N, 135°33'E.

Indian Ocean
U.S. freighter Jose Navarro, bound for Calcutta, India, is torpedoed by German submarine U-178 at 08°20'N, 73°35'E. A volunteer crew returns to the ship after she is abandoned in hopes of saving her but go over the side before U-178 finishes off the freighter in a second attack. There are no fatalities among the 46-man merchant complement, the 34-man Armed Guard, or the 86 embarked troops (only one man of that aggregate total is injured) (see 28 December 1943).