Yamafuku Maru Sent To Bottom; Mobilube Is Total Loss

MON 18 JAN 1943
Pacific
Submarine Greenling (SS-213) damages Japanese ammunition ship/survey vessel Soya in Queen Carola Channel, 02°04'S, 150°37'E.

Submarine Silversides (SS-236) sinks Japanese fleet tanker Genyo Maru about 90 miles southwest of Truk, 06°19'N, 150°15'E, but is damaged by depth charges from escorting warship and is forced to terminate her patrol.

USAAF B-24 sinks Japanese transport Senzan Maru off Kavieng, 03°29'S, 149°02'E; submarine chaser Ch 16 rescues survivors.

USAAF B-17s and P-39s sink Japanese cargo vessel Yamafuku Maru off Shortland Island.

Japanese collier Tokachi Maru is sunk by Japanese mine west of Surubaya, Java, N.E.I., 06°50'S, 112°12'E.

U.S. tanker Mobilube is torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-21 off coast of New South Wales, Australia, 33°57'S, 157°20'E; Australian minesweeper HMAS Kapunda provides assistance as the tanker remains afloat. Other than three men killed in the initial explosion, no other members of the ship's complement (that includes an 11-man Armed Guard) perish. Mobilube is towed to Sydney by salvage tug St. Aristell, but is eventually declared a total loss.