Meriwether Lewis Breaks In Two

TUE 2 MAR 1943
Pacific
Battle of the Bismarck Sea opens this morning as USAAF and RAAF planes bomb eight Japanese transports and cargo vessels (with troops of the Japanese 51st Division embarked) in a convoy (Captain Matsumoto Kametaro) escorted by eight destroyers (Rear Admiral Kimura Masatomi, his flag in Shirayuki) in Bismarck Sea en route to Lae, New Guinea. Army cargo ship Kyokusai Maru is sunk by USAAF B-17s; destroyers Yukikaze and Asagumo rescue the survivors, steam ahead to Lae to disembark them, and then rejoin the convoy.

Submarine Permit (SS-178) damages Japanese army cargo ship Tsurushima Maru off northeast coast of Honshu, 39°00'N, 141°54'E.

Submarine Thresher (SS-200) sinks Japanese fleet tanker Toen Maru in southern Makassar Strait, 03°29'S, 117°17'E.

Atlantic
German submarine U-759's attack on U.S. freighter Meriwether Lewis, straggling from convoy HX 227, fails, but U-634, summoned to the scene by U-759, torpedoes the U.S. merchantman at 62°10'N, 28°25'W. After Meriwether Lewis breaks in two, U-634 sinks the after part of the ship with gunfire. Despite a two-day search by Coast Guard cutter Ingham (WPG-35), however, no trace of the freighter's crew (44 merchant sailors and a 25-man Armed Guard) is ever found.

Submarine chaser SC-1024 is sunk in collision off North Carolina.