Careening Through The Columns

WED 7 JUL 1943
Pacific
Motor torpedo boat PT-161, operating out of Rendova, is damaged by Japanese plane off Banieta Point.

Destroyer Waller (DD-466) fires upon and depth-charges unidentified Japanese submarine, 08°00'S, 158°05'E.

Submarine Permit (SS-178) sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Showa Maru off Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan, 43°14'N, 139°53'E.

Submarine Peto (SS-265) damages Japanese oiler Shinkoku Maru, 00°35'N, 148°00'E.

Submarine Plunger (SS-179) damages Japanese merchant cargo ship Anzan Maru, 37°14'N, 132°57'E.

Atlantic
German submarine U-185 carries out two attacks on convoy BT 18 off the coast of Brazil, torpedoing U.S. freighter James Robertson and tanker William Boyce Thompson at 04°00'S, 36°00'W, in the first assault. James Robertson careens through the columns of the convoy, colliding in succession with U.S. freighter Alcoa Banner and Brazilian Cotazaloide before she is abandoned. Submarine chaser PC-575 rescues 21 men. William Boyce Thompson, which loses three men in the initial explosion (a fourth dies subsequently of his injuries), is abandoned, with the survivors being picked up by gunboat Surprise (PG-63) and a boat from the torpedoed James Robertson; a Brazilian ship subsequently rescues the latter as well as the remainder of that ship's survivors (but not before one Armed Guard sailor from James Robertson drowns) (see 9 July 1943). William Boyce Thompson is later scuttled with gunfire and depth charges by escorts. In the second attack on BT 18, U-185 torpedoes U.S. tanker S.B. Hunt and freighter Thomas Sinnickson at 03°51'S, 36°22'W. The former suffers no casualties to either the 37-man merchant complement or the 11-man Armed Guard, and ultimately makes port at Trinidad for temporary repairs; the latter loses one of the 27-man Armed Guard in the initial explosion but no casualties from its 43-man merchant complement, and remains afloat into the night while gunboat Surprise stands by and takes off 18 men (see 8 July 1943).

USAAF B-24 sinks German submarine U-951 in eastern Atlantic, 37°40'N, 15°30'W.