James Russell Lowell Breaks In Twain

SAT 16 OCT 1943
Pacific
USAAF B-24 sinks Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 31 off Cape Lambert, New Britain, 04°00'N, 145°45'E.

Submarine Mingo (SS-261) attacks Japanese escort carrier Chuyo north-northwest of Truk, 11°02'N, 151°21'E. Although Mingo claims two damaging hits, the carrier (see 18 October 1943) emerges from the encounter unscathed; destroyer Hatsukaze depth charges Mingo but does not damage her.

Atlantic
American-built destroyer escorts transferred under Lend-Lease to Great Britain (HMS Byard, HMS Bentinck, HMS Berry, HMS Drury, and HMS Bazely) enter combat for the first time as escorts for convoy ONS 20. Byard will sink U-841 on 17 October. The British classify the ships as "frigates."

U.S. freighter James Russell Lowell torpedoed by German submarine U-371 the day before, is beached off Colla, Algeria, by British tug. The ship breaks in twain and sinks two weeks later, a total loss.