Friendly British Fire

THU 16 DEC 1943
Pacific
District patrol craft YP-426 sinks after running aground, 31°59'N, 80°48'W. [The coördinates given indicate east of Jacksonville, Fla.]

Submarine Flying Fish (SS-229) sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Ginyo Maru southwest of the Ryukyus, 22°18'N, 119°52'E.

USAAF B-24 sinks small Japanese cargo vessel No.6 Heiei Maru 150 miles northeast of Wewak.

Mediterranean
German submarine U-73 attacks convoy GUS 24 off the Algerian coast, torpedoing U.S. freighter John S. Copley at 46°00'N, 22°16'W. Partially abandoned, John S. Copley is deemed salvageable, and rescue tug ATR-47 takes the damaged ship in tow, bringing her into Oran. Submarine chasers PC-546 and SC-977 pick up the men who have abandoned ship (only two from among the 44-man merchant complement, 28-man Armed Guard and Army Security officer are injured). Subsequently, destroyers Trippe (DD-403), Woolsey (DD-437) and Edison (DD-439) sink U-73, 35 miles north-northwest of Oran, Algeria, 36°07'N, 00°50'W.

Atlantic
U.S. freighter Blue Jacket, mistaken for a German blockade runner while proceeding toward her destination of Cardiff, Wales, is engaged in a running surface gunnery action by three British frigates. Armed Guard gunfire keeps the "friendly" ships at bay, saving the American merchantman. Once the mistake is realized, one of the Allied warships provides medical assistance; of the 56 merchant seamen and 33 Armed Guards, only seven men are injured. There are no fatalities.

U.S. tanker McDowell, en route from New York to Aruba, N.W.I., is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-516 at 13°08'N, 70°02'W. Later that day, U.S. tanker Fairfax rescues 63 survivors; motor minesweeper YMS-56 picks up eight. Two of the 45-man merchant complement drown in the abandonment; a third dies subsequently of injuries. There are no casualties to the 28-man Armed Guard.