Accidental Avgas Fire, S.D.

TUE 4 JAN 1944
Pacific
TG 37.2 (Rear Admiral Frederick C. Sherman) planes bomb Japanese shipping at Kavieng, damaging destroyers Fumizuki and Satsuki in Stephen Strait.

Motor torpedo boat PT-145, damaged by grounding off Mindiri, 05°34'S, 146°10'E, is scuttled by motor torpedo boat PT-370. The latter suffers damage during the attempt to tow PT-145 out of the area.

Escort carrier Tripoli (CVE-64) is damaged by accidental gasoline fire, Naval Repair Base, San Diego, California.

Submarines Bluefish (SS-222) and Rasher (SS-269) attack Japanese convoy off coast of French Indochina. Bluefish sinks merchant tanker Hakko Maru, 07°10'N, 108°28'E; Rasher damages tanker Kiyo Maru (ex-Norwegian Vigrid), 06°44'N, 108°43'E (see 5 January 1945). Third ship in convoy, Konsan Maru, escapes unharmed. Rasher also carries out mining operation in waters off Cochin China the same day.

Submarine Cabrilla (SS-288) sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship No.8 Tamon Maru off Cape Padaran, French Indochina, 11°05'N, 109°10'E.

Submarine Tautog (SS-199), despite presence of two escort vessels, sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Usa Maru off southern Honshu, 34°09'N, 136°50'E.

Aerial minelaying operations in the Marshalls continue: two PV-1s (VB 137) and one PBY-5 (VP 72), flying from Tarawa, mine southeast pass, Jaluit.

USAAF B-25s (5th Air Force), covered by RAAF Beaufighters, attack Japanese shipping in Tenau harbor, Timor, sinking army cargo ship Heimei Maru 10°10'S, 123°35'E.

Atlantic
Light cruiser Omaha (CL-4) and destroyer Jouett (DD-396) intercept German blockade runner Rio Grande about 55 miles northeast of the coast of Brazil, 06°41'S, 25°36'W. Gunfire and scuttling charges sink Rio Grande* (see 8 January).

---

*During the last half of February 1944, ZP-42 blimps, operating from Brazilian bases, located and aided in the recovery of some 450 tons of baled rubber, part of Rio Grande's cargo.