... who remain at their posts until the ship literally sinks beneath them ..."

SUN 2 JAN 1944
Atlantic
PB4Y (VB 107) sights and tracks German blockade runner Weserland, en route from Japan to Germany, 595 miles south-southwest of Ascension Island. Destroyer Somers (DD-381) intercepts Weserland and opens fire (see 3 January).

Pacific
TF 76 (Rear Admiral Daniel E. Barbey) lands U.S. Sixth Army troops (126th Regimental Combat Team, 32d Division, Reinforced) at Saidor, New Guinea, in Operation MICHAELMAS. Insertion of American troops at Saidor leap-frogs the Japanese garrison at Sio, 75 miles to the east. U.S. cruisers and destroyers provide cover. [Would you like to know more? Probably not this much.]

Submarine Finback (SS-230) sinks Japanese merchant tanker Isshin Maru in East China Sea about 30 miles northwest of Takara Jima, Nansei Shoto, 29°30'N, 128°50'E.

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

Japanese planes bomb advanced base on Apamama Atoll, demolishing one PB4Y; exploding ammunition in the burning aircraft damages two additional PB4Ys.

Indian Ocean
U.S. freighter Albert Gallatin is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-26 about 60 miles off the Arabian coast, 21°21'N, 59°58'E; there are no casualties among the complement (including the 28-man Armed Guard, who remain at their posts until the ship literally sinks beneath them). Norwegian tanker Britannia rescues the survivors.