Astrolabe A Total Loss

SAT 26 FEB 1944
Pacific
Submarine Gato (SS-212) attacks Japanese convoy Wewak No.20 as it proceeds along the Palau-Hollandia track, and sinks passenger-cargo ship No.3 Daigen Maru about 140 miles northwest of Hollandia, 01°51'N, 139°00'E. Narita Maru rescues over 700 of the 1,200 troops being transported in No.3 Daigen Maru.

Submarine Grayback (SS-208) is damaged by land-based Japanese naval aircraft, East China Sea, 25°47'N, 128°45'E.

Motor torpedo boat PT-251 runs aground during action with Japanese barges in southern Empress Augusta Bay; and is then sunk by shore battery, Solomons, 06°30'S, 155°10'E.

USAAF B-25s (14th Air Force) attack shipping in port of Tourane, French Indochina, sinking Vichy French surveying vessel Astrolabe and dredging ship Gilmot, 16°04'N, 108°13'E. Vichy officials consider Astrolabe a total loss, given the absolute impossibility of raising her with the means available in French Indochina.

Mediterranean
Tank landing ship LST-349 sinks after running aground off south coast of Italy, 40°55'N, 12°58'E; LCT-36 sinks after grounding off Naples.