"targets of opportunity"

THU 24 FEB 1944
Pacific
Destroyers Buchanan (DD-484) and Farenholt (DD-491) are damaged by shore battery, north of New Ireland, 02°20'S, 151°02'E.

Submarine Grayback (SS-208) sinks Japanese oiler Nanho Maru about 20 miles east of Formosa, 24°20'N, 122°25'E, and damages transport Asama Maru, 24°15'N, 122°19'E. Escort vessel Shimushu's counterattack is ineffective.

Submarine Pogy (SS-266) bombards phosphate plant on Rasa Island.

Submarine Sand Lance (SS-381) is damaged by ice and heavy seas, Kurils.

Submarine Tang (SS-306), in attack on Japanese convoy west of Saipan, sinks merchant cargo ship Echizen Maru, 15°45'N, 143°29'E.

USAAF B-25s, P-40s, and P-38s hit targets of opportunity along the Yangtze, damaging Japanese guardboat Yoko Maru.

U.S. aircraft sink Japanese transport No.2 Shunzan Maru off Kusaie, Carolines, 05°20'N, 162°58'E.

British submarine HMS Tally Ho damages Japanese torpedo boat Kari in Strait of Malacca.

Atlantic
PBY-5As (VP-63), employing Magnetic Anomaly Detection (MAD) gear, and a PV-1 (VB-127), together with RAF Catalina (No. 202 Squadron) bomb German submarine U-761 as she attempts to transit the Straits of Gibraltar, 35°55'N, 05°45'W. British destroyers HMS Anthony and HMS Wishart rescue the 51 survivors who abandon their badly damaged U-boat after scuttling her to avoid capture. U-761 is the first U-boat destroyed through the employment of MAD equipment.

Open lighter YC-523 sinks after grounding off Portsmouth, N.H.