Affleck Delivers The Coup De Grâce

THU 16 MAR 1944
Pacific
Submarine Flying Fish (SS-229) attacks Japanese convoy in the Nansei Shoto, sinking merchant cargo ship Anzan Maru about 20 miles north of Okinoeradu Jima, 27°38'N, 128°38'E, and unsuccessfully attacks tanker Teikon Maru (ex-German Winnetou).

Submarine Lapon (SS-260) carries out unsuccessful attack on Japanese seaplane tender Kunikawa Maru, 18°14'N, 117°44'E.

Submarine Silversides (SS-236) attacks Japanese convoy and sinks army cargo ship Kofuku Maru about 225 miles southeast of Palau, 05°00'N, 136°46'E.

Submarine Tautog (SS-199) sinks Japanese destroyer Shirakumo and army cargo ship Nichiren Maru off east coast of Hokkaido, southeast of Kushiro harbor, 42°18'N, 145°11'E; destroyers Kamikaze and Namikaze conduct unsuccessful hunt for Tautog.

PBYs (and later USAAF B-24s) attack Japanese convoy north of Hollandia, damaging submarine chaser Ch 35 and cargo ships Taiei Maru, Yakumo Maru, and Teshio Maru (see 19 March).

Indian Ocean
U.S. tanker H.D.Collier, torpedoed and shelled by Japanese submarine I-26 on 13 March, sinks; British ship Empire Raja rescues 14 survivors (see 17 March).

Mediterranean
PBY-5As (VP 63) employ MAD gear to detect German submarine U-392 as the enemy boat attempts to transit the Straits of Gibraltar; the PBYs bomb the U-boat, and British frigate HMS Affleck and destroyer HMS Vanoc depth charge her. Affleck delivers the coup de grâce to sink U-392 at 35°55'N, 05°41'W.