April Ends W/ Arctic Action

SUN 30 APR 1944
Pacific
Task force (Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf) of nine heavy cruisers and eight destroyers detached from TF 58 bombards Japanese positions on Satawan Island in the Namoi Group, Carolines.

Japanese TAKE No.1 convoy, one group of ships destined for Manokwari, the other for Halmahera, sails from Manila (see 6 May).

Submarine Bang (SS-285) continues attack on convoy engaged the previous night, and sinks Japanese merchant tanker Nittatsu Maru off northwest coast of Luzon, 19°04'N, 119°14'E.

Submarine Flasher (SS-249) sinks French gunboat Tahure in South China Sea off Cape Varella, French Indochina, 13°02'N, 109°28'E. Damaged French cargo ship Song Giang, torpedoed the day before by Flasher, sinks.

TF 58 air strikes against Japanese installations in the Carolines continue. Reflecting an expected paucity of shipping targets in the area, TF 58 planes operating over the waters off Palau can only sink transport Nagisan Maru, 07°30'N, 134°30'E, and merchant vessel No.2 Tenyu Maru.

Planes from small carrier Cabot (CVL-28) damage gunboat No.2 Hino Maru at Truk.

Arctic
U.S. freighter William S. Thayer, in convoy RA 59, is torpedoed by German submarine U-711 50 miles south of Bear Island, 73°46'N, 19°10'E, and breaks into thirds; 23 of the 41-man merchant complement perish, as do seven of the 28-man Armed Guard and 20 of the 165 Soviet Navy passengers. Freighter Robert Eden and British destroyer HMS Whitehall rescue the survivors, while escorts scuttle the stern section of the ship with gunfire.