All Hands Perish

TUE 25 JUL 1944
Pacific

Aircraft from TF 58 (Vice Adm Marc A. Mitscher) attack Japanese installations and shipping in the western Carolines, at Yap, Ulithi, Fais, Ngulu, Sorol, and Palau; strikes continue until 28 July. F6Fs from small carrier San Jacinto (CVL-30) damage destroyer Samidare 30 miles north of Babelthuap, Palau, 08°15'N, 134°37'E (see 18 and 26 August 1944). F6Fs from carrier Bunker Hill (CV-17) sink guardboat Ryojin Maru, 07°30'N, 134°30'E.

USAAF B-25s sink Japanese salvage vessel Hoshin Maru 70 nautical miles east of Hong Kong, 22°00'N, 115°50'E.

Atlantic
Small seaplane tender Matagorda (AVP-22) rescues all 67 survivors of U.S. freighter William Gaston, sunk on 22 July by German submarine U-861 approximately 150 miles southeast of Florianapolis, Brazil.

U.S. freighter Robin Goodfellow* is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-862 while en route from Cape Town, South Africa, to New York, at 20°03'S, 14°21'W. All hands (including the 27 Armed Guard sailors and the 41-man merchant complement) perish.

Europe
U.S. freighter David Starr Jordan is bombed and strafed while anchored off Utah Beach, Normandy; two of the 500 soldiers embarked on board are killed by bomb fragments, while 13 other men from among the 43-man merchant complement and 26-man Armed Guard are injured.

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*Wondered after whom this poor vessel was named. Puck, of Shakespearean fame. What fools these ...