Freighter Fires On Friendly Lifeboat

WED 16 NOV 1994
Pacific
Submarine Scabbardfish (SS-397) sinks Japanese transport Kisaragi Maru north by west of Chichi Jima, 29°04'N, 142°12'E.

Submarine Tambor (SS-198) sinks Japanese guardboat Takashiro Maru southwest of Torishima, 30°00'N, 139°30'E.

Japanese guardboat Kojo Maru damaged the previous day by submarine Saury (SS-189), sinks northwest of the Bonins, 29°59'N, 139°39'E.

Other Japanese losses include heavy cruiser Haguro light cruiser Oyodo, and destroyer Yukikaze damaged by aircraft off Brunei, North Borneo; merchant tanker Asokawa Maru damaged by unspecified cause off Brunei; and fleet tanker Kyoei Maru sunk by USAAF B-24 and P-38 aircraft; and Man-yo Maru damaged off Tarakan, Borneo.

Indian Ocean
U.S. freighter Mary Ball rescues 17 survivors of U.S. tanker Fort Lee, torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-181 on 2 November 1944, but not before she has fired on the lifeboat until identifying it as friendly. Fortunately, there are no casualties.

Europe
U.S. freighter Theodore Parker is mined about 12 miles east of the mouth of the Humber River, 53°33'N, 00°39'E, but returns, under her own power, to the port of Hull for repairs. There are no casualties to the 42-man merchant complement or the 27-man Armed Guard.

Additional War News: The wreck of U.S.S. Grayback (SS-208), last seen here 27 FEB 1944, has been located about 50 nautical miles south of Okinawa.