"... spirited surface gunnery action fought in heavy weather"

FRI 17 NOV 1944
Pacific
Attack transport Alpine (APA-92) is damaged by kamikaze off Leyte, 11°07'N, 125°02'E. Elsewhere, during a Japanese air raid on shipping off Red Beach, Leyte, freighter Benjamin Ide Wheeler is damaged by bombs; there are no casualties.

TBM (VC 82) from escort carrier Anzio (CVE-57) and destroyer escort Lawrence C. Taylor (DE-415) sink Japanese submarine I-26 in Philippine Sea, 12°44'N, 130°42'E.

Submarine Bluegill (SS-242) is damaged by depth charges in Makassar Strait, 00°48'N, 118°52'E, but remains on patrol.

Submarines Burrfish (SS-312) and Ronquil (SS-396) battle Japanese guardboat Fusa Maru in a spirited surface gunnery action fought in heavy weather south of Hachiro Jima, central Honshu, 32°15'N, 140°00'E; American gunfire damages the enemy patrol craft, but not before she in turn damages Burrfish. Ronquil is damaged by own gunfire (premature explosion of 40-millimeter shell or contact with lifeline stanchion) and is forced to terminate her patrol. Fusa Maru is written off as a total loss and performs no more active service.

Submarine Gunnel (SS-253) attacks Japanese convoy and sinks torpedo boat Hiyodori and merchant tanker Shunten Maru 130 miles east of Tourane, French Indochina, 16°56'N, 110°30'E. Destroyer Shiokaze and submarine chaser Ch 21's hunter-killer operations are ineffective.

Submarine Picuda (SS-382) sinks Japanese landing ship Mayasan Maru and damages merchant tanker Awagawa Maru, 33°16'N, 124°43'E.

Submarine Spadefish (SS-411) sinks Japanese escort carrier Shinyo 140 miles northeast of Shanghai, China, in Yellow Sea, 33°02'N, 123°33'E, and damages landing ship Shinshu Maru.

Submarine Sunfish (SS-281) damages Japanese army transport Edogawa Maru west of Quelpart Island, 33°40'N, 124°30'E; although Coast Defense Ship No.61 claims her destruction, Sunfish escapes. Edogawa Maru sinks the next day.

PROJECT MIKE continues as USAAF B-24s (42d Bomb Squadron) lay 8 mines in effective locations in Futami Ko, Chichi Jima.

USAAF P-38s sink Japanese ships Jinko Maru and No.3 Yawata Maru off Merida, 10°55'N, 124°30'E.

Japanese merchant tanker Seian Maru runs aground off entrance to Subic Bay (see 19 November).

Mediterranean
Destroyer Woolsey (DD-437) shells German artillery at Ventimiglia; shrapnel again showers the ship but she suffers no casualties; destroyer Benson (DD-421) bombards barracks in same area.