Martin Van Buren Is A Total Loss

SUN 14 JAN 1945
Pacific
Submarine Cobia (SS-245) sinks Japanese minelayer Yurijima off east coast of Malaya, 05°45'N, 103°13'E.

Motor torpedo boat PT-73 damaged by grounding, 13°50'N, 120°10'E, is beached and abandoned.

Army freight supply vessel FS 41 breaks loose from her moorings at Amchitka, Alaska, in heavy weather, and demolishes 300 feet of an Army dock; fleet tug Sarsi (ATF-111) is sent from Adak to go to the ship's assistance.

USAAF P-51s (14th Air Force) sink Japanese army cargo ship Akatsuki Maru in the Yangtze between Wuhu and Kiukiang, 29°00'N, 116°00'E.

Atlantic
U.S. freighter Martin Van Buren, in Nova Scotia-bound convoy BV 141, is torpedoed by German submarine U-1232 at 44°27'N, 63°26'W; 3 of the 27-man Armed Guard (members of a 5-inch gun crew) perish when blown overboard. Despite salvage efforts, the ship subsequently drifts ashore and is written off as a total loss.

Europe
U.S. freighter Michael de Kovats is damaged by explosion of German V-2 rocket bomb at Antwerp, Belgium; none of the 27-man Armed Guard are casualties.