Seahorse Damaged By Bomb

FRI 23 MAR 1945
Europe
LCVPs (TG 122.5.1) ferry between 4,000 and 4,500 troops from General George S. Patton's Third Army as it crosses the Rhine at Oppenheim, Germany.

Atlantic
U.S. tanker Oklahoma, bound for Dakar, French West Africa, is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-532 in mid-Atlantic, 13°52'N, 41°17'W; 36 of the 46-man merchant complement, and 14 of the 26-man Armed Guard die in the resulting conflagration as the ship had been carrying a cargo of high-octane gasoline and kerosene (see 14 April).

Pacific
TF 58 (Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher) begins daily strikes against Japanese shipping and installations in the Okinawa area. TF 58 planes sink army cargo ship Kachosan Maru 25 miles northwest of Okinawa, 30°23'N, 128°40'E. Cargo vessel No.19 Yamato Maru is also sunk in these strikes. In addition, TF 58 aircrew also claim sinking one midget submarine and damaging another, and damaging Coast Defense Ship No.29 and submarine chaser Ch 58 off Sotsukozaki.

Destroyer Haggard (DD-555) is damaged when she rams and sinks Japanese submarine RO 41 in the Philippine Sea, 22°57'N, 132°19'E.

Submarine Seahorse (SS-304) is damaged by aerial bomb off the Ryukyus, 26°00'N, 128°00'E.

Submarine Spadefish (SS-411) attacks Japanese Sasebo-to-Ishigaki convoy SAI-05 in the East China Sea about 120 miles north-northwest of Amami O Shima, sinking transport Doryu Maru, 29°38'N, 127°36'E.

Fleet tug Zuni (ATF-95) is damaged by grounding off Iwo Jima, 24°46'N, 141°19'E.

USAAF B-24 (5th Air Force) sinks Japanese cargo ship Hokka Go Maru (ex-Chinese Peihua) 110 miles northeast of Wenchow, China, 29°21'N, 122°66'E.

USAAF B-24 attacks Japanese Coast Defense Vessel No.40, 26°58'N, 120°29'E, but although the airmen claim damage to their quarry, she in fact escapes undamaged.

Japanese destroyer Kuri is damaged by mine at mouth of Yangtze River.