St. Paddy's Day, 1945

Up The Irish!

SAT 17 MAR 1945
Mediterranean
Motor torpedo boats PT-303 and PT-305 engage two German F-lighters off Point Mesco, Italy; PT-303 is damaged when she is accidentally rammed by PT-305.

Europe
LCVPs (TG 122.5.1) ferry 2,500 army troops across the Rhine River.

Pacific
Submarine Sealion (SS-315) sinks Bangkok-bound Thai oiler Samui off Trengganu coast, 05°18'N, 103°23'E.

Submarine Spot (SS-413) attacks Japanese Keelung-to-Shimonoseki convoy TAMO-49 escorted by escort vessel Ikina, Coast Defense Vessel No. 41 and minesweeper W.17, sinking army cargo vessel Nanking Maru off Yushiyama Island 25°28'N, 120°10'E, and damaging cargo ship Ikomasan Maru, which is beached off Matsu Island, 26°07'N, 119°57'E, to permit salvage. Spot is damaged, however, by gunfire from one or more of the escorts. Later that day, USAAF B-25s further damage Ikomasan Maru (see 26 March).

PB4Y attacks Japanese convoy TAMO-49, damaging cargo vessel Kitakata Maru, 29°09'N, 122°07'E.

U.S. freighter Oliver Kelly, while proceeding through Surigao Strait, is damaged by what is most likely a dud torpedo; Japanese midget submarine activity during this month is recorded from bases on the coast of Cebu.

Japanese transport Ken'Yo Maru is sunk by aircraft, Kagoshima Bay.

Japanese cargo ship Mansei Maru is sunk by USAAF mine in the Yangtze, near Shanghai, 31°19'N, 121°42'E.

USAAF B-29s (20th Air Force) bomb Kobe, Japan, damaging Japanese submarine I 158 and cargo vessels Enkei Maru and Teika Maru (ex-Cap Varella).