Air War In Europe!

WED 4 APR 1945
Europe USAAF heavy bombers (939 strong) pound airfields and landing grounds in northern Germany, as well as munitions plant near Ulzen. U-boat yards at Hamburg andKiel are also bombed, resulting in the destruction of submarines U-237, U-749, and U-3003.

Pacific
Off Okinawa, high speed transport Dickerson (APD-21), irreparably damaged by kamikaze on 2 April 1945, is towed out to sea and scuttled by salvage crew off Kerama Retto; infantry landing craft LCI-82 is sunk by assault demolition boat; destroyer Norman Scott (DD-690) is damaged in collision with oiler Cimarron (AO-22), 23°46'N, 129°25'E; kamikaze damages destroyer Wilson (DD-408) off southern end of Kerama Retto; destroyer Sproston (DD-577) is damaged by near-miss by bomb, 26°30'N, 127°30'E. Oiler Cowanesque (AO-79) is damaged in storm; medium landing ship LSM-12 founders in heavy weather. Groundings account for damage to tank landing ships LST-70, LST-624, LST-675, and LST-756, 26°21'N, 127°45'E; LST-166, LST-689, and LST-736, 26°20'N, 127°45'E; LST-343, 26°00'N, 128°00'E; LST-570, 26°21'N, 127°44'E, and LST-781, 26°23'N, 127°44'E. Tank landing ship LST-399 is damaged in collision with salvage vessel Gear (ARS-34), 26°20'N, 127°45'E.

Japanese escort vessel Mokuto is sunk by USAAF mine laid by B-29 (20th Bomber Command) in Shimonoseki Strait, 33°53'N, 131°03'E. Japanese merchant cargo ship Hozan Maru is sunk by mine, 33°45'N, 131°44'E. Submarines RO 64, 34°14'N, 132°16'E, and RO 67, 34°00'N, 133°00'E, are damaged by USAAF B-29-sown mines in the Inland Sea.* Japanese guardboat No.12 Kotoshiro Maru is sunk by U.S. aircraft off Torishima, 30°00'N, 140°00'E.

USAAF B-24s (Far East Air Force) bomb Japanese shipping at Mako, Pescadores, sinking merchant tanker No.2 Kinyu Maru and cargo vessel Horei Maru, 23°32'N, 119°34'E.

Japanese ship No.1 Manyu Maru is sunk by aircraft off Tajin Island.

Japanese hospital ship Arimasan Maru is damaged by mine, while en route to Singapore.

British submarine HMS Spark attacks Japanese light cruiser Isuzu without success, in the Flores Sea (see 5-7 April).

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*RO 67 is ultimately decommissioned 20 July 1945 and used as a pontoon at Sasebo.