First Use Of "Bat"

MON 23 APR 1945
Atlantic
Eagle boat Eagle 56 (PE-56) is sunk by explosion off Portland Maine.*

Pacific
Submarine Besugo (SS-321) sinks German submarine U-183 in Java Sea, 04°57'S, 112°52'E.

PB4Ys (VPB 109) employ "Bat" missiles against Japanese shipping off Balikpapan, Borneo, in the first combat use of the only automatic homing missile to be used in World War II.

Japanese merchant cargo ship Tamae Maru is sunk by accidental ammunition explosion in Sakai harbor.

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*German submarine U-853 was known to have been in the vicinity at the time; whether or not she conducted an attack that sank Eagle 56, however, may never be known, since U-853 is sunk with all hands on board soon thereafter (see 6 May 1945).