Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Mines

SUN 29 APR 1945
Pacific
Off Okinawa, kamikazes damage destroyers Hazelwood (DD-531), 27°02'N, 129°59'E, and Haggard (DD-555), 27°01'N, 129°40'E; and light minelayers Shannon (DM-25), 26°00'N, 127°00'E, and Harry F. Bauer (DM-26), 26°47'N, 128°42'E.

Motor minesweeper YMS-51 is damaged by mine off Tarakan, Borneo, 03°18'N, 117°33'E.

Japanese carrier attack planes (KATEs) flying from Truk attack Naval Base, Manus, Admiralty Islands, torpedoing the advance base section docks ABSD-2 and ABSD-4 in the belief that the shapes they perceive in the nocturnal strike are aircraft carriers.

TBM (VC 92) from escort carrier Tulagi (CVE-72) sinks Japanese submarine I 44, 220 miles southeast of Okinawa, 24°15'N, 131°16'E.

Submarine Besugo (SS-321) sinks Japanese guardboat Otome Maru southeast of Borneo, 05°45'S, 107°30'E.

Submarine Bream (SS-243) sinks German minesweeper depot ship Quito off Tanjong Puting, Borneo, N.E.I., 04°11'S, 111°17'E.*

Submarine Cero (SS-225) sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Taishu Maru off Kamaishi, Japan, 39°15'N, 141°58'E.

USAAF B-24s on anti-shipping sweep of Makassar Strait sink Japanese cargo vessel No.5 Hirata Maru in Pamukan Bay, 02°30'S, 116°25'E.

Japanese passenger ferry No.2 Kuroshio (ex-landing ship T.149) is damaged by mine during passage from Singapore to Batavia; transport (ex-seaplane carrier) Kumikawa Maru is damaged by mine laid by RAAF Catalina off Balikpapan, Borneo. Merchant cargo ship No.1 Aioi Maru is sunk by mine three miles off Tsunemi.
*Some sources list Bream's victim as Teishu Maru; ULTRA material, however, uses the German name, and refers to communications between Tokyo and Berlin concerning her loss.

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