Mines Sown In Operation STARVATION; Lagarto (SS-371) Is Sunk

THU 3 MAY 1945
Pacific
TG 78.2 (Rear Admiral Albert G. Noble) lands Army troops at Santa Cruz, Davao Gulf, P.I.

Phase II of Operation STARVATION commences: in the first of two operations aimed at blockading Japan's industrial centers, 97 USAAF B-29s sow mines in the Shimonoseki Straits and the waters off Kobe, Osaka and Suo Nada.

Off Okinawa, kamikazes sink destroyer Little (DD-803), 26°24'N, 126°15'E and medium landing ship LSM-195, and damage destroyer Bache (DD-470) and high speed minesweeper Macomb (DMS-23), 26°01'N, 126°53'E; light minelayer Aaron Ward (DM-34), 26°24'N, 126°15'E, and large support landing craft LCS-25. Cargo ship Carina (AK-74) is damaged by assault demolition boat, 26°13'N, 127°50'E; infantry landing craft LCI-768 by operational casualty. Battleship New Mexico (BB-40) 40-millimeter mount accidentally fires upon and damages nearby War Department-chartered U.S. freighter Sea Flasher, injuring 47 men and killing seven troops of those men being transported on board.

U.S. freighter Edmund F. Dickens is damaged by mine, Manila Bay; there are no casualties among the merchant crew or the 27-man Armed Guard.

Submarine Lagarto (SS-371) is sunk by Japanese minelayer Hatsutaka in Gulf of Siam, 07°55'N, 102°00'E.

Submarine Springer (SS-414) sinks Japanese Coast Defense Ship No.25 in Yellow Sea, 34°56'N, 122°49'E, as that ship proceeds to the scene of the sinking of escort vessel Oga, sunk by Springer the previous day (see 4 May).