On 29 March 1945, Japanese Convoy HI-88J was intercepted in the South China Sea some 35 miles off Cap Batangan, French Indochina by B-25 Mitchell bombers of the 498th and 501st Bomb Squadrons of the 345th Bomb Group (Air Apaches), U.S. Fifth Air Force. In a running battle, the Japanese Type D-class escort ship CD-18 was strafed, bombed and sunk with the loss of her skipper and 184 crewmen.
USAAC Photo B-57672
The escort was followed quickly by her sistership, CD-130, which carried her entire 178 crew to the bottom, as well as the tanker Kaiko Maru.
Also sent to the bottom that day was CD-84, another Type D, scratched by the Gato-class fleet sub, USS Hammerhead (SS-364), torpedoed and sunk with her entire crew. Onboard CD-84 were also a number of survivors from the tanker Honan Maru, which had been sunk by the submarine USS Bluegill the previous day.
On 30 March, the next day, the Apaches went out again and found HI-88J off Yulin, China, where they sank the auxiliary sub chaser Shinan Maru before the convoy made it out of range.
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