As World War II in the Pacific moved into 1944 the submarines of the U.S. Navy continued to extract a heavy toll on Japanese merchant shipping as an increasing number of Balao-class submarines entered service in the Pacific. At the same time, the Pacific submarines, now having sufficient numbers, began to patrol in “submarine groups” – receiving the inevitable nickname, “Wolf Pack.”

On this day in history (1944) A submarine group attacked a Japanese convoy near Bashi Channel south of Formosa, sinking four ships and damaging three others. During the operation, the submarine Parche (SS-384) engaged in a daring predawn surface attack against the convoy, torpedoing four ships. Despite the flames from the burning convoy ships illuminating Parche and drawing fire from the convoy’s escorts, Commander Lawson P. “Red” Ramage Naval Academy Class of 1931) aggressively attacked the enemy shipping. What ensured was a melee by any measure – and unseen in submarine warfare before or since.