enemy convoy and moved in for the kill. Although she did not sink any of the enemy ships, the submarine damaged three transports and a freighter before she was forced to leave the vicinity by an escorting destroyer. Shad then returned via Midway Atoll to Pearl Harbor, where she terminated her sixth patrol before sailing for the West Coast for overhaul at San Francisco. Seventh war patrol, August – October 1944 After returning to Pearl Harbor on 11 May 1944, Shad underwent further repair work and training before departing on 12 August for her seventh war patrol, which she conducted in waters surrounding the Japanese home islands. While off Honshū on 30 August, the submarine attacked a heavily laden freighter escorted by two small patrol craft. Although evidence of one hit was noticed, exact results were unknown due to a severe counterattack that forced the submarine to leave the area, giving the freighter a chance to escape. On 16 September, Shad fired four torpedoes, damaging a large transport. Following this attack, the submarine endured two hours of steady depth charging. On 19 September, Shad torpedoed and sank escort ship Ioshima, and as expected, was forced to endure another lengthy depth charging. On 22 September, Shad narrowly escaped destruction by maneuvering around two torpedoes, probably fired by an enemy submarine. One passed just under her bow and the other about ahead. After a typhoon-racked passage from the patrol area, Shad terminated her seventh patrol at Midway on 1 October. Eighth and ninth war patrols Shad spent her eighth war patrol as a unit of a coordinated attack group with and , in the area off the northeast coast of Formosa and in the East China Sea. Other than a few inconsequential contacts with small enemy vessels, the patrol was uneventful, and the submarine returned to Pearl Harbor on 5 January 1945. Following repair work and recuperation for the crew, Shad departed Pearl Harbor on 31 January for her ninth war patrol. She refueled at Saipan on 12 February and then departed with and Thresher for another wolfpack to patrol the Luzon Strait. During this patrol, the Shad attempted three attacks but all were thwarted. Twice the coming of dawn forced her to dive to evade enemy aircraft, and once patrolling escort ships forced her to leave the vicinity of an anticipated victim. On 5 March, Shad again was on the receiving