approached Blackfish at high speed. Blackfish dove rapidly to escape from the area, but before she departed her crew observed the 2,087-gross register ton Kaika Maru rolling over on her starboard side; 27 of the 102 passengers aboard Kaika Maru perished in the sea. Davidson believed he sank the other merchant ship as well, but it was in fact only damaged. Blackfish weathered a barrage of depth charges that lasted from 16:56 until 20:13. In contemplating the lengthy Japanese counterattack, Davidson observed "I don′t know whether it was a coincidence or not, but every time we made any noise at all the destroyer would drop one or two more on us.” Blackfish and her crew endured 43 depth charges in total, but eventually she shook off the pursuing destroyer by heading into a heavy rain squall. Blackfish patrolled from 17 to 23 January 1944 with little to report other than some bad weather. Late on the evening of 24 January she received orders to shape a course for Tulagi, where she arrived at around 05:45 on 28 January, moored, and fueled. That same day, Davidson proceeded to nearby Guadalcanal for a special duty assignment with Commander, Task Force 31. After he returned, a party of six officers and two enlisted men and their equipment embarked and Blackfish got underway to Point White. On 30 January, the radar went out again, and the persistent problems with the radar notably shook Davidson’s confidence in the equipment. While in her patrol zone in the early morning of 3 February 1944, Blackfish sighted smoke and subsequently discovered a Japanese convoy consisting of two medium-sized merchant ships, two Fubuki-class destroyers, and one other unidentified escort of approximately 1,000 displacement tons. Having assumed a good position around 09:49, Blackfish fired a spread of six torpedoes at a distance of and immediately "went deep." Two of the Japanese escorts began using sonar and dropped some 14 depth charges. Following the attack, Blackfish remained submerged throughout the night of 3–4 February 1944, due primarily to the proximity of nearby Japanese air bases. Patrolling continued without any excitement through 7 February 1944. On 8 February, Blackfish arrived at Tulagi. She set out again on 9 February on the last leg of her patrol. On 13 February she sighted Cape Moreton Light, and shortly thereafter on the same day arrived at New Farm Wharf in Brisbane, Australia, ending her 49-day