later Kingfish sighted, tracked, and sank a troop transport as enemy troops scrambled down her sides. On 23 March, Kingfish was subjected to a severe depth charge attack. The attack was so intense and the damage so great that secret codes and material were burned in preparation for abandoning ship. The last string of depth charges bashed in the main induction piping, allowing a huge bubble to escape to the surface; this apparently caused the enemy to think the ship had sunk. Kingfish cautiously surfaced, cleared the area and set course for Pearl Harbor, arriving 9 April with a grateful crew. The submarine then proceeded to Mare Island Navy Yard, where entire sections of the boat were rebuilt and installed. Fourth and fifth war patrols, July – November 1943 Battle damage repaired, Kingfish sailed back to Pearl Harbor, arriving 23 June 1943. Eight days later he sailed for her fourth war patrol, this one to the Babuyan Channel, north of the Philippines, off southern Formosa, and near Manila. Kingfish was ordered to depart the patrol area due to lack of enemy activity and to report to Fremantle, Australia, for refit. Assigned the South China Sea for her fifth patrol area, Kingfish cleared Fremantle 24 September. She was assigned two special missions for this patrol. The first entailed planting mines in enemy shipping lanes; the second involved the secret and successful landing of a party of Allied personnel and equipment on the northeast coast of Borneo. Continuing on her patrol, Kingfish sank a gunboat by gunfire and damaged a tanker with torpedoes 9 October off Sibutu Islands. She sank cargo ship Sana Maru off Cape Varella 20 October. Her patrol a success, Kingfish sailed into Fremantle 14 November 1943. Sixth, seventh, and eighth war patrols, December 1943 – June 1944 Kingfish departed Fremantle on 16 December 1943 with a new commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander H. L. Jukes. Threading her way in the South China Sea, she made first contact on 3 January when she sent tankers Ryuei Maru and Bokuei Maru to the bottom, and sank tanker Fushimi Maru No. 3 7 January. Having navigated brilliantly through extremely dangerous waters and having outwitted the enemy escort vessels, Kingfish headed for Pearl Harbor with a proud record, arriving 26 January 1944. Kingfish'''s seventh war patrol was in the Mariana Islands area from 19 February – 9 April 1944. The submarine made no