large ships and four escorts. She launched four torpedoes, two of which seemed to hit but, again Rock was forced down by depth charges and unable to assess damage to her targets. During the remainder of her time on station, Rock weathered a severe typhoon and witnessed the sinking of Japanese submarine I-29 by Sawfish. On 27 July she headed toward Pearl Harbor. Fourth war patrol, September–November 1944 Rock departed Pearl Harbor on 9 September 1944, en route for the South China Sea for her fourth patrol. On 26 October 1944, she scored three hits on a tanker, Rocks only sinking, Takasago Maru No. 7, accompanied by three escorts. On 27 October 1944, she fired nine torpedoes at , stranded on Bombay Shoal, to prevent her salvage by the Japanese. Three of the torpedoes were hits. This patrol ended when Rock departed the area and sailed for Fremantle, Western Australia, for refit. Fifth and sixth war patrols, December 1944–May 1945 On 14 December 1944, Rock departed Fremantle on her fifth patrol. On 12 January 1945, the U.S. Navy destroyer mistook her for a Japanese sailboat while Rock was on the surface in the South China Sea off Japanese-occupied French Indochina and opened gunfire on her at a range of . Rock crash-dived to and sustained no damage. The only other event of note during the 64-day patrol was the rescue of a downed pilot from . At the start of her sixth patrol, which lasted from 7 March to 4 May 1945, she picked up 15 merchant seamen from the , adrift in a life raft for 32 days, and landed them at Exmouth. Continuing northward the next day, Rock was bombed by an aircraft and that night she was struck by a dud torpedo. Neither attack caused any critical damage. In a night attack on 27 March, Rock fired on an enemy destroyer escort without success. On 18 April she joined in bombarding Batan Island to leave the Japanese radio station in ruins. Rock then turned toward Saipan to complete a 54-day patrol. From the Marianas the submarine headed for the United States, arriving at Hunter's Point, San Francisco, 14 May for overhaul. She sailed for Pearl Harbor 7 August 1945, but with the cessation of hostilities on 15 August 1945 was ordered east. She was officially credited with damaging 42,282 gross register tons of enemy shipping during her