as Rasher was submerging and passing a depth of . Rasher sustained no damage, and arrived at Fremantle on 24 November 1943. Hutchinson had cleared his record on Grampus with the sinkings and was promoted to command a submarine division. Second war patrol, December 1943 – January 1944 Command of Rasher was given to Willard Ross Laughon, former commanding officer of R-1 in the Atlantic. Following refit, Rasher commenced her second war patrol on 19 December 1943 and hunted Japanese shipping in the South China Sea off Borneo. When she attacked a three-tanker convoy on the night of 4 January 1944, her first torpedo exploded prematurely. A melee ensued, with tankers scattering and escorts racing about, firing in all directions. Rasher was pursuing Hakko Maru when the tanker exploded from a torpedo from . Rasher fired at a second target while submerged, and heard explosions, but was unable to confirm a sinking. She pursued the third tanker, firing a spread of four torpedoes early on the morning of 5 January 1944. A mushroom-shaped fire rose as the last two torpedoes struck, and Kiyo Maru sank, leaving an oil slick and scattered debris. During the patrol, Rasher planted mines off the approaches to Saigon harbor. Prematurely exploding torpedoes and vigilant escorts frustrated her attacks on convoys on 11 January and 17 January. A week later she returned to Fremantle. Third and fourth war patrols, February – June 1944 Rasher'''s third war patrol from 19 February to 4 April 1944, was conducted in the Java Sea–Celebes Sea area. On 25 February she attacked a Japanese convoy off Bali, and sank the cargo ships Tango Maru, killing 3,500 Javanese laborers (Romusha) and prisoners-of-war and Ryusei Maru, killing 5,000 Imperial Japanese Army soldiers. Then, after transiting Makassar Strait into the Celebes Sea, she destroyed the cargo ship Nattai Maru on 3 March. On 19 March 1944, Rasher sighted the Japanese submarine as Ro-112 was surfacing in the Java Sea north of Bali off Cape Bungkulan at . Rasher′s watch officer described Ro-112 as a black submarine of the "Ro-51 class." At 11:49, Rasher fired four Mark 14 Mod 3 torpedoes at Ro-112, but Ro-112 turned to port and evaded them. En route home, however, Rasher met the 2,750-ton freighter Nichinan Maru on 27 March and sank her.Rasher returned to the Makassar Strait-Celebes Sea area for her fourth patrol, from 30 April to 23 June