Spadefish continued to trail the remaining ships of the convoy that first took refuge in the harbor of Ishigaki; and then, in company with five escorts, continued their voyage. Spadefish terminated her first war patrol at Pearl Harbor on 24 September, having sunk six enemy ships for a total of over 31,500 tons. With the additional 33,000 tons sunk by her sister submarines, the coordinated attack group accounted for a total of 13 ships and over 64,000 tons of enemy shipping. Second war patrol, October – December 1944 On 23 October, she got underway from Pearl Harbor for her second war patrol, in a coordinated attack group with and . While patrolling in the Yellow Sea on 14 November, she torpedoed and sank the Japanese cargo ship . Three days later, she contacted an enemy convoy headed directly at her. After letting the convoy pass overhead, she surfaced after darkness had set in and commenced an "end around". She first fired six torpedoes at the prime target, the 21,000-ton escort aircraft carrier ; and then turned rapidly to port and fired four stern torpedoes at a tanker. The unarmored fuel tanks of the escort carrier Shinyo exploded and started a huge fire that destroyed the ship and killed most of her crew. Only 70 men from her crew of 1,200 officers and men survived. Damage to the tanker could not be confirmed. Later that same night, Spadefish drove in for another attack, firing four stern torpedoes at Submarine Chaser No. 156. As the enemy disappeared in the resulting explosion, the submarine quickly evaded other escorts and left the vicinity. Spadefish sank the fourth ship of her second patrol on 29 November by torpedoing the 3,760-ton cargo ship Daiboshi Maru No. 6; and then concluded her patrol at Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands on 12 December. Third war patrol, January – February 1945 After spending the holidays at Majuro, Spadefish departed on 6 January 1945 for her third war patrol, conducted with , , and in the Yellow Sea. On the day of her departure, two United States Marine Corps SBD Dauntless dive bombers of Marine Scouting Squadron 245 (VMSB-245) mistook her for a Japanese submarine and dropped two depth charges on her after she submerged off Majuro. She suffered only supoerficial damage and no casualties, and she proceeded to her patrol area. On 28 January 1945, S[adefishintercepted Japanese convoy