him, but Bugara′s pharmacist's mate was able to sew up the cut, and Bugara continued her voyage to her patrol area in the Luzon Strait. On 25 March 1945 she left the Luzon Strait and proceeded to a new patrol area in the South China Sea between Hainan Island and Formosa. On 27 March 1945, Buugara′s lookouts spotted a ship bearing 118° north at a range of . She closed to attack but abruptly broke it off upon identifying the markings as those of a Japanese hospital ship. On 4 April 1945, she concluded her patrol in the Hainan and Taiwan area not having encountered any other Japanese air or surface contacts and proceeded to her next patrol area in the Java Sea, north of Soemba, which she reached on 11 April 1945. At 08:15 on 18 April she exchanged recognition signals with the submarine and that same day at 19:30 with the submarine . On 21 April 1945 she met her escort and proceeded to Fremantle, Australia, where she ended her patrol and began a regular refit, which included the installation of a second /25-caliber gun. With Japanese shipping becoming scarce in the last months of World War II, Bugara made contact with only five ships during her entire 59-day patrol, during which she had spent 35 days in her patrol areas. Four of the vessels proved to be Japanese hospital ships, immune from attack, and the fifth an unidentified submarine Bugara first had detected by screw noises, but which turned out to be an unidentified Allied submarine. Second war patrol On 16 May 1945, Bugara set out on her second war patrol, bound for a patrol area in the South China Sea off the South China coast. Most of her time was spent on life guard stations looking for downed Allied airmen. She ended her patrol with her arrival on 20 June 1945 at Subic Bay on Luzon in the Philippine Islands, where she underwent a refit alongside the submarine tender . Third war patrol Convoy action Bugara stood out of Subic Bay on 16 July 1945 for her third war patrol, operating as part of a coordinated attack group under the overall command of the commanding officer of the submarine , Commander Harry B. Dodge. She rendezvoused with Brill on 19 July 1945, and Dodge ordered her to conduct a retiring search to her northward position in