guns opened up on the conning tower of the submarine. A PBY flying boat moved in and dropped two depth charges. The first missed, but the second hit the submarine, which disappeared beneath the surface at 14:46. Saufleys crew then heard a large underwater explosion, and by 17:35 a slick of diesel oil covered a area of the ocean's surface centered around During the remainder of September and well into October, Saufley was engaged in night anti-barge patrols between Kolombangara and Choiseul. She sank four barges during this period but sustained damage from Japanese aerial bombs on the night of 1 October which resulted in the death of two and the wounding of 11 crew members. 1944 The months of November and December 1943 and January 1944 found Saufley performing escort duties for the reinforcement of Bougainville. In February, Saufley was engaged in the assault on the Green Islands which broke the Japanese Rabaul-Buka supply line and provided the Allies with another airfield near Rabaul. Antisubmarine patrols were followed by call fire support missions during the occupation of Emirau Island. This action, which completed the "ring around Rabaul", took Saufley into April. She had returned to the Emirau-Mussau area when, on the morning of 7 April, she gained contact on a submerged submarine. Forty-five minutes and 18 depth charges later, two underwater explosions were heard. Within hours, oil covered the area. Postwar review of Japanese records identified the sunken submarine as the Type J1 submarine . Following escort duties to the Admiralties, Saufley returned to Purvis Bay on 18 April whence she conducted exercises with TF 38 into May. On 4 May, the destroyer sailed for Pearl Harbor. Arriving on 12 May, she sailed west again on 1 June as a unit of Task Group 51.18 (TG 51.18), the reserve force for Operation Forager, the conquest of the Marianas. On D-Day plus 1, 16 June, Saufley and the other escorts shepherded their charges into the transport unloading area west of Saipan. Saufley was then reassigned to call fire support duties. For the next month, she continued call fire support, screening, and shore bombardment operations in the Saipan-Tinian area. On 20 July, Saufley moved south for the invasion of Guam. Here, the destroyer provided call fire support for the assault troops. She returned to Tinian on the 23d and supported the landings there on 24 July. For the next week, she