torpedoes from her stern torpedo tubes. All four missed Samidare, and Bluegill went deep to escape. On 28 April 1944, Bluegill encountered another Japanese destroyer escorting a large landing barge. After gaining a favorable position on the target, she fired a spread of four torpedoes. None hit, the torpedoes apparently running under the target. Again, Bluegill dived and escaped. On the afternoon of 1 May 1944, Bluegill contacted a Japanese convoy of three merchant ships and two escorts west of the Palau Islands. She set up an ambush ahead of the convoy and, as the Japanese ships passed, fired a spread of four torpedoes, two of which crashed into the side of the 8,812-gross register ton cargo ship Asosan Maru. The escorts counterattacked, but Bluegill escaped. That evening, she surfaced and spied Asosan Maru still afloat and burning furiously. On 2 May 1944, she used her deck gun to finish off Asosan Maru. On 10 May 1944, Bluegill put into Manus Island in the Admiralty Islands to bring aboard additional torpedoes from the submarine . The two submarines departed Manus on 11 May, and Bluegill returned to her patrol area near Halmahera and Morotai in the Maluku Islands. On the morning of 19 May, she allowed a Japanese destroyer to pass unmolested in the hope that larger targets might follow, but none materialized. On 20 May 1944, Bluegill sighted a single Japanese merchant ship rounding a point on Halmahera in company with two escorts. Gaining a favorable firing position to shoreward, she loosed a four-torpedo spread from her stern tubes. Three of the four torpedoes shattered the 1,856-gross register ton cargo ship Miyaura Maru. On 22 May, Bluegill encountered a Japanese convoy that had already been attacked by the submarine , but two Japanese submarine chasers detected her and dropped a depth-charge barrage close aboard, preventing her from making an attack. While she continued to maneuver for a favorable attack position on the convoy later that day, a Japanese plane forced her to crash-dive and dropped depth charges. Thanks to the crash dive, Bluegill lost contact with the convoy. She left her patrol area on 28 May 1944, stopped at Manus on 1 June, and concluded her patrol with her arrival at Brisbane, Australia, on 7 June 1944. Second war patrol Bluegill embarked upon her second war patrol at the end of June 1944, stopped at Manus on 5 and