guns, and when Bluegill′s after 20-millimeter gun jammed, one of the sea trucks took advantage of the opportunity to spray the submarine with machine-gun fire, wounding several of Bluegill′s sailors and prompting Bluegill to break off the action and submerge. Before dawn on 18 October 1944, Bluegill contacted a Japanese 14-ship convoy while on the surface off Manila on Luzon but could not reach a favorable firing position. After transmitting a contact report, she submerged in the hope of making a daylight attack. The convoy turned away from her, but then made another turn toward Bluegill. In the ensuing combat, Bluegill claimed to have sunk five ships, but a postwar survey of Japanese records credited her with only three: the 9,400-gross register ton transport Arabia Maru, the 1,999-gross register ton cargo ship Chinzei Maru, and the 8,000-gross register ton passenger-cargo ship Hakushika Maru. From time to time throughout the action, Bluegill had to dive to evade depth charges before resuming her attack. On 20 October 1944, Bluegill expended her remaining torpedoes in an unsuccessful attack on two Japanese tankers escorted by a submarine chaser. On the 21 October, she headed for Mios Woendi in the Schouten Islands off the northwestern coast of New Guinea. She arrived there on 27 October, took aboard torpedoes and fuel, and then returned to sea to resume her patrol in the Sulu Sea. After 20 fruitless days, she departed station to return to her base. Off the coast of Borneo in the Japanese-occupied Netherlands East Indies on 17 November 1944, she encountered a small Japanese transport escorted by three small destroyers. The Japanese detected her, and she dived deeply and began to clear the area. Before escaping, she suffered a pounding from 27 depth charges. Her patrol ended on 25 November 1944 with her arrival at Fremantle, where she began repairs to the damage she suffered in the 17 November depth-charging. Fourth war patrol Repair of her battle damage kept Bluegill in port until she stood out of Fremantle on 19 December 1944 for her fourth war patrol. On the night of 25 December, she attempted a fast surface transit of Lombok Strait between the islands of Bali and Lombok just east of Java, but a Japanese shore battery detected her and opened accurate fire on her, forcing her to make a hasty retreat. She soon joined a coordinated attack group, or "wolfpack," which also