"Azuchisan Maru" of 6,888 tons at 18.25M 120.32E} Following this action, Aspro rendezvoused with and to form a wolf pack. On 7 October, Hoe spotted a large convoy consisting of about a dozen ships. At 04:55, Aspro fired four torpedoes at a freighter and witnessed the ship's sinking. {This was the Passenger-cargo "Macassar Maru" of 4,026 tons at 17.54N 119.57E}. Shortly thereafter, she terminated her patrol at Saipan on 14 October and then proceeded to Pearl Harbor where she arrived on 25 October. Sixth war patrol, November 1944 – February 1945 Aspro departed Pearl Harbor on 21 November and headed for Saipan. On 28 November, her No. 1 main generator threw a banding wire off the rotor, necessitating a replacement of the armature. Such repairs required her return to Pearl Harbor. After a week's work there, Aspro got underway on 13 December for her sixth war patrol. She was assigned lifeguard duties west of Taiwan to support carrier strikes for the week of 3 January 1945. While on her station, she attacked the amphibious assault ship Shintsu Maru. Two torpedoes hit and sank this target. Her only other torpedo attack during the patrol occurred on 6 January, when she fired on two small freighters but missed. Her most important accomplishment of the patrol – which ended at Pearl Harbor on 11 February 1945 – was her rescue of four downed American aviators. She was under the command of James H. Ashley, Jr. (class of 1934, USNA) who received the Navy Cross for this mission. Seventh war patrol, June – August 1945 Following this patrol, Aspro left Hawaii bound for the California coast. She entered Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard on 20 February and spent the next three months undergoing overhaul. This work ended on 31 May, and she sailed for Pearl Harbor to resume her combat duties. Her seventh and final patrol began on 25 June and covered waters south of the Japanese home islands. On 8 July, she was assigned lifeguard duties in support of planes that had taken off from Iwo Jima for strikes on military targets in Japan. Beginning 20 July, she shifted position to cover carrier-based strikes against southeastern Honshū. Five days later, the submarine attacked and claimed to have sunk a Japanese tug with her final torpedo spread of the war. On 3 August, she carried out a daring rescue of a downed aviator. Aspro entered