and found nothing but harmless Chinese fishermen aboard them. After giving the junks some supplies, Batfish resumed her patrol to the south to avoid further contact with the junks. Since Japanese convoys dwindled constantly both in size and number by this point in the war due to American advances and faltering Japanese defenses, Batfish encountered only small and isolated transports, and her attacks on them were cut short either by foul weather or by torpedoes that consistently passed under their targets. On 2 February 1945, Batfish's patrol area changed to Babuyan and the Calayan north of Luzon. After arriving on station, she sighted a small Japanese landing barge on a northerly course heading toward Formosa and made a surface attack. She was unable to sink the barge, but started a fire on board and thoroughly raked it with gunfire before leaving it behind. On 3 February 1945, Batfish was alerted to watch for Japanese vessels engaged in an evacuation to Formosa of Japanese personnel from the Aparri area of northern Luzon. On 4 February, Vice Admiral Shigeyoshi Miwa, the commander of Japanese 6th Fleet, ordered the submarines , , , and to suspend their patrols, proceed to Takao on Formosa to offload torpedoes and ammunition, and then proceed to the Aparri area to embark evacuees. After her engagement with the landing barge, Batfish made no contacts until 9 February 1945, when at 22:50 her SJ radar began tracking a blip moving at on a course of 310 degrees — i.e., away from Aparri and toward Formosa — at a range of . Batfish tentatively identified it as a Japanese submarine. Using radar and sound data to determine the target's course and speed, Batfish closed with it and at 23:31 attacked with four torpedoes from her bow tubes, but all four torpedoes missed, and Batfish heard them detonate at the end of their runs. She prepared for another attack, and by 00:01 on 10 February a Japanese submarine was visible at a range of as Fyfe, alone on the bridge, guided Batfish in toward her target. At 00:02, Batfish fired four torpedoes from her bow tubes. The first malfunctioned and ran hot in the tube, the second hit the target with a brilliant red explosion, the third went through the explosion, and the fourth missed, detonating at the end of its run. Batfish subsequently heard distinct breaking-up noises and claimed the