she was ordered back to Brisbane, still without a confirmed kill under her belt. Fourth patrol, February – March 1944 Balao arrived in Brisbane on 15 January for a normal two week refit and a brief training period. On 6 February, she was underway via Tulagi for her patrol area north of New Guinea, which she entered on 13 February. Her first opportunity to attack came just after midnight on 23 February when she closed a convoy of two freighters and one small escort. Balao fired six torpedoes at the larger of the two freighters, scoring three hits. The escort maneuvered to attack, but never came close to the submarine. Rather than risk a repetition of her disappointment during her last patrol, Balao returned to the scene to verify that the ship had sunk. A survivor was taken on board, who stated that his vessel, the 5,857-ton passenger cargo ship Nikki Maru, had gone down rapidly after being hit. A convoy located on 26 February did not offer a chance of attack, because had first fired on it causing its escorts to chase Balao from the scene. Two days later, Balao sighted smoke on the horizon and commenced tracking three ships and an escort. Shortly after midnight, Balao went to battle stations and closed for attack. After firing her six bow tubes at the lead ship, the submarine swung her stern toward the wing ships in the formation and fired her stern tubes. Balao heard several explosions at the expected times, as torpedo after torpedo struck home. One of the damaged ships trained a gun on Balao, but a heavy internal explosion silenced the gun before Balao could be hit. The submarine could see nothing except heavy smoke in the target area, but radar watched as two "pips" disappeared from the screen. Balao lured the escort out of the target area in order to double back to look for the third freighter. Radar and lookouts failed to locate the merchantman, so Balao returned to patrol the shipping lanes after a very successful attack. Postwar study of Japanese shipping records identified her victims as the 2,723-ton freighter Shoho Maru and the 6,803-ton passenger cargoship Akiuro Maru. On 3 March, Balao fired four torpedoes at a small freighter and escort from a distance that proved to be too great. All four fish passed under their targets. Later that morning, Balao sighted a