rose to the surface, where she found herself alone. Batfish′s delays in Australia and the hide-and-seek game with the Q-ship caused her to miss the invasion of the Philippines at Leyte on 20 October 1944, wbich began both the Philippines campaign of 1944–1945 and the Battle of Leyte and triggered the Battle of Leyte Gulf of 23-26 October 1944. She was assigned patrols in the Sulu Sea and the area between Mindanao and Negros Island and to the west of Luzon until 4 November1944, when she received orders to perform lifeguard duties off Lingayen Gulf. On 6 November 1944, she sighted a Japanese 13-ship convoy including a choice target, a damaged heavy cruiser. As she approached and crept to periscope depth, she was nearly run over by a Japanese destroyer and only avoided collision by an emergency dive. Upon closing again, she fired six torpedoes from her bow tubes at a trailing transport, but all missed. Batfish was forced to dive and maneuver to evade depth charges from the convoy's escorts. On 7 November 1944, she again caught up with the convoy when it anchored in San Fernando Harbor. As she closed the crippled heavy cruiser again, the escorts gave chase and depth-charged her until she retreated. Batfish had no further opportunities to attack Japanese ships until 14 November 1944. Then, while operating in an attack group with the submarines and , she stalked a convoy of eight ships. After Ray and Raton had attacked, Batfish moved in and fired four torpedoes fom her stern tubes that she thought sank a transport and an escort. However, these kills were not later confirmed. Soon thereafter, Batfish received orders to proceed to Pearl, and she arrived there on 1 December 1944. Sixth war patrol Following refit, Batfish got underway in company with the submarine on 30 December 1944 for her sixth war patrol, bound for the Mariana Islands as part of an attack group which also included the submarines and . The submarines arrived at Apra Harbor on Guam on 9 January 1945, but returned to sea on 10 January to take up patrol in the South China Sea to the northeast of Hainan Island. Early on 23 January 1945, the attack group made radar contact with a small fleet of junks. Batfish surfaced and fired at one of the larger junks, then dispatched boarding parties which searched four of the junks