Eighth Patrol
Her eighth war patrol (commanded by Harry Hull, Class of 1932), lasting 4 April to 23 May 1943, was uneventful, but her ninth saw the boat score another kill. Off Balikpapan, Borneo, she sighted a three-ship convoy, escorted by a sole destroyer (Hokaze) on the night of 30 June 1943. After an unrewarding try with a trio of torpedoes, Thresher dodged the escort's depth charging attack and returned for another attempt. Tracking with radar, Thresher set a tanker ablaze from stem to stern and scored hits on a 5,274-ton passenger freighter in the Makassar Strait.
Heading for Tambu Bay on the morning of 5 July, Thresher tracked a tanker. Chasing her quarry along the Sulawesi (Celebes) coast, the submarine lurked nearby until the escort left. Thresher then closed, loosed three torpedoes, and scored one hit on the bow of the enemy vessel. This blow failed to stop the tanker, which fired her guns to keep Thresher at bay as she escaped at high speed.
Four days later, Thresher arrived off Catmou Point, Negros Island. Under cover of darkness, the boat surfaced and delivered 500 pounds (230 kg) of stores and 40,000 rounds of ammunition to Filipino guerrillas. Receiving intelligence documents in return, Thresher got underway for a resumption of her patrol shortly before midnight on 9 July. She soon departed the Philippines and sailed via Midway Island and Pearl Harbor to the west coast for a major overhaul at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.
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