The Destruction of Convoy Hi-71: USS Bluefish (SS-222) and the Night of August 19, 1944

August 19, 1944. On that night, Bluefish would slip into history. Alongside USS Rasher, she fell upon one of the last great Japanese convoys, a lumbering mass of ships carrying men, supplies, and hope for a faltering empire. Out in the blackness, under rain squalls and against the pulse of enemy escorts, Bluefish delivered one of the decisive strikes of the submarine war. That night became her defining moment, and it remains a sharp reminder of how much damage a single submarine could do when opportunity met skill.