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• American submarine USS Skate ambushed Yamato 180 miles northeast of Truk. Skate detected Yamato at 27,300 yards and dove. Skate passed down the starboard beam of Yamato, turned, and at 0518 hours fired four stern torpedoes at 2,200 yards. Crew of Skate heard one explosion and a muffled explosion as one or two torpedoes hit Yamato on the starboard side near turret No. 3, ripping a hole that extended some 15 feet downwards from the top of the blister and longitudinally some 75 feet between frames 151 and 173. The upper turret magazines flooded through a small hole punched in the longitudinal bulkhead; the hole was caused by failure of the armor belt joint between the upper and lower side protection belts. The upper magazine for No. 3 turret flooded. Yamato took on about 3,000-tons of water, far more than anticipated by the designers of the side protective system. The transport mission was aborted. The follow-up depth charge attack by Yamagumo, Tanikaze, or both failed to hit Skate, which made its escape three hours later. Later, Yamamto arrived at Truk and received emergency repairs by repair ship Akashi which also prepared a damage assessment report. US Navy intercepted a message from Yamato that read "Hull damage summary resulting from torpedo attack. Details affecting armament and machinery will be submitted later. 1. Hole from frame 163 to 170. 11 meters in diameter above the 'bilge' [sic] and 5 1/2 meters below penetrating outer plates of 'bilge' [sic]." ww2dbase [Yamato | CPC]
• Otto Skorzeny and his family vacationed at Zurs on the Arlberg, Austria. ww2dbase [Otto Skorzeny | CPC]

• USS S-35 arrived at Attu, Aleutian Islands. ww2dbase [S-35 | Attu | CPC]

• 15 B-24 bombers escorted by about 50 fighters (P-38, F4U, F6F, and Kittyhawk fighters) attacked Rabaul, New Britain. 88 Japanese fighters rose to defend. The Americans lost 1 F4U and 2 P-38 aircraft; the Japanese lost 3 aircraft. ww2dbase [New Guinea-Papua Campaign, Phase 3 | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru arrived at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Hikawa Maru | Truk | CPC]
• Repair ship Akashi completed the repair work for light cruiser Agano and began repairing battleship Yamato at Truk, Caroline Islands. ww2dbase [Akashi | Truk | CPC]

• German Type IXC U-Boat U-505 departed Lorient, France for her eleventh patrol as part of wolfpack "Hela". ww2dbase [U-505 | Loirent, Bretagne | DS]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: More of GROPAC-4 [communications and support group for advanced air bases] arrived. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• The British moved 3rd Battalion of 8th Punjab Regiment to the front lines at Villa Grande, Italy. ww2dbase [Advance to the Gustav Line | Villa Grande, Abruzzo | CPC]
• Kurt Student ordered the formation of a 2,200-strong Italian parachute regiment, to be placed within German 4.Fallschirmjäger Division. ww2dbase [Kurt Student | CPC]

• Landing ship No. 149 was launched. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]

• Responding to the 22 Dec sighting of an Allied convoy, Scharnhorst and destroyers Z29, Z30, Z33, Z34, and Z38 departed from Altafjord in northern Norway to intercept it. The force was under the command of Konteradmiral Erich Bey. ww2dbase [Battle of the North Cape | Altafjord, Finnmark | CPC]

• By this date in 1943, there were a total of 86,919 prisoners in the Auschwitz camp system in occupied Poland, 56,595 of whom were men and 30,324 were women. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Auschwitz Concentration Camp | Oswiecim | CPC]

• Dwight Eisenhower met with Henry Wilson, who would replace him as the Allied command in the Mediterranean Theater, at Tunis, Tunisia. ww2dbase [Dwight Eisenhower | Tunis | CPC]

• USS Whale departed Midway Atoll for her sixth war patrol. ww2dbase [Midway Bases | Whale | Midway | CPC]

25 Dec 1943 Interactive Map