US B-17 and B-25 bombers sank Japanese destroyer Yayoi (68 were killed, 83 survived) and damaged destroyer Isokaze 8 miles northwest of Vakuta, Trobriand Islands 120 miles north of Milne Bay, Australian Papua, where they intended to reach to evacuate the 353 troops of the Japanese 5th Sasebo Special Naval Landing Force stranded on Goodenough Island. Isokaze would turn back to Rabaul, New Britain, abandoning the evacuation mission.
