Changes

At around 1430, a large formation of enemy planes attacked the Allied force off Cape Gloucester. Beale escaped damage, and her gunners claimed a kill on an [[Aichi D3A|Aichi D3A-1 "Val"]] dive bomber. Her good luck, however, eluded several of her colleagues. Brownson (DD-518) suffered direct hits from two bombs that touched off a huge explosion, and she sank in less than 20 minutes with a loss of 108 crewmembers. Shaw (DD-373), a battle-scarred veteran of Pearl Harbor, received new wounds when a hail of fragments from several near misses riddled her hull and superstructure and injured over 30 of her crew, four of them fatally. Near misses also caused damage and a few casualties on board Mugford (DD-389). Later that same day while escorting LST-466 in the vicinity of Borgen Bay, Beale encountered a [[Mitsubishi G4M]] "Betty" twin engine medium bomber pursued by three Republic P-47 "Thunderbolt" fighters. Her gunners joined the fracas, and the "Betty" soon went into the sea about 2,000 yards distant on her port bow.

At around 1430, a large formation of enemy planes attacked the Allied force off Cape Gloucester. Beale escaped damage, and her gunners claimed a kill on an [[Aichi D3A|Aichi D3A-1 "Val"]] dive bomber. Her good luck, however, eluded several of her colleagues. Brownson (DD-518) suffered direct hits from two bombs that touched off a huge explosion, and she sank in less than 20 minutes with a loss of 108 crewmembers. Shaw (DD-373), a battle-scarred veteran of Pearl Harbor, received new wounds when a hail of fragments from several near misses riddled her hull and superstructure and injured over 30 of her crew, four of them fatally. Near misses also caused damage and a few casualties on board Mugford (DD-389). Later that same day while escorting LST-466 in the vicinity of Borgen Bay, Beale encountered a [[Mitsubishi G4M]] "Betty" twin engine medium bomber pursued by three Republic [[P-47]] "Thunderbolt" fighters. Her gunners joined the fracas, and the "Betty" soon went into the sea about 2,000 yards distant on her port bow.