At 04:14 "Sea Devil" commenced firing. Four Mark-18 torpedoes headed for a medium-sized freighter, but all missed. At 04:24, she fired tubes five and six at a large ship away. Forty seconds later, the torpedoes hit, throwing a huge column of debris into the air. The stricken ship was troopship Hawaii Maru with some 2,000 soldiers on board. At 04:25, "Sea Devil" swung right to avoid an escort ahead of the ships in the center column. By 04:27, water was over the deck of the "Hawaii Maru". There were no survivors. At 04:28, another escort passed "Sea Devil". A minute later, "Sea Devil" launched four torpedoes from her stern tubes at a large passenger ship away, the "Akikawa Maru". A look around through the periscope then revealed a larger freighter in the center column less than away and headed directly for the submarine.