Missing a freighter with torpedoes on the night of 20 July, "Thresher" surfaced in a rain squall before daybreak the next morning. The boat's sonar picked up the sound of screws, close and closing. Soon an enemy patrol craft came into view, on a collision course. Surprisingly, the Japanese chose not to ram, but instead turned hard right, and came to a parallel course some away. "Thresher" went deep, while the enemy's guns fired close but ineffective salvoes into the water ahead of the disappearing boat.