Out on the Pacific, merchant seamen faced the constant threat of Japanese planes and submarines. Japanese submarines began torpedoing U.S. cargo vessels on the day of Pearl Harbor. Merchant seamen participating in the Philippine campaign to expel occupying Japanese forces faced hazardous runs from New Guinea to the Philippines. The U.S. merchant marine participated in every invasion in the Pacific up to the Japanese agreement to unconditional surrender on board the USS MISSOURI on September 2, 1945.