Several squadrons of PBY-5As and -6As in the Pacific theater were specially modified to operate as night raiders. Outfitted with state-of-the-art magnetic anomaly detectors and painted flat black, these United States Navy "Black Cats" attacked Japanese supply convoys at night. Catalinas were surprisingly successful, and from August 1943 to January 1944, Black Cats sank 112,700 tons of merchant shipping, damaged 47,000 tons, and damaged 10 Japanese warships.

from the Wiki article about the PBY Catalina seaplane