Lost Boats
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died...rather we should thank God that such men lived...
~ George S. Patton
Lost on 26 FEB 1944 with the loss of 80 officers and men on her tenth war patrol.
She appears to have been caught on the surface in the East China Sea by a Japanese carrier plane whose bombs made a direct hit.
During this patrol she sank 4 ships totaling 21,594 tons and was tied for eleventh in the number of ships sunk.
Lost on or after 29 FEB 1944 with the loss of 81 officers and men on her eleventh war patrol.
USS TROUT topped off with fuel at Midway and was never heard from again. She is presumed to have been sunk by escorts in the middle of the Philippines Basin after sinking a passenger-cargoman and damaging another in a convoy. Japanese records indicate that one of their convoys was attacked by a submarine on 29 FEB 1944 in the area assigned to USS TROUT. Possibly one of the convoy's escorts sank the USS TROUT.
She carried out several notable special missions, including carrying over two tons of gold bullion out of Corregidor in February of 1942.
Lost on 26 MAR 1944 with the loss of 79 officers and men on her fourth war patrol.
It's believed USS TULLIBEE was a victim of a circular run by one of her own torpedoes.
The lookout was the only survivor and he survived the war as a Japanese prisoner.
USS GUDGEON (SS 211) was probably lost on 18 APR 1944 with the loss of seventy-nine officers and men, southeast of Iwo Jima, but may have been sunk as late as 12 MAY 1944 in different attack on an unidentified submarine and heard by several other submarines in the area.
Winner of five Presidential Unit Citations, USS GUDGEON was on her twelfth war patrol and most likely the victim of a combined air and surface anti-submarine attack.
USS GUDGEON was the first US submarine to go on patrol from Pearl Harbor, HI, after the Japanese attack.
On her first patrol, she became the first US submarine to sink an enemy warship, picking off the Japanese submarine I-173.
Gudgeon was officially overdue and presumed lost on 07 JUN 1944.
Captured Japanese records shed no light on the manner of her loss, and it must remain one of the mysteries of the silent sea.
Lost on 01 JUN 1944 with the loss of 83 officers and men near Matsuwa Island.
USS HERRING was on her eight war patrol and was conducting a surface attack when a shore battery spotted her.
In a counter-attack, the enemy shore batteries scored two direct hits on USS HERRING's conning tower and "bubbles covered an area about 3 miles wide, and heavy oil covered an area of approximately 15 miles."
Before being sunk, she had sank a freighter and a passenger-cargoman.
USS HERRING was the only US submarine to be sunk by a land battery.
Lost on 14 JUN 1944 with the loss of 82 officers and men.
On her second war patrol, Golet was presumed lost in battle with antisubmarine forces north of Honshu.
Japanese antisubmarine records available after the war revealed that Golet was the probable victim of a Japanese antisubmarine attack made 14 JUN 1944.
Lost on 04 JUL 1944 with the loss of forty-nine officers and crew.
USS S-28 was conducting training exercises off Hawaii with the USCGC RELIANCE (WSC-150).
After USS S-28 dove for a practice torpedo approach, USS RELIANCE lost contact. No distress signal or explosion was heard. Brief contact with USS S-28 was made and lost. All attempts to establish communications failed. Two days later, an oil slick was found near where S-28 last submerged.
A Court of Inquiry was unable to determine the cause of the loss of USS S-28.
Lost on 26 JUL 1944 with the loss of 81 officers and crew while on her third war patrol.
USS ROBALO struck a mine about two miles off the coast of Palawan, in the South China Sea.
Four men survived and swam ashore, then were captured and imprisoned by the Japanese. Unfortunately, they transferred on a Japanese destroyer and lost when that destroyer was sunk.
Lost on 13 AUG 1944 with the loss of 78 officers and crew while on her second war patrol.
USS FLIER was transiting on the surface when she was rocked by a massive explosion (probably a mine) and sank within less than a minute.
Thirteen survivors, some injured, made it into the water and swam to shore. Eight of those survived and six days later friendly natives guided them to a Coast Watcher and they were evacuated by the USS REDFIN (SS 272).
Lost on 24 AUG 1944 with the loss of 79 officers and crew during a depth charge attack by a Japanese destroyer near Bataan while on her sixth war patrol.
USS HARDER earned a Presidential Unit Citation for her first five war patrols and is tied for ninth in the number of enemy ships sunk during WWII.
Commanding Officer CDR Dealey was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously.