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 or about 30 JUL 1942 with the loss of 70 officers and crew while on her first war patrol near Kiska in the Aleutians.
She radioed that she sank two sub-chasers and damaged a third, and was ordered back to Dutch Harbor.
USS GRUNION was never heard from nor seen again. Reported overdue, assumed lost with all hands 5 Oct 1942.
Her mangled remains were found in the Bering Sea in 2006 off the Aleutian Island of Kiska.
Lost on 13 AUG 1942 after grounding on submerged rocks off Rossel Island while on her third war patrol.
The USS S-39 soon took on a 35 degree list to port.
The entire crew was able to abandon ship and was rescued by the HMAS KATOOMBA (J204/M204).
The S-39 was abandonded and left to break up on the rocks.
Lost with a total of 105 officers and men, off Rabaul on her third war patrol.
While attacking a convoy, she torpedoed a Japanese destroyer, who along with two other destroyers depth charged her.
As she tried to surface, she was sunk by destroyer gun fire.
Lost on 16 FEB 1943 with the loss of 72 officers and men on her third war patrol.
She reported having been forced down on 13 FEB 1943 by two destroyers, and that she had recovered an enemy aviator from the water and taken him prisoner.
Off Rabaul, she reported being attacked by a Japanese patrol plane, attacked by a torpedo boat, and then depth charged by a subchaser.
All further messages to the vessel remained unanswered.
One additional man was killed earlier on the last patrol.
Lost on 05 MAR 1943 with the loss of 71 officers and men.
In company with USS GRAYBACK, USS GRAMPUS departed Brisbane, Australia on her sixth war patrol from which she failed to return,
Presumed sunk in the Vella Gulf after engaging two Japanese destroyers, the manner in which USS GRAMPUS was lost remains a mystery today.
Lost on 15 MAR 1943 with the loss of 74 officers and men. She was reported overdue, and presumed sunk north of the Admiralty Islands during a fight with three Japanese destroyers.
USS TRITON was the first boat to engage the enemy during WWII in December 1941 off Wake Island, sinking nine ships, one submarine and a destroyer.
Lost on 03 APR 1943 with the loss of 74 officers and men while on her seventh war patrol.
USS PICKEREL departed Pearl Harbor, HI, and after topping off with fuel at Midway Island on 22 MAR 1943, she headed for the Eastern Coast of Northern Honshu.
She was presumed lost somewhere off Honshu.
The exact cause of her loss has never been determined, but her operational area contained numerous minefields.
Lost on 22 APR 1943 near Penang, with no immediate loss of life.
USS GRENADIER was on her sixth war patrol off Malay Peninsula. While stalking a convoy, she was spotted by a Japanese aircraft and immediately dove. While passing 130 feet, USS GRENADIER was bombed, causing severe damage.
She was lodged on the bottom at 270 feet and the crew spent hours fighting fires and flooding. When she surfaced, she had no propulsion and was attacked by another Japanase aircraft. USS GRENADIER succeeded in shooting down the secord aircraft, however, she remained heavily damaged. When enemy ships arrived, the CO ordered abandoned ship and scuttled the boat.
Of the sixty-one officers and crew members taken prisoner, fifty-seven survived the war.
Lost on 12 JUN 1943 with the loss of 42 officers and men near Key West, FL during a practice torpedo approach when Forward Battery compartment flooded. The cause was probably due to flooding through a torpedo tube.
The Commanding Officer and two other men on the bridge survived, as did eighteen crew members on liberty at the time of the accident.
Lost between 26 JUN 1943 and 04 JUL 1943 with the loss of 78 officers and men. USS RUNNER was on her third war patrol and is presumed to have struck a mine.
Prior to her loss, she reported sinking a Japanese freighter, the Seinan Maru, on 11 JUN 1943 and a passenger-cargoman, Shinryu Maru, off the Kurile Islands on 26 JUN 1943, so the USS RUNNER was lost between then and 24 JUL 1943, when she was scheduled to return to Midway.