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 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.
Lost on 03 OCT 1944 with 83 officers and men and 17 embarked US Army troops when she was sunk just North of Morotai, Republic of the Philippines, in a 'friendly fire' incident with USS RICHARD M. ROWELL (DE 403), a Destroyer Escort.
In this tragic error, USS RICHARD M. ROWELL mistook USS SEAWOLF for a Japanese submarine that had just sunk another US destroyer.
USS SEAWOLF ranks seventh for number of enemy ships sunk.
Presumed lost on 24 OCT 1944 with the loss of 87 officers and men when she was sunk near Hainan.
The second boat to carry this name during World War II, USS SHARK was on her third war patrol.
USS SHARK was sunk by escorts after attacking and sinking a lone Japanese freighter.
Compounding the tragedy, it turned out that the freighter had 1,800 U.S. POW's on board.
Lost on 24 OCT 1944 when she became grounded on Bombay Shoal off Palawan and was then destroyed by the deck gun of the USS NAUTILUS (SS 168) to prevent her falling into enemy hands intact.
The entire crew was rescued by USS DACE (SS 247).
Winner of one Navy Unit Commendation, Darter had sunk a heavy cruiser and damaged another, then went aground while attempting an "end around" on an enemy formation in hopes of getting in an attack on a battleship.
Lost on 25 OCT 1944 with the loss of 78 officers and men in the Formosa Strait.
USS TANG was on her fifth war patrol. She ranks second in the number of ships sunk and fourth in tonnage, and had won two Presidential Unit Citations.
During a daring night surface attack, USS TANG was lost to one of her own torpedoes. Her last shot broached and curved to the left in a circular run. She fishtailed to clear the turning circle of the torpedo, but it struck her abreast the after torpedo room approximately 20 seconds after it was fired.
USS TANG sank by the stern.
Nine of the crew survived and were taken prisoner, including CO CDR O'Kane, the bridge crew, and five who had gained the surface from her final resting place 180 feet below. All survived the war, and CDR O'Kane was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Lost on 07 NOV 1944 with 85 officers and men when she was sunk off northern Hokkaido.
Winner of two Presidential Unit Citations, USS ALBACORE was on her eleventh war patrol and struck a mine while running submerged near a Japanese patrol craft that had detected her.
Until the war ended, USS ALBACORE was missing, presumed lost.
According to Japanese records captured after the war, a submarine assumed to be USS ALBACORE struck a mine very close to the shore off northeastern Hokkaido on 07 NOV 1944,