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Posted by Christopher Eger Aug 29, 2007 |
On June 30th, 1942 the brand new submarine USS Grunion (SS-216) left Pearl Harbor on her first war patrol. Only the fifth of the new Gato-class fleet subs, she missed the Battle of Midway by days. An oft forgot sideshow to that battle was the seizure of Attu and Kiska islands off Alaska. The Grunion sailed into the northern pacific to perform recon duties on these frozen pieces of real estate. Arriving off Kiska she engaged and sank three and sank two small 300 ton Japanese patrol craft over a fifteen day period. She was subjected to at least two intense depth-charge attacks.
She was ordered back to Dutch Harbor Naval Base at the end of July but never arrived. She was reported missing with her 70 man crew 16 days later. In November the navy struck her name from its list and LtCmdr Mannert Abele, her skipper, earned the Submarine Force's first Navy Cross. It is thought now that the sub was sunk while attacking the armed Japanese troop transport, Kano Maru, in a surface engagement on July 31.
Commander Abele's sons have led a decade's long search to find their father's submarine. Last week, at a depth of some 1800 feet, it looks like they finally did.
52 U.S. submarines and their all-volunteer crews were lost during WW II. They had the highest causality rate by percentage of any branch of the service.