Lost Boats - March
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 25 MAR 2015 with the loss of twenty-one officers and men.
She foundered 1.5 miles off of Honolulu after acid corrosion of the lead lining of the battery well let seawater into the battery compartment, which resulted in loss of ship's control.
She was raised in August 1915.
The remains of USS F-4 were buried as fill in a trench off the Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor, HI.
Lost on 12 MAR 1920 with the loss of four men, including the Commanding Officer, LCDR James R. Webb, as they tried to swim to shore after grounding on a shoal on Santa Margarita Island off the coast of Baja California, Mexico.
USS VESTAL (AR 4), pulled USS H-1 off the rocks in the morning of 24 MAR 1920, only to have her sink forty-five minutes later in fifty feet of water.
The USS H-1 was originally named the USS SEAWOLF.
Lost on 03 MAR 1942 near Java with no immediate loss of life while on her first war patrol.
USS PERCH survived two severe depth chargings in less than 200 feet of water by three Japanese destroyers. The crew abandoned ship and scuttled her.
Fifty-nine officers and men were taken prisoner, and were transported to a POW camp at Ofuna, Japan where they were forced to work mines until the close of WWII.
Fifty-three survived the war, six died as POWs.
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 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.
Lost on 20 MAR 1945 with the loss of 87 officers and men at the end of her second war patrol.
While steaming eastward, USS KETE sent in a weather report from a position south of Colnett Strait. Scheduled to arrive Midway by 31 MAR 1945, she was neither seen nor heard from again.
Probably sunk near Okinawa, by a Japanese submarine that itself was subsequently lost.
Lost on 28 MAR 1945 with the loss of 89 officers and men on her twelfth war patrol.
She was lost during a combined attack by Japanese antisubmarine vessels and aircraft. Postwar Japanese records showed a Japanese aircraft detected and bombed a submarine. Surface ships were then guided to the spot and delivered an intensive depth charging. After two hours, a large oil slick appeared.
USS TRIGGER ranked seventh in total tonnage sunk and tied for eighth in number of ships sunk.