Sons Locate Father’s WWII Submarine
In 1942 the USS Grunion a World War II Gato-class submarine with a crew of 70 disappeared near the Aleutian Islands off Alaska.
She left Hawaii on June 30 touching base at Midway before heading to the Aleutians for patrol duty. A Japanese destroyer attacked the Grunion off Kiska Island and the Grunion returned fire. Throughout the month of July she sank two patrol boats. The night of July 30, after sending a report of heavy anti-submarine activity, the Grunion fell silent and was never heard from again.
Air searches found nothing. The Grunion’s name was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in November 1942 and she received a single battle star for her wartime service. That wasn’t good enough, however, for the three sons of the Lt. Cmdr. Mannert L. Abele, the skipper of the Grunion. After years of searching, Bruce, John, and Brad Abele found their Dad on August 22, 2007.
The Grunion lies in approximately 1,000 feet of water, imploded by the pressure at that depth. Photos were taken by a remote vehicle, but no signs of human remains were detected. Still, the Abeles now know where their father lies and what happened to his vessel. One more mystery of World War II laid to rest.
(Site Note: Since I was unable to post yesterday, today’s WWII Friday Five will appear later in the day.)
USS Grunion, Aleutians, submarine, Abele
September 5th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
[...] I wrote a post about the discovery of the wreck of the USS Grunion off the Aleutians. (See “Sons Locate Father’s WWII Submarine.”) The Grunion disappeared the night of July 30, 1942 and was rediscovered August 22, 2007 by [...]