Category: Eternal Patrol

Squalus Down

On a crisp May morning in 1939, the crew of the USS Squalus set out from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, unaware that they were about to write one of the most remarkable chapters in submarine history. The Squalus was new. She was sleek, modern, and powerful. A Sargo-class submarine, she had been launched only the previous September, and commissioned into service just two months before. Her commander, Lieutenant Oliver Naquin, a Naval Academy graduate and seasoned submariner, had a reputation for discipline, attention to detail, and the quiet confidence needed to lead a crew through the perilous underworld of undersea warfare.

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USS Lagarto SS-371

She slipped beneath the waves in silence, leaving behind no witnesses, no survivors, and for sixty years, no trace. The USS Lagarto (SS-371), a proud Balao-class submarine built in the heart of the American Midwest, vanished in May of 1945 during her second war patrol in the Gulf of Thailand. It would take six decades, the work of divers, historians, and veterans, and the determined pull of memory to finally bring her back to the surface of public awareness. Her story, like that of many lost submarines, is one of daring service, mystery, and solemn remembrance.

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USS Grenadier SS-210

The USS Grenadier (SS-210) was not just another submarine. She was part of the United States Navy’s silent force—a fleet of underwater hunters that prowled the vast Pacific during World War II. Built at Portsmouth Navy Yard and launched in November 1940, Grenadier was a Tambor-class submarine, a major leap forward in undersea warfare. These boats were longer, sleeker, and more heavily armed than their predecessors. At over 300 feet in length, with ten torpedo tubes and improved surface speed, Tambor-class subs like Grenadier marked the transition from coastal patrol vessels to long-range oceanic predators. They could travel over 11,000 miles without refueling and could strike deep behind enemy lines, changing the tempo of war at sea.

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