Tag: World War II

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 Pickerel SS-177

She slipped beneath the waves with purpose and silence — a steel hunter in a sea of shadows. The USS Pickerel (SS-177) was no ordinary predator. She was a Porpoise-class submarine, forged in peacetime but baptized by war. And in the spring of 1943, she became the first U.S. submarine lost in the Central Pacific — vanishing without a trace in the cold, contested waters off Japan’s northern coast.

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10,000 Dives

March 18, 1960, was just another day in the long service history of USS Spikefish (SS-404), or so it seemed. The sea, indifferent to records and human milestones, stretched endlessly around her. But for the men aboard, and for the United States Navy, that dive was anything but ordinary. On that day, Spikefish became the first American submarine to achieve 10,000 successful dives—a milestone that underscored not only her longevity but the very evolution of submarine warfare and technology in the postwar era. She had already earned her place in history with three battle stars during World War II, but this feat set her apart in the annals of undersea service.

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