Tag: World War II

A Near Not-Miss

On the morning of May 27, 1944, a rare and potentially deadly incident unfolded beneath the waves of the Pacific Ocean, involving two U.S. submarines, the USS Lapon (SS-260) and the USS Raton (SS-270). Both submarines were known for their successful patrols, hunting enemy vessels that threatened the war effort. What happened that day, however, is an example of the unpredictable nature of submarine warfare—an accidental incident of friendly fire that could have ended in disaster but instead ended in a miracle.

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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 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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