The USS Albacore (SS-218) left Pearl Harbor on October 24, 1944, filled her fuel tanks at Midway Atoll on October 28, and was never heard from again…until now. Japanese researchers have just found the whereabouts of this American submarine, famous for its successes in the Pacific during World War II.
The United States Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) has confirmed the identity of the ship found off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan. The North American technicians have used the data and the images obtained by the doctor Tamaki Ura, of the University of Tokyo, to certify that she was the submersible that was lost in the sea 70 years ago.
Ura relied on Japanese records that a submerged submarine struck a mine just off the northeast coast of Hokkaido on November 7, 1944. A patrol boat witnessed the explosion of the Albacore and saw a large number surface. heavy oil, cork, bedding and food supplies.
The research team collected data using a remotely operated marine vehicle to confirm the historical data. Strong currents, marine growth, and poor visibility at the site, however, made it difficult to study the wreck and obtain comprehensive images.
Still, the experts were able to identify certain modifications made to the submarine prior to its last patrol, such as the presence of a radar dish and mast, a row of vents along the top of the superstructure, and the absence of steel plates on the upper edge of the ship’s fin.
Albacore was built by the Electric Boat Company and commissioned on June 1, 1942. Before she was lost, she made 11 patrols and is credited with 10 confirmed (and three as yet unconfirmed) sinkings of enemy ships, six of which they were combat ships, making it one of the most successful submarines during World War II.
One of his best-remembered missions began on the morning of June 18, 1944, when the USS Albacore changed course in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific. Lieutenant James W. Blanchard, in command of the ship, had just received orders to find a group of Japanese aircraft carriers led by Admiral Ozawa Jisaburo sailing from Tawi Tawi (Philippines) to Saipan.
When the submarine raised its periscope the next morning, it found itself squarely in the middle of the action. Blanchard bypassed the first ship and set his sights on the second. When he fired all six bow tubes, he alerted three Japanese destroyers who immediately dropped up to 25 depth charges.
Amid the explosions, the Albacore crew heard a noise in the distance. One of her torpedoes had just hit the aircraft carrier Taiho, Ozawa’s flagship, the newest and largest floating airbase in the Japanese fleet. Although it did not hit her squarely, the damage turned the ship into a time bomb that went off a few hours later, sinking the ship with 1,650 men on board.
The 85 crew members of this Gato-class submersible, armed with five machine guns and 10 torpedo tubes, were also in charge of sinking the light cruiser Tenryu, a 3,300-ton ship and the second Japanese cruiser that a US submarine sent to the seabed during World War II.
“As the final resting place for the sailors who gave their lives in defense of our nation, we sincerely thank and congratulate Dr. Ura and his team on their efforts to locate the wreck of the Albacore,” said NHHC Director, retired Rear Admiral Samuel J. Cox.
