USS Grunion SS-216 – Tombstone Tuesdays August 13, 2019

I went with an unusual choice for this week’s Tombstone Tuesdays – USS Grunion (SS-216). In has been in the news recently and there are some YouTube videos – https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=uss+grunion+bow+discovered. In general, shipwrecks where people went down with the ship, boat, or sub are regarded as memorials or cemeteries and not to be violated, other than documenting the find. There are rare exceptions as some items have been retrieved from the Titanic. It’s also deep enough that most people can’t afford the cost to visit it.

In an earlier post, How Chocolate Helped To Win The War — Pacific Paratrooper, original post – https://pacificparatrooper.wordpress.com/2019/08/12/how-chocolate-helped-to-win-the-war/, I noticed the following news update:

The Lost 52 Project has located the ‘late and presumed lost’ US submarine, USS Grunion off the Aleutian Islands.  She sunk with 70 crewmen on board during WWII.

Here’s a group dedicated to finding the locations of all missing U. S. World War II subs – http://www.lost52project.org/. This year’s expeditions, www.lost52project.org/Expeditions.html

Expedition 2019 is planned for coastal Japan and will focus on four submarines and one Fletcher Class Destroyer.

http://www.lost52project.org/Expedition-2019.html

As we deploy in this effort we are always cognizant of other Lost WWII ships that may be in the vicinity of our search areas.  

I posed the state memorials for those U. S. World War II submarines still on eternal patrol World War II Submarine Memorials by State. Ohio adopted this sub, but has not ever built a memorial for it.

The submarine was found around 12 years ago by three sons of the sub’s commander who had learned of a possible location – https://www.blackfive.net/main/2007/08/uss-grunion-on-.html. They hired a company to conduct a search – https://web.archive.org/web/20180307162721/http://ussgrunion.com/. In the reports and articles I read last year, I didn’t see mention of the bow being missing. It was found late last year (2018) about 0.25 miles (0.4 kilometers) away. They had a website, but it’s no longer around under the link I found, but it’s on the Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20181101000000*/www.ussgrunion.com. A good article from the link: https://web.archive.org/web/20180307162721/http://ussgrunion.com/.

Previous Tombstone Tuesdays posts: https://upsdownsfamilyhistory.wordpress.com/tag/Tombstone-tuesday/