USS Grampus (SS-207)

Grampus was a Tambor class submarine completed by the Electric Boat Company of Groton, CT in May of 1941.

On her sixth patrol, after leaving her exercise area on February 12th, Grampus was not heard from again. (Submarines don’t communicate often since it gives away their existence and location.) She had been directed to patrol in the Blackett Strait. On 5 March, she was warned that enemy destroyers would be transiting the strait. It is thought likely that those destroyers sank Grampus. Since no depth charges were heard by USS Grayback (SS-208), just 15 miles away, it is possible that Grampus was sunk by gunfire. Because those Japanese destroyers were sunk on 6 March, they couldn’t contribute any helpful information to the record.

Grampus, USS Amberjack (SS-219) and USS Triton (SS-201) (subject of the next entry) were all lost in the same general area at about the same time. Reconciling the incomplete records was difficult and history has had to settle for best estimates.

On her first war patrol, Grampus sank a large tanker. Her second and third patrols were without incident except for a gun battle with a patrol boat. Grampus suffered one hit from this battle, but no serious damage.

The general policy was that captains would be relieved after two patrols with no successes. That appears to be the case at this time on Grampus. On her fourth patrol, the first under LCDR Craig, she carried four coast watchers and successfully landed them on Vella Lavella and Choiseul Islands.

On this patrol, Grampus encountered heavy anti-submarine activity, including at least 104 depth charges over the course of multiple attacks. On her fifth patrol, she claimed torpedo hits on three transports plus a destroyer. However, none of these could be verified and were not credited.

Grampus was lost on her sixth war patrol. JANAC credited her with one sinking for 8,636 tons.