Hull Number: SS-273
Last Captain: CDR M. M. Kimmel
Date Lost: 26 July 1944
Location: Two miles off the west coast of Palawan
Fatalities: Fatalities: 81. 77 men died in the sinking. Four others swam to shore but died after being imprisoned.
Cause: Likely a mine
Construction
Robalo was a Gato class submarine completed by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company at Manitowoc, WI in September of 1943.
Loss Narrative
Robalo began her third patrol from Fremantle on 22 June 1944. She reported sighting a Japanese task force with a battleship supported by destroyers and air cover on 2 July. Nothing was heard from the submarine after that.
At the end of the war, we learned that a note had been dropped from a window in the prison camp at Palawan in the Philippines. It identified four sailors from the Robalo and stated that the boat had been lost due to a battery explosion. (It was later judged to be more likely due to a mine.) The four sailors were being held as guerrillas rather than as POWs. Nothing was heard of the Robalo survivors after that. They might have been executed or they may have been taken to Japan on a ship that was sunk en route. In any case, there is no record of their eventual fate.
At the end of the war, we learned that a note had been dropped from a window in the prison camp at Palawan in the Philippines. It identified four sailors from the Robalo and stated that the boat had been lost due to a battery explosion. (It was later judged to be more likely due to a mine.) The four sailors were being held as guerrillas rather than as POWs. Nothing was heard of the Robalo survivors after that. They might have been executed or they may have been taken to Japan on a ship that was sunk en route. In any case, there is no record of their eventual fate.
Prior History
After commissioning, Robalo sailed and was towed from Manitowoc, through Chicago and the Illinois Waterway and down the Mississippi River. She then sailed through the Panama Canal and on to Fremantle, Australia as her first war patrol. She fired four torpedoes at a large cargo ship at long range and claimed one hit. After this unsuccessful patrol, the captain was judged not to have the temperament needed to command a submarine. He was replaced by LCDR Kimmel, the son of Admiral Kimmel who was in command at Pearl Harbor on the day of the Japanese attack.
Her second war patrol was in the East China Sea. She made a series of attacks but without results. On 24 April 1944, Robalo was attacked by Japanese aircraft and seriously damaged. Additional personnel errors caused the boat to descend to 350 feet, below test depth but not below design depth. The crew was able to make enough repairs to stay on patrol. On 17 May 1944, Robalo claimed to have sunk a tanker of 7,500 tons but this was not confirmed.
Robalo was lost on her third war patrol and JANAC did not credit her with any sinkings.
Her second war patrol was in the East China Sea. She made a series of attacks but without results. On 24 April 1944, Robalo was attacked by Japanese aircraft and seriously damaged. Additional personnel errors caused the boat to descend to 350 feet, below test depth but not below design depth. The crew was able to make enough repairs to stay on patrol. On 17 May 1944, Robalo claimed to have sunk a tanker of 7,500 tons but this was not confirmed.
Robalo was lost on her third war patrol and JANAC did not credit her with any sinkings.
Submarine Photo
Captain Photo
CDR M. M. Kimmel