USS Robalo (SS-273)

USS Robalo (SS-273) was a *Gato*-class submarine of the United States Navy that served during World War II. Commissioned in late 1943, she conducted two war patrols in the Pacific Theater before her loss in the summer of 1944. Her disappearance and the subsequent fate of her crew remain a poignant chapter in U.S. naval history.

Construction and commissioning

The vessel's keel was laid down on 24 October 1942 at the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. She was launched on 9 May 1943, sponsored by Mrs. E.S. Root, and officially commissioned into the U.S. Navy on 28 September 1943 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Stephen H. Armbruster. Following commissioning, *Robalo* transited the Mississippi River and underwent final training and shakedown exercises in the Caribbean Sea near Panama City before proceeding to the Pacific Ocean.

Service history

Assigned to the Pacific Fleet, *Robalo* arrived at her forward operating base in Brisbane, Australia, in early 1944, joining Submarine Force, Pacific. Her first war patrol, conducted in the South China Sea and near the Java Sea, was relatively uneventful, with no confirmed sinkings. Her second patrol began in June 1944, departing from Fremantle, Australia, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Manning M. Kimmel, son of Admiral Husband E. Kimmel of Pearl Harbor fame. The patrol area was the dangerous waters of the South China Sea, specifically off the western coast of Palawan in the Philippines.

Loss

On 26 July 1944, *Robalo* was operating near Balabac Strait when she struck a naval mine from a Japanese defensive field. The explosion sank the submarine in position 09°27'N, 117°18'E. Of the 81 crewmen, approximately eight survived the sinking and managed to swim ashore onto Palawan. They were subsequently captured by Japanese military police and imprisoned at Puerto Princesa, a camp run by the Imperial Japanese Army. According to later intelligence reports, the survivors attempted to escape in mid-August 1944 but were executed by their captors. The Navy Department officially declared *Robalo* lost on 2 August 1944.

Aftermath and legacy

The fate of *Robalo* was initially a mystery, with her listed as "missing." The first clues emerged from a note secretly passed by a prisoner in the Puerto Princesa camp to the crew of the USS *Redfin* in early August. This information, combined with postwar analysis of Japanese naval records, confirmed her loss to a minefield. *Robalo* received one battle star for her World War II service. Her loss, along with that of other submarines like USS *Flier* in the same treacherous strait, underscored the extreme hazards of submarine warfare in heavily defended enemy waters. She is memorialized on the National Submarine Memorial - West in Pearl Harbor and at the Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, Connecticut.

Category:Gato-class submarines Category:World War II submarines of the United States Category:Ships built in Wisconsin Category:Maritime incidents in July 1944