ABC News: 60 Years Later, a World War II Submarine May Finally Come Home
By NED POTTER
Aug. 18, 2006 — For those back home during World War II, perhaps the worst thing was not knowing. Most of the 52 American submarines lost in the war simply disappeared, with the Navy listing many of them as “overdue and presumed lost.”
One of submarines was the USS Grunion, sent on its first operational voyage to the Aleutian Islands, west of Alaska, in the summer of 1942. It had a crew of 70. Her skipper was 39-year-old Lt. Cdr. Mannert L. “Jim” Abele. The sub sent a garbled report on July 30 that it had encountered several Japanese ships. After that, there was nothing.
Now Abele’s three sons have mounted an expedition to the rough seas near Kiska Island, at the far end of the Aleutian chain. Half a mile beneath the surface, sonar images show a shadow that may well be the wreck of the Grunion.