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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Contributed by Don McGrogan, BMCS, USN (ret.)

Grunion (SS-216)
Aftermath

Radio Call Sign: November - Uniform - Delta - Papa

To Additional Pages

Keel Laying - Loss
A Life & Beyond
Initial Discovery 2006
ROV Pictures of the Wreckage
Hypotheses of the Sinking

Gato Class Submarine: Laid down, 1 March 1941, at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT.; Launched, 22 December 1941; Commissioned USS Grunion (SS-216), 11 April 1942; Final Disposition, last report 30 July 1942, reported overdue from patrol off Kiska Island, Alaska, 5 October 1942, all hands assumed lost; Struck from the Naval Register, 2 November 1942. Grunion received one battle star for World War II service.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 1,526 t., Submerged: 2,424 t.; Length 311' 9"; Beam 27' 3"; Draft 15' 3"; Speed, Surfaced 20.25 kts, Submerged 8.75 kts; Complement 6 Officers 54 Enlisted; Operating Depth, 300 ft; Submerged Endurance, 48 hrs at 2 kts; Patrol Endurance 75 days; Cruising Range, 11,000 miles surfaced at 10 kts; Armament, ten 21" torpedo tubes, six forward, four aft, 24 torpedoes, one 3"/50 deck gun, two .50 cal. machine guns, two .30 cal. machine guns; Propulsion, diesel electric reduction gear with four General Motors main generator engines, HP 5400, Fuel Capacity, 97,140 gals., four General Electric main motors, HP 2740, two 126-cell main storage batteries, twin propellers.

Size	Image Description	Contributed By/ Source
41k	Those who were left behind: Informal family photo of Commander Mannert L. Abele and his wife Catherine & sons Bruce, Brad and John Abele sometime shortly before his loss.	Photo courtesy of Bruce, Brad and John Abele, sons of Lieutenant Commander Mannert L. Abele, K.I.A., while commmanding the Grunion (SS-216), 30 July 1942.
43k	Grunion's (SS-216) 30 year old Engineering Officer, Lieut. John Merton McMahon USN, with his two sons, Mike (left) and Jim McMahon (right). The photo was apparently taken in New London, Connecticut, shortly before the *Grunion* left for its deployment.	Photo courtesy of Mike and Jim McMahon, sons of Lieut. John Merton McMahon, K.I.A., aboard the Grunion (SS-216), 30 July 1942.
124k	A letter from Sec. of the Navy Frank Knox to Lieutenant Commander Mannert L. Abele's wife Catherine on the awarding of a Navy Cross Medal and a citation to Lt. Commander Mannert L. Abele, upon the sinking of what was then thought of three Japanese Destroyers, but what later was found to be three submarine chasers & a letter from one of the crew of the American merchant *Jack* that was torpedoed and sunk on 27 May 1942 by the German submarine *U-558* about 100 miles southwest of Port Salut, Haiti, describing their rescue by the Grunion (SS-216).	Photo courtesy of Bruce, Brad and John Abele, sons of Lieutenant Commander Mannert L. Abele, K.I.A., while commmanding the Grunion (SS-216), 30 July 1942.
148k	A letter from Sec. of the Navy Frank Knox to Lieutenant Commander Mannert L. Abele's wife Catherine on the awarding of a Navy Cross Medal and a citation to Lt. Commander Mannert L. Abele, upon the sinking of what was then thought of three Japanese Destroyers, but what later was found to be three submarine chasers & a letter from one of the crew of the American merchant *Jack* that was torpedoed and sunk on 27 May 1942 by the German submarine *U-558* about 100 miles southwest of Port Salut, Haiti, describing their rescue by the Grunion (SS-216).	Photo courtesy of Bruce, Brad and John Abele, sons of Lieutenant Commander Mannert L. Abele, K.I.A., while commmanding the Grunion (SS-216), 30 July 1942.
95k	Mannert Lincoln Abele, Lieutenant Commander (Commanding Officer) of the Grunion (SS-216) at the time of her loss.	USN photo courtesy of Bruce, Brad and John Abele, sons of Lieutenant Commander Mannert L. Abele, K.I.A., while commmanding the Grunion (SS-216), 30 July 1942.
141k	Letter from the Labor - Management Committee of E.B. in the days following the Grunion's (SS-216) loss urging its workers for more production to replace the boat.	Electric Boat photo courtesy of Meryl Kretschmann, daughter of Carson Martin, K.I.A. aboard the Grunion (SS-216), 30 July 1942.
16k	Commemorative postal cover marking Grunion (SS-216) on Eternal Patrol, issued on Veterans Day, 1942. Pictured are two of *Grunion's* crew, CTM Merritt Dayton Graham and MM1 Daniel Cullinane.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
73k	"Roll of Honor Citation by the Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor" in the name of Lieutenant Commander Mannert L. Abele, while CO of the Grunion (SS-216), during the boat's action against the Japanese and his "Courage, Aggressiveness and Determination in action with the enemy". Issued 23 November 1942.	USN photo courtesy of Bruce, Brad and John Abele, sons of Lieutenant Commander Mannert L. Abele, K.I.A., while commmanding the Grunion (SS-216), 30 July 1942.
90k	Citation signed by the SecNav Frank Knox on the presentation of the Navy Cross Medal to Lt. Commander Mannert L. Abele, upon the sinking of what was then thought of three Japanese Destroyers, but what later was found to be three submarine chasers, two of which *Ch-25* and *Ch-27* were sunk. In any case, the risk and danger was great.	USN photo courtesy of Bruce, Brad and John Abele, sons of Lieutenant Commander Mannert L. Abele, K.I.A., while commmanding the Grunion (SS-216), 30 July 1942.
32k	Citation by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to the family of Lieutenant Commander Mannert L. Abele.	USN photo courtesy of Bruce, Brad and John Abele, sons of Lieutenant Commander Mannert L. Abele, K.I.A., while commmanding the Grunion (SS-216), 30 July 1942.
53k	A certificate signed by President John F. Kennedy "honoring the memory of Lieutenant Commander Mannert L. Abele by a grateful nation in recognition of devoted and selfless consecration to the service of country in the Armed Forces of the United States".	USN photo courtesy of Bruce, Brad and John Abele, sons of Lieutenant Commander Mannert L. Abele, K.I.A., while commmanding the Grunion (SS-216), 30 July 1942.
34k	In memory of the Grunion (SS-216).	Photo courtesy of Tom Kermen.
176k	Dedication and unveiling of the U.S. Submarine Veterans of WW II Memorial Wall to the families of the crew of the Grunion (SS-216), 1 - 3 September 1995.	Photo courtesy of Meryl Kretschmann, daughter of Carson Martin, K.I.A. aboard the Grunion (SS-216), 30 July 1942.
102k	*Grunion* Flag at 1995 Memorial dedication.	Photo courtesy of Meryl Kretschmann, daughter of Carson Martin, K.I.A. aboard the Grunion (SS-216), 30 July 1942.
123k	True value for your dollar. Lt. Col. Richard Lane’s *Kano Maru* winch wiring diagram. It has casused quite a few more to be spent and helped unwrap one mystery of the sea while leading to others.	Photo courtesy of ussgrunion.com. Photo added 01/16/08.
86k	Lt. Col. Richard Lane.	Photo courtesy of ussgrunion.com.
22k	Yutaka Iwasaki.	Photo courtesy of ussgrunion.com.
117k	The wife of a World War II U.S. submarine veteran, tosses a flower into a reflecting pool to honor the memory of one of the 52 submarines lost during World War II at the National Submarine Memorial-West on board Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, Calif. On this Veterans Day, the Submarine Veterans of World War II transferred ownership of the memorial to the U.S. Navy. The following text is from The Coming Fury by Bruce Catton., pg. 478. "Major Sullivan Bullen of Illinois was killed in the battle, and just before it he had written to his wife, Sarah, to tell her that he believed he was going to be killed and to express a tremulous faith that could see a gleam of light in the dark: "But O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and float unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you in the gladdest days and in the gloomiest nights, always, always, and if there be a soft breeze upon your chest it shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your throbbing temple it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait, for we shall meet again!"	U.S. Navy photo # N-1159B-021 by Journalist 2nd Class Brian Brannon, courtesy of news.navy.mil.
68k	Untouched commissioning party photo of the Grunion's (SS-216) crew and wives enjoying the evening at the New London Sub Base, CT. on 11 April 1942. In a little less than 6 months, the boat and all her crew would be M.I.A. In Memorium: In the Second Book of Shmuel (Samuel), 22nd chapter, 5th through the 20th verses, translated from the original in Hebrew and published by the Koren Publishers of Jerusalem, Israel, 1982, can perhaps aptly describe the fate of the crew and all other U.S. submariners who died defending their county: "When the waves of death compassed me / the floods of ungodly men made me afraid; / the bonds of She'ol encircled me; / the snares of death took me by surprise; / in my distress I called upon the Lord, / and cried to my G-D: / and he heard my voice out of his temple, / and my cry entered into his ears. / Then the earth shook and trembled; /the foundations of heaven moved / and shook because of his anger /...the heavy mass of waters, and thick clouds of the skies /... And the channels of the sea appeared, / the foundations of the world were laid bare, / at the rebuking of the Lord, at the blast at the breath of his nostrils. / He sent from above, he took me; / he drew me out of many waters; / he delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me; for they were too strong for me. / They surprised me in the day of my calamity: / but the Lord was my stay..."	USN photo courtesy of Bruce, Brad and John Abele, sons of Lieutenant Commander Mannert L. Abele, K.I.A., while commmanding the Grunion (SS-216), 30 July 1942. Photo i.d. courtesy of Mike McMahon, & Rhonda Raye.