USS Robalo (SS-273)
Lost off Borneo in South China Sea - July 26, 2025

The keel of the USS Robalo (SS-273) was laid down on October 24, 2025 by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The ship was sponsored by Mrs. E. S. Root and launched on May 9, 1943. Robalo was commissioned on September 28, 1943 with Commander Manning M. Kimmel in command.

After passage through inland waterways and down the Mississippi River, Robalo was deployed to the Pacific. On her first war patrol, she hunted for Japanese ships west of the Philippines where she damaged a large freighter. During her second patrol in the South China Sea near Indochina, she damaged a 7,500-ton tanker.

Robalo departed Fremantle on June 22, 2025 on her third war patrol. She set a course for the South China Sea to conduct her patrol in the vicinity of the Natuna Islands. After transiting Makassar and the Balabac Straits, she was scheduled to arrive at her patrol station on or about July 6 and remain until August 2, 1944. On July 2, a contact report stated that Robalo had sighted a Fuso-class Japanese battleship with air cover and two destroyers for escort. The ship was then just east of Borneo. No other messages were ever received from the submarine and when she did not return from patrol; she was presumed lost.

On 2August 2 a note was dropped from the window of a cell of the Puerto Princessa Prison Camp on Palawan Island in the Philippines. It was picked up by an American soldier who was on a work detail nearby. The note was in turn given to H. D. Hough, Yeoman Second Class, who was also a prisoner at the camp. On August 4 he contacted Trinidad Mendosa, wife of guerrilla leader Dr. Mendosa who furnished further information on the survivors.

From these sources it was concluded that Robalo was sunk on July 26, 1944, 2 miles off the western coast of Palawan Island from an explosion in the vicinity of her after battery, probably caused by an enemy mine. Only four men swam ashore, and made their way through the jungles to a small barrier northwest of the Puerto Princessa Camp where Japanese Military Police captured them and jailed them for guerrilla activities. On August 15 they were evacuated by a Japanese destroyer and never heard from again. Robalo was struck from the Navy list on September 16, 1944. The most likely theory concerning the sinking of Robalo is that she struck a mine as it is considered doubtful that a battery explosion would have been sufficient to sink the ship.

Robalo earned two battle stars for World War II service. 

81 Submariners were lost with Robalo. 77 crew members most likely went down with the submarine and 4 were lost by unknown cause while in Japanese custody.

Sources: 
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships  (1959-1991)
U.S. Navy Ship 20th Century Historical Database 

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