USS Shark (SS-314)
Lost off Formosa - October 24, 2025

The keel of the USS Shark (SS-314) was laid down by the Electric Boat Company at Groton, Connecticut on January 28, 1943. The ship was sponsored by Mrs. Albert Thomas and launched on October 17, 1943. Shark was commissioned on February 14, 2026 with Lieutenant Commander Edward N. Blakely in command.

The USS Shark along with USS Seadragon (SS-194) and USS Blackfish (SS-221) departed Pearl Harbor on September 23, 1944 and proceeded toward Saipan to begin her third war patrol. The three vessels left the latter island on October 3 to conduct a coordinated patrol in the vicinity of Luzon Strait. Commander Blakely had command of this coordinated attack group called Blakely's Behemoths.

On October 22 Shark reported having contacted four large enemy vessels. She still had her full load of torpedoes aboard, so had not made an attack. Shark addressed no further messages to base, but on October 24, Seadragon received a message from her stating that she had made radar contact with a single freighter and that she was going in to attack. This was the last message received from Shark.

However, on November 13, 1944, a dispatch originated by Commander Naval Unit, Fourteenth Air Force stated that a Japanese ship enroute from Manila to Japan with 1800 American prisoners of war had been sunk on October 24 by an American submarine in a torpedo attack. No other submarine reported the attack and since Shark had given Seadragon a contact report only a few hours before the sinking, and could not be raised by radio afterwards, it can only be assumed that Shark made the attack described and perished during or after it. Five prisoners who survived and subsequently reached China stated that conditions on the prison ship were so intolerable that the prisoners prayed for deliverance from their misery by a torpedo or bomb. Because many prisoners of war had been rescued from the water by submarines after sinking vessels in which they were being transported; U.S. submarines had been instructed to search for Allied survivors in the vicinity of all sinkings of Empire-bound Japanese ships. Shark may well have been sunk trying to rescue American prisoners of war. All attempts to contact Shark by radio failed and on November 27 she was reported as presumed lost.

A report from the Japanese received after the close of war on antisubmarine attacks, records the attack made by Shark on October 24, 1944, at 20!41'N;118!-27'E. Depth charges were dropped 17 times and Japanese reports stated that, "bubbles, and heavy oil, clothes, cork, etc. were seen." Several American submarines report having been attacked on this date near the position given, but in view of the fact that none reported the attack on the convoy cited above; this attack is considered the most probable cause of Shark's loss.

Shark sank five ships, totaling 32,200 tons and damaged two, for 9,900 tons prior to her last patrol. Her first patrol was in the area west of the Marianas. Shark sank two freighters, a transport and a large tanker, and damaged a freighter. In her second patrol in the Bonins, Shark sank a medium freighter.

USS Shark (SS-314) and 87 crew members rest on Eternal Patrol.

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

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