USS Seawolf (SS-197), off San Francisco, California, 9 May, 1944.  Commissioned on 1 December, 1939, the Seawolf made 15 war cruises during WW2, sinking 27 enemy ships and damaging 13.  She was lost at sea in the course of her final cruise (operating against Japanese forces out of Brisbane, Australia).  The circumstances of her loss are unclear.  It is possible that she was destroyed by a Japanese submarine.  However, the situation in the area of her loss at the time were confused, and the balance of probabilities is that she was destroyed by "friendly fire" in anti-submarine operations by US surface and submarine forces  Best regards, JR.

"Still at Sea, on Eternal Patrol".

Original caption: "One of war’s most spectacular Kamikaze shots shows a Japanese Judy about to crash into USS Essex, her only damage of war."


Kamikaze!

Lieutenant-Commander Albert Marion Bontier, USN, captain of the USS Seawolf at the time of her loss, October 1944.  Nothing special to say - another sad casualty of war.  Best regards, JR.