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The U.S.S. Triton, SS201

On August 15, 1940, the USS Triton (SS 201) was commissioned at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Although the USS Triton was a pre-war submarine, she was one of the newer fleet-style submarines and would soon see action in the China Sea and the Pacific. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the USS Triton was on patrol off Wake Island and was the first U.S. submarine to successfully torpedo and damage a Japanese destroyer.

The USS Triton was the fourth of our submarines lost during WWII in the Solomons-Bismarck area in the early part of 1943. Under the command of Lieutenant Commander G.K. MacKenzie, Jr., the USS Triton left Brisbane, Australia, on 16 February 1943 to begin her sixth patrol, searching for enemy contacts between Rabaul and Shortland Basin on her way north.

Moving westward, she patrolled areas northwest and attacked a Japanese convoy composed of five ships and one destroyer escort on 6 March. She reported that she had sunk two attack transports of the convoy and damaged another, claiming three hits out of six torpedoes fired. Triton reported another night attack on the same convoy claiming two additional transports being sunk. The final message received from Triton came on 11 March 1943 when she reported, "Two groups of smokes, five or more ships each, plus escorts ... Am chasing." That was the last message known to have been received from the Triton.

After the war, official records from the Japanese Imperial Navy indicate that escorting destroyers made an attack on a submarine on 15 March in an area close to Triton's position. The report provides strong evidence that the USS Triton was sunk during this engagement, and stated, "a great quantity of oil and debris came to the surface, including manufactured goods inscribed Made in the USA." In early April, the Triton was reported overdue from patrol and presumed lost with a crew of 74 in the Caroline Basin, northwest of the Admiralty Islands on 15 March 1943.

The U.S. Navy did not give credit for sinkings without documentation, and most recent investigations of Japanese records indicate that the USS Triton was responsible for sinking 19 Japanese vessels, including tankers, transports, a destroyer and a submarine, while damaging 7 in the first 15 months of the war. The USS Triton was awarded five battle stars for service during World War II.

- Editor