USS ALBACORE (SS-218)

Early on, the U.S. Submarine Veteran's of WW II decided that each state would commemorate the loss of at least one submarine lost during World War II.  Each of the 52 boats were designated a lost-boat to a state, with California and New York getting two boats each.  The states were to set up a Memorial to their lost-boat and its Crew.  The USS Albacore (SS-218) is our lost-boat here in Oregon.
Memorials have been erected throughout the country in various forms. There are plaques, torpedo, WWII Submarine Conning Towers, actual restored submarines for visitors and gravestone markers for families of deceased.  The below pictures show the building of the memorial to the Albacore.

ALBACORE with Lt. Cdr. H. R. Rimmer in command, left Pearl Harbor on 24 October 1944, topped off with fuel at Midway on 28 October, and departed there for her eleventh patrol the same day, never to be heard from again. She was to depart her area at sunset on 5 December 1944, and was expected at Midway about 12 December. When she had not been seen, nor heard from by 21 December despite the sharpest of lookouts for her, she was reported as presumed lost.
According to Japanese records captured after the war, a submarine assumed to be ALBACORE struck a mine very close to the shore off northeastern Hokkaido on 7 November 1944. The explosion occurred on 7 November 1944, in latitude 41 degrees-49 minutes N, longitude 141 degrees-11 minutes E while ALBACORE was submerged. A Japanese patrol boat witnessed the explosion of a submerged submarine and saw a great deal of heavy oil, cork, bedding, and food supplies rise to the surface in the area ALBACORE was assumed to have been in.

Crew aboard at time of her loss (85 Officers and Men):

The Albacore Memorial Project, PGE service yard: The Beginning — September 2008
Veteran's Memorial Park, Beaverton, Oregon: The move — November 2008
Veteran's Day Dedication — 11 November 2008
Memorial Day — 25 May 2009
The finished Product (99%) — July 2009
Click on the any of the above thumbnails to see the larger picture.

Fireman 1^st Class John Gant wrote a poem and sent it home just prior to leaving on the Albacore's last patrol.  He was promoted to MoMM3 prior to the Albacore loss.  His daughter Nancy wrote this response.  Copies of both Poems were supplied by his daughter Nancy Anne Gant Dillon.  She lost her son, to whom she refers in her poem shortly after writing her response poem.
Victory and How We Get It

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To the Daddy I Never Knew but Loved So Much

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A "Memory Box" was sealed inside the Starboard water feature.  It contains a wide variety of items: The Albacore crew book containing all the records (it is about the size of a telephone book) on the Albacore crew, such as Eternal Patrol page for each man and crew photos, notification reports to Next of Kin, list of all Next of Kin currently known, Sailing report for 11th patrol, etc. It has a Submarine War Patrol Report CD for all the Albacore patrols. A set of the DVD's of the Dedication Ceremonies. A copy of the Book Across the Blue Pacific, written by Louise Borden and dedicated to her uncle, who was the Exec. on board. A set of charts of the loss area off Hokkaido showing the position of loss. Various letters, and artifacts sent by family members. A list of those who worked on and built the memorial. I probably left out a number of other things, but we put anything in there that related to construction of the memorial as well as anything that we had that related to the Albacore and its history. — Keith Miller
Click on the any of the above thumbnails to see the larger picture.

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Last    Monday 10 August 2009.
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