USS Kete (SS-369)
History of the USS Kete Submarine
The USS Kete (SS-369) was ordered for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Her keel was laid down by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company of Wisconsin on October 25, 1943. She was launched on April 9, 1944 and commissioned on July 31, 1944 under the command of Commander R.L. Rutter.
The USS Kete arrived at Pearl Harbor on October 15, 1944. She began her first World War II patrol of the East China Sea on Halloween in the company of the USS Sea Lion. Bad weather and non-functional bow planes forced her to put in at Saipan on November 24. The submarine resumed her patrol on Christmas Eve, sailing waters north of Okinawa with the USS Kraken. She conducted lifeguard patrols near the central Ryukyu Islands from January 1 to January 27, 1945 before ending her patrol at Guam on January 30.
After a month of refitting at Guam, the USS Kete departed for her second war patrol on March 1, this time in the waters off Nansei Shoto. She provided lifeguarding services and collected weather data to aid the upcoming invasion of Okinawa. On March 10, her torpedoes sank the Japanese troop transport Keizan Maru and the army cargo ships Sanka Maru and Dokan Maru. Four days later, she fired four torpedoes at an enemy cable laying vessel. She reported in that she missed her target, but she only had three torpedoes left. That night, she was ordered to end her patrol on March 20.
The USS Kete reported in on March 19 to acknowledge her orders to leave her patrol area the following day. She sent in a special weather report the next day from her position south of the Colnett Strait. The submarine was never seen nor heard from again. When she didn’t arrive at Midway as scheduled by March 31, numerous attempts were made to contact her by radio. When these attempts failed, she was presumed lost on April 16. To this day, it is unknown whether she sank due to enemy action, a mine explosion, or an operational malfunction. Four Japanese submarines were sunk in her patrol area without reporting back to Tokyo, so it is possible that one of them was responsible for her loss. The USS Kete earned one battle star for her service during World War II.
The use of asbestos was common in shipbuilding components for much of the 20th Century because of its resistance to heat, fire, water and corrosion. Because of their asbestos exposure onboard ship and in the shipyards, seaman, shipyard workers and longshoreman are at risk for developing asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma
Sources include:
Asbestos and Ship-Building: Fatal Consequences, by John Hedley-Whyte and Debra R Milamed
