USS Lagarto (SS-371)
History of the USS Lagarto Submarine
The USS Lagarto (SS-371) was ordered for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Her keel was laid down by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company of Wisconsin on January 12, 1944. She was launched on May 28, 1944 and commissioned on October 14, 1944 under the command of Commander Frank D. Latta.
The USS Lagarto arrived at Pearl Harbor on Christmas Day 1944. After a period of training and installation of additional guns, she sailed the Mariana Islands on January 24, 1945 along with the USS Haddock. While moored at Saipan, several of the submarine’s crew members were injured in an automobile accident, including Commander John P. “Beetle” Roach, Lieutenant Walter R. Shaw, and Ensign Allen G. Brewington. Replacements had to be flown in from Guam.
On February 7, the USS Lagarto began her first war patrol in the company of the wolf pack known as Latta’s Lancers. She sailed for the Bonin Islands to destroy enemy shipping in preparation for the upcoming carrier strikes of Task Force 38. The next day, the crew learned that Lieutenant Shaw had died. Her wolf pack sank two Japanese guardboats on February 12. The submarines parted company on February 20. Four days later, she sank the Japanese submarine I-371 and the merchant cargo ship Tatsumomo Maru. Her patrol ended on March 20 at Subic Bay.
The USS Lagarto sailed for her second war patrol on April 12, this time heading for the South China Sea and the Gulf of Siam. On May 2, she and the USS Baya were engaged in gunfire fighting with enemy shipping. The next morning, the two submarines rendezvoused to discuss plans for a coordinated attack on a Japanese convoy.
The USS Baya attempted to make further contact with the USS Lagarto that afternoon and evening, but received no answer. The submarine was presumed lost on August 10, 1945 and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on September 1, 1945. It was later determined that she had been sunk by the Japanese minelayer Hatsutaka before she could conduct her planned attack with the USS Baya. Her wreckage was discovered in the Gulf of Thailand in May 2005, and her identity confirmed by U.S. Navy divers from the USS Salvor in June 2006. The USS Lagarto received one battle star for her service in 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
