USS Robalo (SS-273)
History of the USS Robalo Submarine
The USS Robalo (SS-273) 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 24, 1942. She was launched on May 9, 1943 and commissioned on September 28, 1943 under the command of Commander Stephen Ambruster.
The USS Robalo was floated down the Mississippi River from Wisconsin to New Orleans, Louisiana before she arrived at Pearl Harbor via the Panama Canal. She departed Pearl Harbor for her first war patrol west of the Philippines. The submarine damaged a large freighter before she put in at Fremantle, where her commanding officer was replaced by Admiral Ralph Waldo Christie. In March, she and four other submarines hurried to respond to a call from the USS Haddo about “many large ships,” but the attack never took place.
The USS Robalo sailed for her second war patrol off Indochina in April with a new commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Manning M. Kimmel. During this time, she fired 20 torpedoes in four separate attacks. She was credited with sinking a Japanese tanker, but this was not confirmed after the war ended. On April 24, she was damaged by an aerial bomb, taking out her radar when her main induction wasn’t closed properly during her escape dive.
Her third war patrol began on June 22 in the South China Sea near the Natuna Islands. On July 2, east of Borneo, she reported sighting a Japanese battleship of the Fuso-class with two destroyers and air cover. This was the last message she ever sent. The submarine was supposed to arrive on station on July 6 and remain there until August 2, but she never arrived, and she was presumed lost.
On August 2, the day that the USS Robalo was scheduled to arrive on station, an American soldier picked up a note dropped from the window of a cell in the Puerto Princesa Prison Camp on Palawan Island. The note passed several hands to the wife of guerilla leader Dr. Mendosa. From this information, it was determined that the submarine had been sunk off the coast of Palawan Islands on July 26, 1944, likely by an enemy mine.
Four of the USS Robalo’s crew members survived and swam ashore, where they were captured by the Japanese Military Police. As prisoners of war (POWs), they were evacuated by a Japanese destroyer. No one heard from them again, so they were most likely aboard the Akakaze or the Yunagi, both of which were sunk at the end of August. The submarine was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on September 16, 1944. She earned two battle stars 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
