Loss
Gudgeon sailed for her 12th war patrol on 4 April 1944. The submarine stopped off for fuel at Johnston Island on 7 April, and was never seen or heard from again. On 7 June 1944, Gudgeon was officially declared overdue and presumed lost. Uboat.net claims Gudgeon was sunk 18 April 1944 at a known location by the Japanese southeast of Iwo Jima. Some sources say the submarine was more likely to have sunk by attack near Maug Islands.
For more detailed and original information about Gudgeon's likely sinking on 18 April 1944, see Find 'Em Chase 'Em Sink 'Em: The Mysterious Loss of the WW II Submarine USS Gudgeon and other "Ostlund" references below.
During her three-year career, Gudgeon scored 14 confirmed kills of a total of well over 71,372 tons sunk, placing her 15th on the honor roll of American submarines.
For her first seven war patrols Gudgeon received the Presidential Unit Citation. She earned 11 battle stars for World War II service.
Read more about this topic: USS Gudgeon (SS-211)
Famous quotes containing the word loss:
“No need to be sentimental to mourn the loss of Paradise.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Our loss put six feet under ground
Is measured by the magnolia’s root;
Our gain’s the intellectual sound
Of death’s feet round a weedy tomb.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“War is bestowed like electroshock on the depressive nation; thousands of volts jolting the system, an artificial galvanizing, one effect of which is loss of memory. War comes at the end of the twentieth century as absolute failure of imagination, scientific and political. That a war can be represented as helping a people to “feel good” about themselves, their country, is a measure of that failure.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)