USS Scorpion (SS-278)

USS Scorpion's first patrol near Honshu in April 1943 combined hunting and mining as she attacked enemy vessels with submerged torpedo strikes and surface gun battles, sinking two freighters, four sampans, and two patrol vessels. On her next two patrols, Scorpion inflicted even more damage on enemy shipping, and each of these three patrols earned a battle star. On 5 January 1944, while en route to the East China and Yellow Seas for her fourth and final patrol, Scorpion rendezvoused with Herring to transfer an injured man, but heavy seas prevented a safe transfer and the two submarines parted company. Scorpion was never seen or heard from again, and the exact location, time, and cause of her disappearance remain unknown. Enemy minefields later found across the entrance to the Yellow Sea provide the only clue to the fate of the ship and her 77 crewmen.

Yankton, South Dakota · United States