Military
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Commanded by LCDR A.M. Bontier, USN, USS Seawolf (SS-197) was launched on 15 August 1939 and was lost at sea on 3 October 1944. Beginning with her first patrol just hours after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the submarine built a career that made Seawolf one of the most recognized names in the history of undersea warfare. Over the next three years, Seawolf completed 14 patrols across practically all known Pacific shipping routes, carried out 56 torpedo attacks, and survived them all through the courage and seamanship of her crew. Tracking targets into treacherous waters, she attacked heavily escorted convoys and vital enemy vessels, sank over 100,000 tons of enemy shipping, and earned two navy unit commendations and 13 battle stars. On her fifteenth war patrol, while delivering supplies and army personnel, heavy seas delayed her passage by one day. A U.S. destroyer, unaware of the delay, attacked what it believed was an enemy submarine with depth charges, and in this mistaken identity Seawolf was lost with her 82 crewmen. No other submarine or crew in the Pacific fought longer or harder.
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