Grayback's Finale

In late February 1944, the USS Grayback was at the height of her power and the edge of her fate. Fresh off a string of devastating attacks in the East China Sea, she had already sunk tens of thousands of tons of Japanese shipping and earned her place among the most successful submarines of the war. But success has a way of narrowing your options. By February 25, she had only two torpedoes left. Ordered home to Midway, she would have to pass near Okinawa, through waters thick with patrol aircraft and escort vessels. Instead of slipping quietly away, her captain chose to strike one last time. It would be her final act. In this episode of Patrol Reports, we walk through the Grayback’s last week at sea, from triumph to disappearance, and the decades-long mystery that followed. This is not just the story of a submarine lost, but of eighty men who never came home, and the long silence that finally ended.