On October 11, 1943, during her seventh and final war patrol, the legendary U.S. Navy submarine USS Wahoo (SS-238) was sunk in La Pérouse Strait with the loss of all 79 hands. Operating in the dangerous, restricted waters between Japan’s Hokkaidō Island and Russia’s Sakhalin Island, the vessel was engaged by Japanese shore forces and subjected to a prolonged combined air and surface attack by enemy aircraft and antisubmarine vessels. Japanese records describe attacks involving numerous bombs and depth charges, continuing for several hours before the submarine was lost.
Under the command of the celebrated Lieutenant Commander Dudley “Mush” Morton, Wahoo became one of the most aggressive and successful American submarines of the early Pacific war. Serving alongside his executive officer, Richard O’Kane, Morton favored bold surface attacks and rapid, independent action rather than the more cautious tactics common early in the war. During Morton’s five war patrols aboard Wahoo, the submarine was credited with sinking 19 Japanese ships, making her one of the most productive U.S. submarines of the period.
Morton and O’Kane’s leadership helped demonstrate the potential of American submarines as independent, highly lethal raiders against Japan’s maritime supply lines. Their influence was especially significant in encouraging greater aggression and initiative within the submarine force, although Wahoo’s achievements were part of a broader evolution in U.S. Pacific submarine tactics rather than a complete transformation brought about by one boat alone.
The exact fate and location of Wahoo remained unknown for more than six decades. In July 2006, a Russian dive team, Iskra, located and photographed wreckage in La Pérouse Strait at a depth of approximately 213 feet. Subsequent examination showed the submarine lying upright and largely intact, with damage consistent with a direct hit from an aerial bomb near the conning tower—evidence that likely explains the sudden loss of the vessel.
Later that year, the United States Navy officially verified that the wreck was USS Wahoo. The site is now recognized as the final resting place of Morton, his crew, and the 79 sailors who went down with her, and it is treated with the reverence due to an American war grave.
