USS Grampus (SS-207) - Seal Beach, CA - World War II Memorials / Monuments on Waymarking.com

The advancement of the submarine is a long and proud chapter in the history of the U.S. Navy. Through the efforts of the California Center for Military History and U.S. Submarine Veterans, a large memorial recognizes the name and crew of each submarine lost in World War II. The "World War II National Submarine Memorial - West" is located just outside the gate to the Naval Weapons Station in Seal Beach. Bronze plaques identify the officers and men that gave their lives during the war. The plaques surround a central display consisting of a torpedo, flag, and time capsule. Groundbreaking for the memorial took place on January 13, 1977.

(The following is taken from the Naval Historical Center's Web site; link appears below.)

USS Grampus, a 2370-ton Tambor class submarine built at Groton, Connecticut, was commissioned in May 1941. She operated in the western Atlantic and Caribbean for the next several months and transferred to the Pacific in December 1941, a few weeks after the United States formally entered World War II. Grampus made her first war patrol, into the central Pacific, in February-April 1942. One large merchant ship was sunk on that patrol, which also included reconnaissance missions to Kwajalein and Wotje Atolls. Her next patrol took her into the Marshall and Caroline Islands, concluding in Australia, where she was based thereafter.

During the rest of 1942 and into January 1943, Grampus completed three more war patrols, which took her to the Philippines and into the Solomon Islands. She left Brisbane, Australia, in mid-February 1943 to begin her sixth patrol, also in the Solomons. Grampus did not return from this mission and was subsequently declared lost with all hands. It is possible that she was sunk by the Japanese destroyers Minegumo and Murasame in a battle fought in the Blackett Strait, near Kolombangara Island, on 5 March 1943, shortly before those enemy ships were sunk in a night action with U.S. cruisers and destroyers.

Property Permission: Public Access instructions: Park in the lot just off the main entrance to the Naval Weapons Station Access times: From: 12:00 AM To: 11:59 PM Website for Waymark: [Web Link] Location of waymark: 800 Seal Beach Boulevard Seal Beach, CA USA 90740 Commemoration: USS Grampus Date of Dedication: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   04/18/2010 senoritafish visited it