USS Triton (SS-201) - 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 from the Naval Historical Center's Web site; link appears below.)

USS Triton, a 1475-ton Tambor class submarine, was built at Groton, Connecticut. Commissioned in mid-August 1940, she served along the East Coast and in the Caribbean for a year, then went to the Pacific, where she was based at Pearl Harbor. During the remaining months of peace, Triton conducted training and in November 1941 was stationed off Wake Island. She was there on 7 December (8 December local time), when Japanese aggression converted her "simulated war patrol" to a real one. While off Wake she made one unsuccessful attack on an enemy ship, using the soon-discredited technique of firing torpedoes while deeply submerged, using sonar bearings for targeting.

Triton's second and third war patrols, into the East China Sea in January-March and April-June 1942, were much more productive. Her torpedoes sank two Japanese merchantmen in February. Three more were sunk in May, plus three fishing vessels and the submarine I-164. Her fourth combat cruise, which took Triton to the Aleutians in June-August 1942, cost the enemy another ship, the destroyer Nenohi.

Following a shipyard overhaul, Triton began her fifth war patrol in mid-December 1942. After helping to guide Army bombers on a raid against Wake, she sank two Marus late in the month. The rest of the patrol probably produced damage to several Japanese ships, but also was marked by bad torpedo performance, a problem that plagued the U.S. Navy submarine force for more than a year and a half after the war began. A few weeks after arriving at Brisbane, Australia, in late January 1943, Triton was sent to operate against enemy shipping north of the Solomon Islands. She sank one cargo ship in early March and attacked others, but was not heard from after the 11th of the month and in April was reported overdue and presumed lost. Postwar analysis concluded that USS Triton, with her entire crew of seventy-three officers and men, was probably sunk by Japanese destroyers off the Admiralty Islands on 15 March 1943.

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 Triton Date of Dedication: Not listed

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