USS Grayback (SS-208)

The first Grayback (SS-208) was laid down on 3 April 1940 ar Groton, Conn., by the Electric Boat Co.; launched on 31 January 1941; sponsored by Mrs. Wilson Brown, wife of Rear Adm. Wilson Brown, the Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy; and commissioned on 30 June 1941 at New London, Conn., Lt. Willard A. Saunders in command.

Attached to the Atlantic Fleet, Grayback conducted her shakedown cruise in Long Island Sound out of Newport, R.I., New London, and New York. In company with Grampus (SS-207), she departed New London on 8 September 1941 for patrol duty in the Caribbean and Chesapeake Bay; then arrived Portsmouth, N.H., on 30 November for overhaul.

Following America's entry into the war Grayback sailed for the Pacific on 12 January 1942 and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 8 February. Her first war patrol (15 February-10 April) took her along the coast of Saipan and Guam. There she participated in a deadly four-day game of hide-and-seek with an enemy submarine; the enemy I-boat fired two torpedoes at Grayback on the morning of 22 February, then continued to trail her across the Pacific. Grayback spotted the enemy conning tower a couple of times, and the Japanese ship broached once; but Grayback could not get into position to attack. After four nerve-wracking days, Grayback shook the other sub and continued on patrol. First blood for her came on 17 March as she sank a 3,291-ton cargo ship off Port Lloyd.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Grayback I (SS-208)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.