Ship History
Laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut and launched on December 22, 1941 and commissioned on April 11, 1942 with Lieutenant Commander Mannert L. Abele in command. After shakedown, Grunion sailed for the Pacific on May 24. As she transited the Caribbean Sea for Panama, she rescued 16 survivors of USAT Jack, which had been torpedoed by a U-boat. After dropping off the survivors, she continued to Pearl Harbor, arriving 20 June.

First Patrol
Departing on June 30, after ten days of intensive training, Grunion reached Midway; then to the Aleutians for her first war patrol. Her first report, made as she patrolled north of Kiska. Attacked by a Japanese destroyer and returned fire with inconclusive results. She operated off Kiska throughout July and sank two enemy patrol boats and damaged a third while in search for enemy shipping. On July 30, the submarine reported intensive antisubmarine activity, and was ordered back to Dutch Harbor. She still had 10 of her 24 torpedoes, it is unclear if Grunion received the order to return to base.

Sinking History
Reportedly, the Grunion attacked the Kano Maru on July 31, 1942, about 10 miles northeast of Kiska. The sub fired six or seven torpedoes. All but one bounced off the ship without exploding, or missed, the officer wrote, although the hit knocked out his engines and communications. The Kano Maru returned fire with an 8cm deck gun, and believed it sank the sub.

Grunion was never heard from nor seen again. Air searches off Kiska found nothing. On 5 October Grunion was reported overdue from patrol and assumed lost with all hands. Grunion received one battle star for World War II service.

Shipwreck
A search in August 2006., the Aquila carefully towed a sonar cable from east to west and back again inside a 240-square-mile grid that the survey team had plotted using information from naval archives and the Kano Maru officer's account. The crew worked in shifts to keep the search going 24 hours a day. In mid-August, the sonar picked up a 290' object with the sharp angles and jutting shadows of something man-made wedged into a terrace on the steep underwater slope of the volcano.

The U.S. Navy, citing lack of resources, is not involved in the search and the Abeles prefer to keep the cost to themselves. The team contacted Robert Ballard, who declined to participate in a search, but briefed the Abeles on the complications of searching for deep-sea wrecks. Geological formations sometimes conceal a vessel; it could be perched precariously on an undersea cliff; the water pressure and landing impact could have broken the Grunion into small pieces, making it harder to find.

They also hired a marine survey firm, Williamson and Associates, for an expedition in August to Kiska. Williamson at first told the Abeles that surveying the tip of the Aleutian archipelago would be too expensive, but after six months of negotiating, the firm agreed to send sonar technicians and equipment for the search.

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