USS S-28

USS S-28 (SS-133) was an S-class submarine of the United States Navy. A diesel submarine, she served in World War II during which sank one Japanese ship. She was lost at sea with all hands in July 1944. Her wreck was discovered in 2017 at a depth of 8,500 feet (2,600 m) off the coast of Oahu.

S-28′s keel was laid down on 16 April 1919 by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation's Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts. She was launched on 20 September 1922, sponsored by Mrs. William R. Monroe, and commissioned on 13 December 1923.

Following shakedown exercises off the southern New England coast, S-28 moved south in March 1924 to join Submarine Division 11 in the final exercises of 1924's winter maneuvers in the Caribbean Sea. In April 1924 she returned to New London, Connecticut, with her division and commenced local exercises which occupied the remainder of 1924. In the winter of 1925, she moved south again, transited the Panama Canal, and, after the conclusion of Fleet Problem V, conducted in the vicinity of Guadalupe Island, she arrived in the Hawaiian Islands for a month's stay. In June 1924, she moved to San Diego, California, where her division replaced another division which had transferred to the United States Asiatic Fleet.

S-28 operated primarily off Southern California until 1931, calling at Mare Island Navy Yard in California for regularly scheduled overhaul periods and also deploying for a Fleet Problem in the Panama Canal area in 1926, for summer maneuvers near Hawaii in 1927, for a Fleet Problem in the Panama Canal area in 1929, and for summer maneuvers near Hawaii in 1930.

S=28 departed the United States West Coast for Hawaii in mid-February 1931, and on 23 February 1931 arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, from which she operated for the next 8+1⁄2 years. In mid-1939, she transferred back to San Diego, where she took part in training activities for the Underwater Sound Training School.

On 7 December 1941, S-28 – then a unit of Submarine Division 41 – was undergoing overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II. On 22 January 1942, the work was completed, and she returned to San Diego, where she resumed her training activities for the Underwater Sound Training School. She continued that duty into the spring of 1942, then was ordered north to the Aleutian Islands to augment U.S. defenses in the Territory of Alaska.

On 20 May 1942, S-28, with other submarines of her division, departed San Diego. They stopped at Port Angeles, Washington on 25 May 1942, then continued on toward the newly established submarine base at Dutch Harbor, on Amaknak Island off Unalaska in the Aleutian Islands. On 29 May 1942, however, as the United States made preparations to minimize a two-pronged Japanese thrust against Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and the Aleutians, the S-boats received orders to proceed to their patrol areas, bypassing Dutch Harbor.

During a quickly extinguished fire in her port main motor on the morning of 1 June 1942, S-28 suffered minor damage. That evening, she parted company with her sister ships and their escort, and on 2 June 1942 she entered her assigned patrol area and commenced patrolling the approaches to Cold Bay on the tip of the Alaskan Peninsula. On 3 June 1942, the Japanese bombed Dutch Harbor, opening the Aleutian Islands campaign, and, within the week, they had occupied Kiska and Attu in the Aleutians. On 11 June 1942, a U.S. Navy floatplane mistook her for a Japanese submarine and attacked her in the Pacific Ocean south of the Aleutians at 53°57′25″N 164°30′00″W / 53.95694°N 164.50000°W / 53.95694; -164.50000, dropping a bomb or depth charge as she crash-dived that inflicted only slight damage and no casualties. On 12 June 1942, S-28 arrived at Dutch Harbor, refueled, took on provisions, and headed west to resume her war patrol.