In Memoriam - USS Dorado (SS-248) - Sunk 12 October 1943

Commissioned on 28 August 1943, USS Dorado (SS-284) left the submarine base at New London, CT on 06 October, 1943 bound for the Panama Canal.

She never arrived.

There are three possible causes of Dorado's loss:

1. U-214, a German submarine, laid mines outside the entrance the Panama Canal only a few days before Dorado's scheduled arrival and Dorado may have struck one of them.
   


2. She may have been accidentally sunk by U.S. aircraft. A PBM Mariner conducted two attacks on surface submarines on the night of 12 October. However, one of those attacks was actually on U-214, as she recorded the attack in her log book, which survived the war.


3. She may have suffered some kind of operational accident, such as an uncontrolled dive, a fire, or a "circular run" of her own torpedoes (a fate that claimed two other American submarines during the war).

Since no debris was found at the time, it is generally believed that Dorado fell victim to U-214's mines. However, until her final resting place is located, the truth will never be known.