In Memoriam - USS Trout - 29 February 1944

USS Trout (SS-202) set out on her eleventh war patrol 8 November 1944. On 16 February, she hit Midway to top off fuel. She was not heard from again.

Trout was presumed lost with all 81 hands 17 April, after failing to return to Midway. Japanese sources obtained after the war describe the sinking of the Sakito Maru and the damaging of another ship on 29 February; of US submarines, only Trout could have been responsible at the time. As she did not report the action, it is assumed that she was lost during or just after this engagement.

Other than the presumed but unconfirmed encounter of 29 February 1944, Trout sank 23 vessels and damaged six. Her second patrol was perhaps the most unusual: after delivering ammunition from Pearl Harbor to Corregidor, she brought back 20 tons of gold, silver, and securities as ballast to compensate for the weight of the ammunition she had unloaded.

Trout was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for her second, third, and fifth war patrols.