November 7, 1944: The USS Albacore SS-218 was sunk by a mine off northeastern Hokkaido with the loss of all 86 men on board. The Albacore, a Gato class submarine, was launched on Feb.17, 1942 in Groton, Ct. Three hundred and eleven ft. long and displacing 1500 tons, Albacore began her first of eleven war patrols on Aug. 28, 1942. Albacore's first enemy contact was made on Sept.13, 1942. She fired torpedoes at two enemy ships scoring 2 hits on the lead ship. During her career Albacore sank 13 ships including, the light cruiser Tenryu the Destroyer Sazanami and the Shokaku-class carrier Taiho.

Albacore had also been attacked several times. On Oct.9,1942  and Oct.11,1942, Albacore was depth charged by the Japanese. The latter attack lasted some 7 hours. Depth charged again on Nov.11, 1942, for 2 hours. On Nov.8,1943, Albacore was attacked again, this time by the 5th U.S. Air Force, but received no damage. However the U.S. Air Force returned on Nov.10, and this time she was damaged. This included losing all auxiliary power. It was decided to continue the patrol and repair the damage while underway. On Nov.12,1943 while attacking the Lt. Cruiser Agano, Albacore was depth charged for no less than 4 1/2 hours.

On Oct.24,1944, Albacore departed Pearl Harbor on her 11th mission. She arrived at Midway to refuel on Oct 28 and after departing was never heard from again. According to Japanese accounts recovered after the war, a Japanese patrol boat reported seeing an explosion that is presumed to have been Albacore off the coast of Hokkaido. The patrol boat also reported seeing debris including oil, cork, bedding and food stuffs. Albacore was struck from the Navy list on Mar.30,1945. She had received nine battle stars and a Presidential unit citation.