Thirteen, the second most feared number known to man, this was the number of the patrol which USS Swordfish SS-193 was on when she disappeared. It started at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 22, 1944 when she was ordered out into the Pacific, not just to sink enemy shipping, but with the additional task of photo reconnaissance of the Ryukyu Islands. After a stop at Midway on Dec. 26th to refuel she continued on her voyage into forever.

On Jan. 2nd while Swordfish was en route to the patrol area she was redirected to patrol in the area of 30N-132E to avoid being attacked by U.S. aircraft, which were about to conduct attacks against the Ryukyu Islands. The next day, January 3, 1945 Swordfish signaled that they had received the orders and presumably headed to the new patrol position. This was the last time Swordfish was ever heard from.

January 9th Swordfish was sent orders to head for Okinawa to carry out the original "special mission," but this signal was not acknowledged by Swordfish. It is known that the seas in her patrol area were very heavy and it is possible that her antenna had been damaged or even carried away in a storm. This is speculation only, but the weather information comes from USS Kingfish SS-234 which was also in the area.

(Add comments by Bill Wilson about radio equipment)

On Jan. 5th a small Japanese convoy was heading from Chichi Jima in the Bonin Islands to Tateyama, Japan when the small freighter Shoto Maru was struck by a torpedo at 29.35N-141.07E and sank. One of the escorts, CD-4, made a sustained depth charge attack dropping 27 charges which resulted in an "extraordinarily big sound of explosion followed by oil and scraps of various articles" coming to the surface. A second attack of 21 charges were dropped, but no further debris was reported to have surfaced.

To the best of my knowledge there were only two Submarines in the area. Swordfish, if she actually made it to the assigned patrol area, and Kingfish SS-234. Kingfish however made no mention of attacking a ship on that day. There is however an interesting passage in the war diary of Kingfish. On Jan. 5 at 1417 they heard two explosions similar to bombs. They submerged and at 1814 heard "explosions similar to depth charges" reporting at least 30 such explosions in all. The two boats were about 40 to 60 miles apart at this time according to the best information I have available. No U.S. submarine claimed making an attack at that position on Jan. 5th. In my opinion Swordfish was most likely lost in the attack by CD-4.

When Swordfish failed to make port in Saipan or Midway by Feb. 15th she was declared lost for unknown reasons.

There are of course other theories including being mined off Okinawa, but there is no evidence that Swordfish ever made it back to Okinawa.The definitive cause of the loss of Swordfish and the ninety men in the boat is not known, to date the wreck has not been found.