August 26, 1988 the Peruvian submarine Pacocha S-48 sank after being rammed by a Japanese trawler off the coast of Callao, Peru. The submarine was running on the surface and apparently the conning tower was incorrectly identified as a small craft by the master of the Kyowa Maru-8, he did not slow down as he seemed to believe the "small craft" had passed. The trawler rammed the submarine somewhere abaft of the conning tower sinking the Pacocha rapidly. Seven men, including the commander, Captain Daniel Nieva, were lost in the accident, twenty-two survivors were picked up by the trawler. However twenty-three men were trapped inside the boat.

The U.S. Navy scrambled a team of rescuers out of San Diego and they headed toward Peru, the team probably knew the design of the boat as she had been built as USS Atule SS-403 in 1944, but before they could get to Peru the aircraft was turned around. The Peruvian authorities acted quickly and less than 24 hours later all twenty-three men had been rescued from what could have been their tomb.