For more than 66 years, the fate of the USS Grunion, the Gato-class submarine that was the first to be deployed by the US in WWII was unknown. The Submarine had disappeared while on its first mission, a patrol near the Aleutian Islands off of Alaska’s coast. Last week however, the US navy has confirmed that the wreckage of a submarine found by an expedition financed by Grunion commanding officer Mannert L. Abele’s sons.

The submarine had been launched on June 30, 1942 from Hawaii and sent on patrol to the waters near the Alaskan Aleutian chain, and patrolled westward from Attu between the Aleutians and Japan. On July 10, the submarine was redeployed to the waters near the Aleutian island of Kiska. There, over the next 20 days, it reported sinking three enemy destroyers, firing on a fourth, and attacking several other unidentified enemy ships. On July 30 the Grunion reported heavy anti-submarine activity. It was never heard from again; until now.

Bruce Abele, along with his brothers Brad and John were 12 at the time, and they will never forget the day when their mother received a Western Union telegram telling her that the USS Grunion had not been heard from, and that their father was considered lost at sea.

"Our mother was left with three small children, and no means of support," remembered Bruce, "and yet she was able to sit down and write a note of condolence to every single next of kin. As the wife of the Grunion commander, she felt an obligation."

Even though the Abele children grew up, married, and built successful careers, they were always troubled about what really happened to their father.

"We always puzzled about it, but we didn't know what to do. We never had any official notification of where the Grunion was lost. All we knew was that it was in the Pacific, although we would hear rumors that it was somewhere in the Aleutians," said Bruce.

The men decided to follow in the path of their mother and, out of obligation to her and the families of all those who were lost with the Grunion, find the submarine’s final resting place.

However, they had no luck until 2001, when a retired air force officer, who had bought the wiring diagram of a Japanese merchant ship called the Kano Maru from a Colorado Springs Antique shop six years earlier, decided to get information on it. He asked on a military history web site where a Japanese amateur historian told him it was from the ship that sunk the Grunion! The Abele brothers, who found this out, contacted this historian, who produced an article written by the Kano Maru’s military commander, which pinpointed the ship’s location. "That finally gave us a place where to look," said Bruce Abele.

The brothers, who have sizeable financial assets, launched two expeditions which combed the seafloor near the supposed crash site, and in the summer of 2007 found the wreckage 10 miles north of Kiska Island. The Navy used imaging retrieved by an underwater ROV which the Abele brothers employed, and conclusively identified it as the Grunion, by using the USS Cod, an intact Gato-class submarine as reference.

Rear Adm. Douglas McAneney, of the Submarine Forces Pacific Fleet stated that "We hope this announcement will help to give closure to the families of the 70 crewmen," last week when confirming the Grunion’s identity.

The investigation is not over as the Abele brothers are now trying to determine how the Grunion was sunk, in spite of statements by the Kano Maru's commander. "The tape is being analyzed. A number of people are trying to figure out what happened," he said.