Allied Warships

Robalo (SS-273)

Submarine of the Gato class

USS Robalo off the Panama Canal in November 1943.

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Submarine
Class	Gato
Pennant	273
Built by	Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. (Manitowoc, Wisconsin, U.S.A.)
Ordered	9 Sep 1940
Laid down	24 Oct 1942
Launched	9 May 1943
Commissioned	28 Sep 1943
Lost	26 Jul 1944
Loss position	8° 25'N, 117° 53'E

History	USS Robalo (Lt.Cdr. Manning Marius Kimmel) was sunk by a mine off Palawan Island, Phillippines in position 08º25'N, 117º53'E. 4 men survived and reached shore only to be captured by Japanese military police. They were taken off the Island by a Japanese destroyer on 15 August and were never seen again.

Commands listed for USS Robalo (273)

Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

	Commander	From	To
1	T/Cdr. Stephen Henry Ambruster, USN	28 Sep 1943	8 Jan 1944
2	Charles Woodford Fell, USNR	8 Jan 1944	13 Jan 1944
3	T/Cdr. Stephen Henry Ambruster, USN	13 Jan 1944	29 Mar 1944
4	T/Lt.Cdr. Manning Marius Kimmel, USN	29 Mar 1944	26 Jul 1944 (+)

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Notable events involving Robalo include:

24 Apr 1944
While on her 2nd war patrol USS Robalo (Lt.Cdr. M.M. Kimmel) is damaged by an aerial bomb off French Indo-China in position 10°29'N, 109°26'E but is able to remain on patrol.

22 Jun 1944
USS Robalo (Lt.Cdr. M.M. Kimmel) departed from Fremantle for her 3rd war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the South China Sea.

22 Jun 1944
HMAS Adelaide (A/Capt. J.C.D. Esdaile, OBE, RAN), HMAS Horsham (T/A/Lt.Cdr. W.H. Newby, RANR(S)) and USS Isabel (Lt. E.G. Zacher, USNR) conducted exercises off Fremantle with the submarines USS Cod (T/Cdr. J.A. Adkins, USN), USS Hoe (T/Cdr. V.B. McCrea, USN) and USS Robalo (T/Lt.Cdr. M.M. Kimmel, USN). (1)

2 Jul 1944
USS Robalo (Lt.Cdr. M.M. Kimmel) reports sighting a Japanese Fuso-class battleship east of Borneo with air cover and two destroyers for escort. This was the last message sent by Robalo.