Allied Warships

Lapon (SS-260)

Submarine of the Gato class

Lapon as seen in 1945.
USN Photograph.

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Submarine
Class	Gato
Pennant	260
Built by	Electric Boat Co. (Groton, Connecticut, U.S.A.)
Ordered	9 Sep 1940
Laid down	21 Feb 1942
Launched	27 Oct 1942
Commissioned	23 Jan 1943
End service	10 Aug 1957
History	Decommissioned, 25 July 1946. Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Recommissioned 13 April 1957. Decommissioned 10 August 1957 and transferred to Greece being renamed Poseidon (S-78). Stricken by the U.S.N. 31 December 1975. Poseidon was used for spare parts until disposed of by the Greek Navy in 1972.

Commands listed for USS Lapon (260)

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	Lt.Cdr. Oliver Grafton Kirk, USN	23 Jan 1943	19 Aug 1943
2	Lt.Cdr. Lowell Thornton Stone, USN	19 Aug 1943	22 Aug 1944
3	T/Lt.Cdr. Donald George Baer, USN	22 Aug 1944	23 Jul 1945

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Notable events involving Lapon include:

10 Mar 1943
USS Lapon (Cdr. O.G. Kirk, USN) departed New London, Connecticut and arrived at Newport, Rhode Island to participate in torpedo firing tests.

31 Mar 1943
Having completed torpedo firing tests, USS Lapon (Cdr. O.G. Kirk, USN) returned to New London, Connecticut from Newport, Rhode Island.

5 May 1943
USS Lapon (Cdr. O.G. Kirk, USN) departed from New London, Connecticut for the Panama Canal Zone.

17 May 1943
USS Lapon (Cdr. O.G. Kirk, USN) transited the Panama Canal.

1 Jun 1943
USS Lapon (Cdr. O.G. Kirk) arrived at Pearl Harbor.

24 Jun 1943
USS Lapon (Cdr. O.G. Kirk) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 1st war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the Sea of Okhotsk and in the Sea of Japan off the east coast of Hokkaido and Honshu.

3 Aug 1943
USS Lapon (Cdr. O.G. Kirk) ended her 1st war patrol at Pearl Harbor.

26 Sep 1943
USS Lapon (Cdr. L.T. Stone) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 2nd war patrol. She was ordered to patrol off the south coast of Honshu, Japan.

18 Oct 1943
USS Lapon (Cdr. L.T. Stone) torpedoed and sank the Japanese merchant cargo ship Taichu Maru (1906 GRT) and scores two dud torpedo hits on the Japanese auxiliary minesweeper Keijin Maru No.2 (433 GRT) in position 33°59'N, 136°24'E.

4 Nov 1943
USS Lapon (Cdr. L.T. Stone) ended her 2nd war patrol at Pearl Harbor. She departed from Pearl Harbor three days later bound for the Mare Island Navy Yard to solve the problems with her engines and general overhaul.

22 Jan 1944
USS Lapon (Cdr. L.T. Stone) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 3rd war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the South China Sea.

9 Mar 1944
USS Lapon (Cdr. L.T. Stone) torpedoed and sank the Japanese merchant cargo ships Toyokuni Maru (5792 GRT) and Nicherei Maru (5396 GRT) in the South China Sea in position 19°21'N, 116°09'E.

15 Mar 1944
USS Lapon (Cdr. L.T. Stone) sank a Japanese sampan with gunfire in the South China Sea north-east of Luzon, Philippines in position 19°57'N, 119°46'E.

18 Mar 1944
USS Lapon (Cdr. L.T. Stone) torpedoed and sank the Japanese troop transport Hokoroku Maru (8359 GRT) in the South China Sea about 250 nautical miles south-west of Hong Kong in position 19°24'N, 116°50'E.

1 Apr 1944
USS Lapon (Cdr. L.T. Stone) ended her 3rd war patrol at Fremantle, Australia.

20 Apr 1944
HMAS Adelaide (A/Capt. J.C.D. Esdaile, OBE, RAN) conducted exercises off Fremantle. She acted as target for the submarines USS Lapon (T/Cdr. L.T. Stone, USN) and USS Ray (T/Cdr. B.J. Harral, USN).

HMAS Adelaide also conducted gunnery and a range and inclination exercise. (1)

25 Apr 1944
USS Lapon (Cdr. L.T. Stone) departed from Fremantle for her 4th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the South China Sea.

24 May 1944
While operating in the South China Sea USS Lapon (Cdr. L.T. Stone) torpedoed and sank the Japanese army cargo ships Wales Maru (6586 GRT) in position 07°16'N, 109°04'E and Bizen Maru (4667 GRT) in position 07°20'N, 109°20'E.

6 Jun 1944
USS Lapon (Cdr. L.T. Stone) ended her 4th war patrol at Fremantle.

29 Jun 1944
USS Lapon (Cdr. L.T. Stone) departed from Fremantle for her 5th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the South China Sea.

29 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 Lapon (T/Cdr. L.T. Stone, USN), USS Cabrilla (T/Cdr. W.C. Thompson, Jr., USN) and USS Sand Lance (T/Cdr. M.E. Garrison, USN).

18 Jul 1944
USS Lapon (Cdr. L.T. Stone) torpedoed and sank the Japanese survey ship Kyodo Maru No.36 (1499 GRT) and the Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Kamo Maru (234 GRT) north-west of Labuan, Borneo in position 08°22'N, 116°45'E and torpedoed and sank the Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Kurama Maru (233 GRT) off the southern end of Palawan in position 08°22'N, 116°40'E.

31 Jul 1944
USS Lapon (Cdr. L.T. Stone) torpedoed and sank the Japanese merchant tanker Tenshin Maru (5061 GRT) off the southwest tip of Palawan in position 08°50'N, 116°00'E.

10 Aug 1944
USS Lapon (Cdr. L.T. Stone) ended her 5th war patrol at Fremantle.

4 Sep 1944
USS Lapon (Lt.Cdr. D.G. Bear) departed from Fremantle for her 6th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the South China Sea.

22 Sep 1944
USS Lapon (Lt.Cdr. D.G. Bear) torpedoed and sank the Japanese army cargo ship Jungen Go (1610 GRT) in the South China Sea, west of Luzon in position 15°22'N, 119°17'E.

27 Sep 1944
USS Lapon (Lt.Cdr. D.G. Bear) torpedoed and sank the Japanese tanker Hokki Maru (5599 GRT, offsite link) in South China Sea, west of Luzon in position 15°50'N, 117°41'E.

10 Oct 1944
USS Lapon (Lt.Cdr. D.G. Bear) torpedoed and sank the Japanese troop transport Ejiri Maru (6968 GRT) in the South China Sea west of Luzon in position 16°10'N, 119°44'E.

31 Oct 1944
USS Lapon (Lt.Cdr. D.G. Bear) ended her 6th war patrol at Fremantle.

23 Nov 1944
USS Lapon (Lt.Cdr. D.G. Bear) departed from Fremantle for her 7th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the Philippines.

21 Jan 1945
USS Lapon (Lt.Cdr. D.G. Bear) ended her 7th war patrol at Pearl Harbor.

25 Jan 1945
USS Lapon (Lt.Cdr. D.G. Bear) departed from Pearl Harbor bound for the Mare Island Navy Yard for a major overhaul.

31 Jan 1945
USS Lapon (Lt.Cdr. D.G. Bear) arrived at the Mare Island Navy Yard.

22 Apr 1945
With her overhaul completed USS Lapon (Lt.Cdr. D.G. Bear) arrived at Pearl Harbor.

13 May 1945
During 13/14 May 1945, the following submarines conducted tactical exercises off Pearl Harbour; USS Dace (T/Cdr. O.R. Cole, Jr., USN), USS Lapon (T/Lt.Cdr. D.G. Baer, USN), USS Redfin (T/Lt.Cdr. C.K. Miller, USN), USS Devilfish (T/Lt.Cdr. S.S. Mann, Jr., USN), USS Manta (T/Lt.Cdr. E.P. Madley, USN) and USS Thornback (T/Cdr. E.P. Abrahamson, USN).

They were attacking a dummy convoy of 13 (other source says 16) transports which were escorted by the destroyer USS Chew (Lt.Cdr. J.J. Mannion, USNR), destroyer minelayer USS Pruitt (Lt. D.B. Harby, USNR), destroyer escorts USS Whitman (Lt. E.A. Sandor, USNR), USS Coolbaugh (Lt.Cdr. S.T. Hotchkiss, USNR), USS Darby (Lt.Cdr. M.W. Martin, USNR) and USS PC-782 (Lt.(jg) R.L. Essick, USNR).

4 Jun 1945
USS Lapon (Lt.Cdr. D.G. Bear) arrived at Guam.

6 Jun 1945
USS Lapon (Lt.Cdr. D.G. Bear) departed from Guam for her 8th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in Japanese home waters.

27 Jun 1945
Around 1500K/27, USS Cero (T/Lt.Cdr. R. Berthrong, USN), USS Angler (Lt.Cdr. H. Bissell, Jr., USNR), USS Lapon (T/Lt.Cdr. D.G. Baer, USN), USS Moray (T/Cdr. F.L. Barrows, USN), USS Carp (Lt.Cdr. J.L. Hunnicutt, USNR) and USS Sea Poacher (T/Lt.Cdr. C.F. Leigh, USN) all departed Saipan for patrol. They were escorted until 2020K/27 by USS Presley (Lt.Cdr. R.S. Paret, USNR).

All boats proceeded independently to their assigned lifeguard stations in the early afternoon of 1 July 1945.

23 Jul 1945
USS Lapon (Lt.Cdr. D.G. Bear) ended her 8th war patrol at Midway.