SAEDNEWS: Restoration workers examining the USS Silversides in Wisconsin discovered a flood valve marked for its lost sister ship, USS Trigger. The Trigger sank in the East China Sea on March 28, 1945, with 89 men aboard.
According to SaedNews: A restoration project involving the World War II submarine USS Silversides has uncovered an unexpected connection to the USS Trigger, a sister submarine that disappeared beneath the East China Sea in 1945.
The Silversides is currently being restored in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, through a $3.5 million preservation effort. The project includes repairing its steel hull, removing invasive zebra mussels, applying protective coatings and repainting the vessel. During World War II, the 312-foot submarine operated in the Pacific and sank at least 23 enemy vessels. Since 1987, it has served as a floating museum in Muskegon, Michigan.
During restoration work, specialists from Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding discovered a metal component stamped “TRIGGER L-792-228, F [R or B] -47-STBD.” The object was a flood valve, a hinged cover fitted to a submarine’s ballast tank that allowed seawater to enter or leave.
The marking indicates that the valve was intended for the USS Trigger. Why it ultimately became part of the Silversides remains unknown. There is another unusual detail: workers found it on the submarine’s port side even though its marking identifies it as a starboard component.
Museum officials intend to remove and preserve the valve. Vessel curator Scott Hardin called it the “Coolest find yet,” adding that it could be the only surviving part of the Trigger submarine.
The Trigger was commissioned on January 30, 1942, less than two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Hardin described it as the Silversides’ sister ship. The submarine was named for triggerfish, whose dorsal spines have a locking mechanism that can be raised and lowered like a trigger.
The Trigger was lost during its 12th war patrol on March 28, 1945. It is believed to have fallen victim to a roughly two-hour Japanese attack involving both aircraft and surface vessels in the East China Sea. The nearby Silversides was among four American submarines that heard the attack. The Trigger went down with 89 crew members aboard.
Before its loss, the submarine had sunk 27 enemy ships and damaged 13 others. The Naval History and Heritage Command describes its wartime record as “long and illustrious.” The Trigger earned 11 battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation for its service.
Its achievements were also remembered in a poem written by Constantine Guinness, a motor machinist’s mate first class. The poem opened with the words: “I’m the galloping ghost of the Japanese coast / You don’t hear of me and my crew.”
