Heavily Weaponed
The Grayback was armed with ten 21-inch torpedo tubes, six of which were mounted at the bow and four of which were mounted at the stern. On the deck were also a 50-caliber machine gun, Bofors 40mm as well as Oerlikon 20mm cannons, and a 50-caliber machine gun. And she had a crew of 54 enlisted soldiers and six officers, according to the official roster. Despite the fact that, as we have previously discovered, she carried 80 men on board when she went missing in 1944.
Heavily Weaponed
Commissioned Month Before WWII
Mrs. Wilson Brown, the wife of Rear Admiral Wilson Brown, the United States Naval Academy’s Superintendent, was the sponsor of the launch of the Grayback, which took place on January 31, 1941. It was only five months later that America was dragged into World War II, when the submarine was commissioned into the United States Navy under the leadership of Lieutenant Willard A. Saunders. In other words, she was put into the thick of things pretty instantly.
Commissioned Month Before WWII
