Lost at Sea
Shark was lost during her third war patrol, probably in the vicinity of Luzon Strait, while participating in a coordinated attack group with submarines Seadragon (SS-194) and Blackfish (SS-221). On 24 October, Seadragon received a message from Shark stating that she had made radar contact with a single freighter, and that she was going to attack. This was the last message received from the submarine, and all subsequent attempts to contact Shark failed. She was reported as presumed lost on 27 November. According to Japanese records examined after the war, on 24 October 1944, in Luzon Strait, destroyer Harukaze made contact with a submerged submarine and dropped depth charges. After losing and regaining the contact, the destroyer dropped another 17 depth charges which resulted in “bubbles, heavy oil, clothes and cork†coming to the surface.
