Seventy American sailors were aboard the U.S.S. Grunion when she left Hawaii June 30, 1942. They all died when the Grunion sunk. But no one knew how she was sunk or where she sank until recently.

The answers to this 66 year old mystery come courtesy of the commander's three sons. Their exhausting search for answers has finally paid off.

In the summer of 1942 the U.S.S. Grunion was in Pearl Harbor preparing for war. Her first patrol was in the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska.

On July 30, 1942 the Grunion reported intense anti-submarine activity and was never heard from or seen again.

"In this case we knew that she was in her patrolled area up to the time of her loss, but after that, was nothing," said Charles Hinman, Director of Education & Outreach at the U.S.S. Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park.

John, Brad, and Bruce Abele would not settle for "nothing." Their father, Lt. Cmdr Jim Abele, was the Grunion's commanding officer. The Abele boys were just children when their father died, but when they grew up, they set out on a mission. To find the wreckage of the U.S.S. Grunion.

"The Abeles were fortunate to be able to find someone who had done research on the Japanese side os what had happened, and they communicated together and eventually put together what they believe was the story of her loss," Hinman told KGMB9.

After consulting with their new contact from Japan, the Abele brothers concluded the Grunion was sunk during a confrontation with a Japanese freighter called the Kano Maru.

They assembled a search team, boarded a ship, and using side scan sonar found the wreckage in August of 2007. It is North of Kiska Island in more than 1,000 feet of water.

The Navy studied photographs and video of the wreckage, and in early September of 2008 confirmed it is indeed the U.S.S. Grunion.

Hinman has a web site called on www.OnEternalPatrol.com. The site features the names and often photographs of every submariner lost at sea including the men of the Grunion.

"They often talk about closure. I'm not sure that is exactly the right word every time for each family, but they now have something they can hold onto and so that, yes, we know where he was lost," Hinman said while explaining why the find is important.

The mystery of the whereabouts of the Grunion has been solved, but Hinman told KGMB9 there are still more than 40 subs sunk during World War II that have not been found.

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