the convoy, both prompting her target to make a radical course change that spoiled her attack and endangering Grouper herself. Japanese aircraft intervened, resulting in a large dogfight over Groupers position. With the Japanese ships and aircraft on high alert, Grouper went deep and lost her opportunity to attack the convoy. Groupers next four patrols netted her no further kills, despite several determined attacks, but the patrols illustrated the varied tasks submarines took on during the war. In addition to her regular patrol duties, which harassed Japanese shipping and tied up valuable warships desperately needed by the enemy, Grouper landed 50 men and of gear on New Britain to carry on guerrilla warfare; at the same time, she rescued an American aviator who had been stranded there almost three months. On 30 July 1943, a United States Army Air Forces B-25 Mitchell bomber mistakenly attacked Grouper in the Coral Sea, east of Rossel Island at . She crash-dived to a depth of , but the B-25 dropped two depth charges which exploded as she passed a depth of , inflicting enough damage that she was forced to terminate her patrol and head for Brisbane. She reached Brisbane on 3 August 1943 and went alongside the submarine tender for repairs. At the conclusion of her eighth patrol, Grouper headed for the United States and overhaul, reaching San Francisco on 19 October 1943. 1944 After returning to Pearl Harbor on 7 January 1944 for additional repairs, the veteran submarine sailed for her ninth war patrol on 22 May. This patrol netted Grouper what was to be her last kill of the war, Kumanoyama Maru, which she sank in a night surface attack on 24 June. Grouper’s final three war patrols found a lack of targets; American submarines had done their job on Japanese shipping too well for Grouper’s purposes. She stood lifeguard duty during several air strikes and rescued seven downed aviators during raids on the Palaus in September 1944. 1945 – 1949 Returning to Pearl Harbor from her 12th and last war patrol on 26 April 1945, Grouper sailed the following day for San Francisco and overhaul. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 6 August, but V-J Day cancelled plans for another patrol, and on 9 September, Grouper, in company with and , sailed for New London. Four years of local operations and training exercises along the coast to Florida and