WW2 Fallen - Submariner Joseph Stubbins, S-26 - first US sub sunk in WW2

Ensign Joseph Stubbins was lost at sea with the crew of USS S-26.
http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/stubbins-j-b.htm
http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/uss-s-26-131-loss.htm 

Joseph Briggs Stubbins never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

He was born on December 13, 1917 in Alabama. His mother Lucile was also born in Alabama while his father Hugh was born in Kentucky. His father worked as a traveling shoe salesman. Joseph had two older brothers and a younger brother. By 1940 Joseph had completed three years of college and would graduate from Georgia Teach before joining the Navy, most likely sometime in 1941.

Joseph became an ensign serving on the submarine USS S-26. WW1 era S-class submarines were generally not named for sea life like the majority of American subs in WW2. Three days after the war started S-26 was dispatched from New London, Connecticut to patrol on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal.

At 2210 hours on January 24, 1942 the sub chaser USS Sturdy was escorting four surfaced submarines including S-26 steaming out of Balboa. It flashed a message it was leaving the subs that was not picked up by the S-26. Eleven minutes later, in the darkness, Sturdy rammed S-26 near the aft torpedo room. Within one minute the submarine sank in 300 feet of water. The three men on the bridge, including the captain, survived. Ensign Stubbins and 45 other seamen were trapped in the sub. Rescue efforts the next day were unsuccessful and divers noticed no signs of life. It was the first American submarine sunk in the war. (The USS Sealion, scuttled on December 25, 1941 after being damaged by Japanese air attack on December 10, 1941, was the first ship lost, but not the first one to sink.)

His remains were never recovered but he is remembered at the East Coast Memorial in Manhattan, NY. The S-26, upright and intact 300 feet below the sea, remains a protected war grave.

Thank you Joseph for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Joseph.

Thanks to Darillyn Lamb Starr for recommending that Joseph be profiled.

On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!

I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
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