USS Dorado (SS-248)

The USS Dorado (SS-248) was a Gato-class submarine of the United States Navy. Her keel was laid down on 27 January 1943 by the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 23 May 1943, sponsored by Mrs. H.C. Bruton, and commissioned on 28 August 1943, with Lieutenant Commander E.S. Steinison in command.

Dorado conducted initial training operations in New London, Connecticut, followed by shakedown cruises to Key West, Florida, and Havana, Cuba. On 6 October 1943, she departed New London for her first war patrol, with orders to proceed to the Panama Canal Zone and then to patrol in the Caribbean Sea, specifically in the area between Panama and Colombia. Her patrol orders included specific areas known to be frequented by German U-boats, as part of anti-submarine warfare efforts.

The Dorado never reached her assigned patrol area. She reported her transit through the Panama Canal on 12 October 1943, but was never heard from again. It is believed that she was lost sometime between 14 October and 19 October 1943.

The exact cause of the Dorado's loss remains uncertain. Theories include accidental friendly fire by U.S. aircraft mistaking her for a German U-boat, a fatal encounter with a mine, or a previously undetected flaw in her construction leading to structural failure. A formal board of inquiry was convened, but it was unable to determine the precise circumstances of her sinking. All 77 officers and men aboard were lost.

The Dorado was officially declared overdue and presumed lost on 29 December 1943. She was struck from the Navy List on 6 January 1944. The Dorado received one battle star for her service during World War II, even though she did not have the opportunity to engage in combat. Her fate remains one of the unsolved mysteries of World War II submarine losses.