USS Kete, a 1526-ton Balao class submarine built at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, was commissioned at the end of July 1944. She left the Great Lakes by way of the Mississippi River in late August, underwent training in the Panama area during the next several weeks and arrived at Pearl Harbor in mid-October to join the war against Japan. Kete began her first war patrol at the end of that month. This patrol, in the East China Sea, was interrupted by mechanical problems in mid-November, necessitating a trip to Saipan for repairs before it was resumed near the end of 1944. The submarine then spent a month in the vicinity of the Ryukyu Islands, reporting weather information and serving as a life guard for U.S. aviators. Kete's second war patrol, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Edward Ackerman, commenced in early March and took her back to the waters off Okinawa. She sank three small cargo ships during a 10 March attack on an enemy convoy and sent a weather report on the 20th, the date she was supposed to depart the patrol area. Kete was not heard from again and was finally reported as lost. She may have been the victim of a Japanese submarine's torpedos. Her entire crew of 87 officers and men was lost with her.