USS SENNET (SS-408) was a fleet submarine built in Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine and commissioned on 22 August 1944.  She made four war patrols in the Pacific sinking 18,276 tons.  On her fourth and last patrol, SENNET slipped through enemy minefields and penetrated the Sea of Japan earning the Navy Cross for her skipper and making all of her crew members of the "Mighty Mine Dodgers Society."   After the war, SENNET participated in Admiral Byrd's third Antarctic Expedition, operated extensively in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Caribbean, and made two circumnavigations of South America during UNITAS IV and VIII.   USS SENNET was decommissioned in Charleston, SC on 02 December 1968 and sold for scrap 15 June 1973. That's her military record, but there's much more to tell.

SENNET was 1870 tons of machinery, batteries, engines, fuel, and torpedoes crammed into a steel tube just 312 feet long.  She was complex, rugged, and functional.  She was never comfortable, convenient, or easy to operate.  But SENNET was home to over 1,500 sailors during her 24 years of service.

Most of SENNET's crew weren't much more than boys when they first crossed her brow.  She was their first home away from home.  SENNET became their mother, mistress, tutor, and taskmaster.  She was an exciting adventure to exotic ports, yet she required endless hours of dreary toil.  She taught independence and self-reliance, but she demanded teamwork and trust.  She nurtured warmth and close friendships, while she carried her crew far away from family and loved ones.  She offered safety from detection in the ocean's depths, but the pressure of the depths was a greater danger.  SENNET was crowded and cramped; hot in the summer and cold in the winter.  She was not much to love, and most of her crew swore that they would be glad when they crossed her brow for the last time.

Most secretly felt much differently when that day arrived.  Each of them left with memories of their time onboard when they were young and bold and adventurous.  They left with memories of friendships and camaraderie through good times and bad.  And they left with memories of their home away from home.