USS Lagarto (SS-371)
Posted on 08/12/2005 11:31:24 AM PDT by nickcarraway
In the ghostly blue lights of a video camera, sea snakes, squids and schools of blue and yellow fish swirl past five-inch battle guns of a World War II submarine 200 feet beneath the South China Sea.
"With all the fish and the coral covering the Lagarto, it's almost like someone put flowers on a grave," said Elizabeth Kenney-Augustine, whose grandfather, Bill Mabin of La Grange, Ill., was on the sub.
For decades, no human knew where to put flowers for the 86 men who disappeared with the U.S.S. Lagarto somewhere between Thailand and Australia shortly before World War II ended.
In May, a diving team, following the hints of fishermen telling tales of snagged nets, discovered the Lagarto in the Gulf of Thailand. Experts say this is the missing boat because it is believed to be the only American Balao class submarine sunk in the Gulf of Thailand during the war, and because Japanese records released after the war ended show Japanese sailors sank a sub in the area where the Lagarto disappeared.
"We believe the wreck to be the Lagarto," said Jamie Macleod, who, with the U.S. Navy's permission, dove down to look at the outside of the sub. Macleod and Stewart Oehl of the MV Trident dive boat in Thailand discovered the missing submarine.
Author Clive Cussler has spoken with the men about a documentary on the history of the Lagarto, as well as their discovery. U.S. Rep. Daniel Lipinski, D-Ill., has called on the U.S. Navy to confirm the sub's identity.
"We've been doing what we can to relate the importance of recognizing these brave crew members to the attention of the Navy," said Chris Ganschow, Lipinski's spokesman.
After talking with the family, Macleod took Kenney-Augustine and her brother, John Kenney Jr., off the shores of Thailand last week to read letters and poems from family members in the first burial ceremony the missing men have had.
On July 31, a diver tucked a dozen white roses into the conning tower, or attack center, of the U.S.S. Lagarto. Minutes later, the flowers had disappeared.
"We thought that was nice," said Kenney-Augustine, of Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. "Like they accepted our offering."
For 60 years, Mabin's daughter, Nancy Kenney of Lake Leelanau, Mich., wondered if her father had somehow come out of the war alive. She waited for him to be released from a prisoner-of-war camp. Or to appear on a remote island. Or to pop through the front door after a top-secret mission.
She knows the families of the other 85 men on board the submarine must have wondered the same things.
"From the letters between my mother and the other wives, I can see there was great confusion," Kenney said. "They were hoping their husbands were in prison camp. Imagine that - seeing that as the best-case scenario."
Kenney was 2 when her father was lost. She said her mother, Margaret Chambers, of Glen Arbor, Mich., was pleased to hear her husband had been found.
"He was the love of her life," Kenney said. "She's been shaken by this."
The U.S.S. Lagarto was one of 28 submarines built in Manitowac, Wis., and the Wisconsin Maritime Museum has adopted the submarine and created a memorial to it. According to the museum's history of the sub, it was tested in Lake Michigan.
It left Subic Bay in the Philippines on April 12, 1945 for the Siam Gulf, now the Gulf of Thailand, for its second trip.
U.S.S. Baya officers reported at the time that they were to rendezvous with the Lagarto to discuss plans to attack a Japanese convoy on May 3, 1945. At 1 a.m. May 4, 1945, the Japanese convoy drove off the Baya, but nothing was ever heard again from the Lagarto. It was supposed to dock in Australia at the end of May, but it never arrived.
In June 1945, Mabin's family received a letter saying he was missing in action. A year later, another letter arrived describing him as "presumed dead."
"This will give you a real glimpse into World War II," Kenney said. "This is what I grew up with. That's the last correspondence any of the families had with the Navy."
After the war ended, the Japanese released records showing the minelayer Hatsutaka sunk a sub at the same time and same place the Lagarto was believed to be during the war, but there was no confirmation.
Kenney's children grew up with Mabin's ghost. Every year on Memorial Day, John Kenney has searched the Internet for some sign of his grandfather.
"This year, I did a Google search, and someone had posted that it had been found," John Kenney said. "Two divers had found it. It's considered one of the Holy Grails of Asian diving because it's one of the only U.S. subs lost anywhere near the Gulf of Thailand."
Kenney said he immediately called her mother and asked if she were sitting down. After he told her, she began to cry.
"I went through so many emotions," Nancy Kenney said. "It's an odd feeling to grieve for someone 60 years after they're gone."
She began to contact the families of the missing men.
Kelan Spalding's brother R.B. Spalding of Springfield, Mo., was also on the Lagarto.
"My wife heard about it on the news and said, `Do you suppose that could be Bobby's sub?'" Spalding said. "But I thought it would be in deeper water."
Then he got the call from Nancy Kenney.
"I was 9 years old when it went down," he said. "I'm relieved to know exactly why and how and where. I hope they allow the divers to film it."
But he doesn't want anyone to go inside the sub.
And no one will. According to the U.S. Navy, all sunken U.S. ships are considered gravesites and are off-limits.
"Even if they wanted to, the divers couldn't get inside because their tanks are too big," Kenney-Augustine explained.
But Macleod said the divers don't want to go inside the submarine.
"We have no plans to explore the wreck," Macleod said. "We hope to be able to conduct non-intrusive filming only."
For the families, seeing the outside of the submarine has provided closure.
"I thought there would be a moment when they scraped the coral off and found letters: U.S.S. Lagarto," Kenney-Augustine said. "But it wasn't like that. We just sat above as they dove beneath, and I thought, `How wonderful.' It was similar to going to a cemetery and visiting a loved one who has passed and standing over his grave."
The brother and sister team did not participate in the dive because they would need special training for deep diving. Macleod and his crewmates had air mixes that included helium, and they had to take time coming up for decompression or they would suffer from the bends, or decompression sickness.
John Kenney said the submarine is sitting upright as if it sank straight down. There are no numbers or names on the side, and research shows the only place divers could find the name of the ship is inside the captain's quarters. Instead, they used the five-inch guns - an upgrade from previous subs and a good marker for the Belao class - and the slant of the bow to determine its make.
The teak deck and outer superstructure have deteriorated and been torn away, leaving the pressure hull, the conning tower, and a perfectly preserved light.
Diver Steve Burton drew a sketch showing ruptures to the port-bow area of the pressure hull, which is probably where the Hatsutaka struck.
On the port side, the middle torpedo bow tube remains open. The torpedo is missing.
"It looks like they went down fighting," John Kenney said.
Nancy Kenney hopes to find more Lagarto families so she can relate the news. She said she finally feels as if her father has been laid to rest.
"I can't tell you how wonderful the divers have been - so sensitive to the families," Nancy Kenney said. "They even attached an American flag at the top of the tower. I thought, `God bless them for that.'"
Still on patrol. Thoughts and prayers for them and their families.
USS Lagarto (SS-371)
Damn wet monitor.
Just one of many sub crews still on patrol
I'll second that.
Keel laid down by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, Manitowoc, WI 12 January 1944;
Launched 28 May 1944; Sponsored by Mrs. Paul H. Douglas; Commissioned 14 October 1944; Cdr. Frank D. Latta in command.
LAGARTO contacted USS BAYA (SS-318), already patrolling in Siam Gulf on 2 May 1945, and exchanged calls with her by SJ radar. Later that day BAYA sent LAGARTO a contact report on a convoy she had contacted consisting of one tanker, one auxiliary and two destroyers. LAGARTO soon reported being in contact with the convoy, and began coming in for an attack with BAYA. However, the enemy escorts were equipped with 10 cm radar, and detected BAYA and drove her off with gunfire, whereupon the two submarines decided to wait and plan a subsequent attack.
Early on the morning of 3 May 1945, LARGARTO and BAYA made a rendezvous at about 7!-55'N;102!-18'E and discussed plans. LAGARTO was to dive on the convoy's tack to make a contact at 1400, while BAYA was to be ten to fifteen miles further along the trank. During the day, numerous contact reports were exchanged. At 0010 on 4 May after a prolonged but unsuccessful attack, BAYA was finally driven off by the alert escorts, and no further contact of any kind was ever made with LAGARTO.
Japanese information available now records an attack on a U.S. submarine made by the minelayer HATSUTAKA, believed to be one of the two radar-equipped escorts of the convoy attacked. The attack was made at 7!-55'N;102!E in about 30 fathoms of water, and in view of the information presented above, the attack here described must be presumed to be the one which sank LARGARTO.
This vessel's first patrol was in the Nansei Shoto chain as part of an antipicket boat sweep made by submarines to aid Admiral Halsey's Task Force 38 in getting carrier planes to Japan undetected. She sank the Japanese submarine I-371 on 24 February 1945, and participated in several surface gun attacks with USS HADDOCK II (SS-231) and USS SENNET (SS-408). Two small vessels were sunk and two more damaged in these attacks, and LARGARTO shared credit for the results with these submarines. Cdr. Latta had previously made seven patrols as Commanding Officer of USS NARWHAL II (SS-167). Every patol made by this officer was designated successful for the award of combat insignia, a record surpassed by no commanding officer in the Submarine Force.
FORASMUCH as it hath pleased Almighty God, in his wise providence, to take out of this world the soul of our deceased brothers, we therefore commit their boies.. looking for the general Resurrection in the last day, and the life of the world to come, through our Lord Jesus Christ; at whose second coming in glorious majesty to judge the world, the earth and the sea shall give up their dead; and the corruptible bodies of those who sleep in him shall be changed, and made like unto his own glorious body; according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself.
I'd stand this Macleod character many beers simply to find out his story. From this article, it looks like he and his team rock.
Thanks for posting this article. My Dad was in the Navy in WWII. He served on an LSM (landing ship medium)in the Pacific. He passed away in 1996 and was always so proud of his service to his country. He always said that his country didn't owe him anything...that he owed his country everything! Miss and love you Dad!! He gave me my love for the USA and our great military.
I am glad that these families finally have some closure after all those years. The greatest generation is leaving us. It's so sad!!
What a touching story, and beautiful in a very sad way. May God bless them.
PING for the discovery of SS 371, USS Lagarto
Honaker, W. F. EM3
I am 74 and I have said more than one time that people my age have enjoyed the best this country had to offer. I guess its all relative, you go with what you have available.
I remember visiting my Dad in the hospital in his last months and a baseball game came on TV, when they played the National Anthem, as bad as my Dad felt, he got out of bed and just stood there until it was done. Of course I stood up with him. Its funny, it almost appeared like he was getting up for another reason but when I got up, he smiled.
Thanks
I am 74 and I have said more than one time that people my age have enjoyed the best this country had to offer. Its all relative, you go with what you have available.
I remember visiting my Dad in the hospital in his last months and a baseball game came on TV, when they played the National Anthem, as bad as my Dad felt, he got out of bed and just stood there until it was done. Of course I stood up with him. Its funny, it almost appeared like he was getting up for another reason but when I got up, he smiled.
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