Posted on 10/03/2008 10:40:19 AM PDT by nickcarraway
The sunken wreckage of a U.S. submarine lost with all hands during the Second World War has been located off an island in the Aleutian chain, the U.S. Navy said Friday.
The USS Grunion disappeared July 30, 1942 with 70 crew members after conducting operations against Japanese forces who had seized the Aleutian island of Kiska. Acting on a tip, sons of the submarine's commander, Lt.-Cmdr. Mannert Abele, mounted two expeditions to find the missing submarine and located it at a depth of 3,200 feet off Kiska.
"It's like we won the lottery 10 times in a row," Bruce Abele, eldest son of Grunion's commanding officer, was quoted as saying. "It is so dramatic to see the underwater photo and be certain it was in fact Grunion." Side scan sonar experts first detected a target on the first expedition in August 2006, and the following year obtained images of the wreckage using a high definition camera on a robot.
Rear Admiral Douglas McAneny, commander of the U.S. submarine fleet in the Pacific, said the navy was able to positively identify the wreckage as the Grunion using images provided by the Abeles.
"We hope this announcement will help to give closure to the families of the 70 crewmen of Grunion," he said in a statement.
Why the Grunion sunk is still not known.
It had reported heavy Japanese anti-submarine activity around Kiska and that it was down to 10 torpedos more than month into its first war patrol. The Grunion was ordered back to a resupply base at Dutch Harbor in the western Aleutians before it disappeared. Japanese records do not show a submarine was attacked in the Kiska area at the time the Grunion was lost, the U.S. Navy said.
(Excerpt) Read more at canada.com ...
From one Bubblehead to my brothers lost at sea—God Bless you guys, see you in Hogan’s Alley in the sky.
I was on the USS Gurnard (SSN-662) from 1975-1980.
I noted the sunken subs hatch was open in one of the photo’s. Someday we might figure out what actually happened. I wonder if they will raise it.
Paging Dirk Pitt!
The sons of the commanding officer of USS Grunion experienced some real emotions upon find their father’s watery grave. If it were me, I know I would be feeling quite a range of emotions.
There is a translation of a Japanese report of contact with the Grunion here which could explain that.
Sounds like those bum torpedoes we used early the war were responsible for her loss. The first torpedo crippled the Japanese ship, but two subsequent ones hit the target but didn’t explode. The Grunion came up to use her deck gun, but the Japanese ship got in a lucky shot that hit her conning tower.
Silent Service Ping
Lord God, our power evermore,
Whose arm doth reach the ocean floor,
Dive with our men beneath the sea;
Traverse the depths protectively.
Oh, hear us when we pray, and keep
Them safe from peril in the deep.
bmflr, can’t remember who owns the military history ping list
for the military history ping list
USS Grunion-One Last Ping!
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