This one is the Lagarto.
Posted on 07/01/2005 10:36:43 PM PDT by nickcarraway
BANGKOK – A team of deep-sea divers has discovered the wreck of a U.S. submarine sunk by a Japanese minelayer 60 years ago in the Gulf of Thailand during the closing stages of World War Two.
The U.S.S. Lagarto, a 1,500 ton 'Balao class' submarine, disappeared without trace on May 4, 1945 after attacking a Japanese tanker and destroyer convoy around 100 miles off the southeast coast of Thailand.
All 86 men on board are still listed as missing in action.
'We've always known that since the end of the War there's been a submarine missing around there,' said British wreck diver Jamie MacLeod, who discovered the 110 m (310-foot) submarine sitting in 70m (225 ft) of water in May.
'We went into all the war-time records, cross-referenced them with fishermen's marks and then searched with the sonar and it came up trumps – we found a bump on the bottom, went down the line and there it was,' MacLeod said.
The Pentagon has not yet confirmed the identity of the wreck, which remains the property of the U.S. Navy under international maritime law, although MacLeod says there is little doubt in his mind. 'It's a Balao class sub for sure because I've seen it and touched it and it's the only one lost in Thailand,' he said.
The Gulf of Thailand is the final resting place for many U.S. and Japanese ships and planes destroyed in the struggle for maritime supremacy in South East Asia and the South China Sea in World War Two.
Thailand's west coast is strewn with Japanese and British warships sunk while patrolling the Indian Ocean shoreline from ports in Burma, or Myanmar as it is now called, and Sri Lanka. MacLeod, who said he had also just discovered a Lockheed P38 Lightning – a high-altitude fighter dubbed the 'Forktailed Devil' by the German Luftwaffe – said the Lagarto appeared to be relatively undamaged.
'It looks to me like it's intact and it's sitting upright on the bottom in very clear water, so you can get a good idea of what it looks like,' he said. 'Everything is still on it – all the armaments, the brass navigation lights. It's beautiful.'
Having contacted relatives of the crew through the U.S. Submarines of WWII Veterans Association, MacLeod said he would be taking two Lagarto grandchildren to the site of the wreck later this month.
'It's nice because now the families are talking about closure,' MacLeod said.
225 ft of water doesn't seem like that much for an entire crew to be lost in. Wouldn't it be possible for some of the crew to excape? Of course, if the mine was large enough the sudden catastrophic damage could have been insurmountable.
I'd like to hear some opinions of submariners.
Seriously, though...sign me up baby, I'm up for a wreck dive. And what an odd coincidence, I just started reading "Shadow Divers" last night--It's a book about to guys from Jersey whofind the wreck of a previously unknown U-Boat.
Any survivors might have been strafed and killed.
On second reading...225 feet is probably too deep for me. That's 95 feet beyond my certification limit, and 140 feet beyond my deepest dive logged thus far. Nitrogen narcosis is a bad, bad deal.
This one is the Lagarto.
How the heck did they know that it was sunk by a mine if they had never found it?
This might be of interest to some at the Foxhole.
Or sharks.
Confucius says: Man who walk naked sideways through airport door is going to Bangkok.
I was just on Oahu and saw the memorial for all the lost subs.
Here's a link to the missing sub and it's crew. God rest their souls.
http://www.csp.navy.mil/ww2boats/lagarto.htm
I would guess Japanese after action reports besides they say it was sunk by a Japanese minelayer (ship) not a Japanese mine...The minelayer might have deck guns and depth charges to do double duty and deal with sub's attacking it
Most sub losses in WWII (and before, and since, actually) were lost with all hands. Crews train to escape but they joke about the futility of the training. Think of Kursk, lost to a hot torpedo.
If something opens the sub to the sea and the compartments are not all sealed, sayonara. The good news, I guess, is not having survivor's guilt.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Back in ancient days (before the fire burnt the water filled escape tower in '68) all submariners made qualification escapes from a 100 ft tank of water that was the tallest structure in the New London area (which was the reason the fire trucks could not stop the HP air/ hydraulics fire). Two types of escape -- a free escape with only a lifejacket, and the lifejacket plus Stenke Hood (a transparent plastic bag over the head with an air bubble - so you breathed (out obviously) into a "normal" environment instead of venting directly into water)
Candidates would enter an escape trunk mockup at 50 ft depth, flood down, equalize pressure, open hatch and exit. Free divers would make a surface dive to your depth and escort you to the surface as your (partially) inflated lifejacket sent you upwards. You would make the trip with mouth open, and travel like a rocket because of the buoyancy. When reaching the surface you would rise to about the knee level and then sink back -- you were moving fast!!. Bends is not a problem because you did not have much time at pressure so you could make a fast surfacing, something that SCUBA divers should not try because they are quickly saturated at depth. Tank depth was limited because of ompression problems for escorting free divers placed time limits on their workday that shortened with depth.
The Stenke Hood was used from 75 ft, and was just boring. Same operations as before, but hood presence caused loss of fear associated with the free ascent. Dr Stenke had the record for free ascents at that time (750 ft) for the escape trials. Since then deep diving with free ascents has become an extreme sport and I think the record is around 1000 ft.
The WW2 escapes from 400 feet resulted in about 50% fatality rates from bends with additional deaths from exposure as the crews remained alone on the surface before rescue.
A modern escape from 750 feet is "exciting" in prospect. Five men in trunk, flood down then start pressurizing with 700 psi air. For survival the time from beginning pressurization until last man was out of the hatch had to be 15 seconds. Needless to say the pressurization would burst eardrums.
(The rest of the discussion is HERE.)
There were quite a lot of sub sailors who survived free ascents in WW2. The deeper, the worse the chances, but what the heck, 50% is better than 0%.
Damn......
Yeah, damn is right.
BTW, I saw a "sort of documentary" film about the deep divers, are are all certifiable. They shoot down a cable on a weigted sled, then free ascent back up. IN-SANE.
Great pics!
Great book, and an interesting set of parallels to this news story: similar depth, similar mode of discovery, sub sunk near enemy coastline, enduring mystery. I won't spoil anything for you, but suffice it to say that the book leaves little doubt that a free ascent from 200 feet is almost always deadly.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.