Posted on 07/21/2005 10:55:20 AM PDT by robowombat
Wrangle Over Submerged US Ship
15 July, 2005 Wrangle over US wreck By Martin Young
HUA HIN, Thailand - Since the discovery in May of the World War II wreck of the USS Lagarto, a 1,500 ton Balao class submarine, in the Gulf of Thailand, a new skirmish on and under the seas is surfacing.
On one side are the divers who discovered the wreck and who are eager to explore and film it. On the other side is the might of the US military, which insists that the wreck should be left untouched out of respect for the 86 crewmen who went down with her.
For 60 years the Lagarto rested untouched on the seabed in 70 meters of water about 150 kilometers off the southeast coast of Thailand. Local dive operators on the tiny resort island of Koh Tao knew of the submarine's fate, but couldn't pinpoint her location until recently.
"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-meter submarine. "We went into all the war-time records, cross-referenced them with fishermen's marks and then searched with sonar and it came up trumps - we found a bump on the bottom, went down the line and there it was."
MacLeod said, "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. Everything is still on it - all the armaments, the brass navigation lights. It's beautiful."
The waters around Thailand are the final resting place for many warships that battled for domination of the oceans during World War II. Several well-known wrecks further north in the gulf are popular with recreational and technical divers.
At the time of discovery of the Lagarto, US officials unequivocally denied permission to local dive shop owners to dive the wreck, fearing that it would turn into a tourist attraction. A US Embassy spokesperson said the divers would never get permission to study the submarine because it belonged to the US Navy under international maritime law and was the final resting place for the people who went down with it.
Jeff Davis, spokesman for the US Pacific Fleet Submarine Force in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, said the vessel discovered in May "is in the area where we suspected the Lagarto was". The Lagarto was one of 52 submarines that sank in the Pacific during World War II, he said. There are no plans to raise the vessel.
The term war grave was used to discourage further diving to the site. MacLeod has been sympathetic, recently saying, "It's nice because now the families are talking about closure," but he has maintained his position to seek official permission to dive the sub and has even gone to lengths to bring some of the Lagarto grandchildren to the site after contacting relatives of the crew through the US Submarines of WWII Veterans Association.
Lucy Foster, 79, a woman whose brother, Wardour Britain, died in May 1945 aboard the USS Lagarto, said, "Now we know that he isn't just missing, we know where he is." She is one of many relatives who can now get some closure for loved ones that have remained lost beneath the waves for six decades.
At the time of writing, divers are currently trying to obtain Pentagon permission to visit the wreck to conduct research and documentation.
Fateful encounter USS Lagarto was one of many submarines produced during World War II by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The submarine was launched on May 28, 1944, in Lake Michigan. After test trials and training in Lake Michigan, Lagarto entered a floating dry-dock and was floated down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, where it departed for the Pacific.
Following a number of successful missions in Japanese waters the Lagarto (SS-371), under the command of Frank D Latta, departed Subic Bay in the Philippines for the South China Sea on April 12, 1945. She was directed to patrol in the Gulf of Siam, where sister-ship Baya (SS-318) joined her on May 2. That afternoon, Baya signaled that she was tracking a tanker traveling under heavy escort. The same night Baya tried to attack, but was driven off by enemy escorts equipped with radar.
The two submarines rendezvoused early next morning to discuss attack plans. The following night Baya made a midnight attack, but was again driven off by the unusually alert Japanese escorts. Early next morning, May 4, when Baya tried to contact her teammate, Lagarto made no reply. Since Japanese records state that during the night of May 3-4, mine-layer Hatsutaka attacked an American submarine in that location, it is presumed that Lagarto perished in battle with all hands. Its 86 crew members are still listed as missing in action.
Martin Young has been diving in Southeast Asia for many years. For more information about wreck diving in Thailand and Southeast Asia, please visit www.asiadivesite.com. © Copyright 1999 - 2005 Asia Times, Thailand
PING
It is hard to imagine any Japanese ship. let alone a tanker with heavy escorts, this far away from Japan at this late time in the war...I guess the Pacific was really still wide open in certain areas.
Domo Arigato SS Lagarto.
Small wonder we were unbeatable...
Some details of the Lagarto's last patrol:
USS LAGARTO (SS 371)
May 3, 1945 - 86 Men Lost
LAGARTO, under CDR F.D. Latta, departed Subic Bay, Philippine Islands, on April 12, 1945, for her second patrol in the South China Sea. On April 27, she was directed to the outer part of Siam Gulf.
LAGARTO contacted BAYA, already patrolling in Siam Gulf on May 2, 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 10cm 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 May 3, 1945, LAGARTO and BAYA made a rendezvous and discussed plans. LAGARTO was to dive on the convoy's track to make a contact at 1400, while BAYA was to be ten to fifteen miles further along the track. During the day, numerous contact reports were exchanged. At 0010 on May 4, after a prolonged but unsuccessful attack, BAYA was finally driven off by the alert escorts, and no further contact 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 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 LAGARTO.
This vessel's first patrol was in the Nansei Shoto chain as part of an anti-picket-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 RO-49 on February 24, 1945, and participated in several surface gun attacks with HADDOCK and SENNET. Two small vessels were sunk and two more damaged in those attacks, and LAGARTO shared credit for the results with these submarines. Commander Latta had previously made seven patrols as Commanding Officer of NARWHAL. Every patrol made by this officer was designated successful for the award of combat insignia, a record surpassed by no commanding officer in the Submarine Force.
Japan needed fuel, and (IIRC) still had possession of oil fields in the East Indies.
Thanks!
I appreciate your posting this.
I believe that this is a grave for those 86 sailors and should be respected as such.
I'm not so sure I agree. There wasn't much comment about the Hunley being a grave, nor many of the viking ships, titanic etc. in the past.
I'm kind of on the fence on this one. Sure, it would be good to preserve as a memorial, but recovering history from sunken vessels can also prove valuable.
They do rec dives on U Boats off New Jersey and Cape
Hatteras and they for sure are war graves.
Some have brought up bones of dead German sailors on
these dives. Same thing happens at Truk Lagoon with
Japanese war graves.
You make a valid point, especially re: CSS Hunley.
At 70 meters the wreck is way too deep for sport divers, so the tourism angle is a bit overblown. Technical divers, OTOH, might attempt to enter the wreck and get some souveniers.
This is why the US government stands behind the German embassy when they issue their annual 'warning letter' to US dive shops about disturbing war graves (U-boats).
Good way to go to prison. Not worth it, plus it is ghoulish.
LOL! That popped into my head when I first saw it too.
It must be the recycled aluminum they're using in tinfoil hats nowadays.
It has a tendency to induce harmonics in the beta brainwave band when there are thunderstorms in the area.
German subs typically carried a large amount of gold in the captains safe. The reason being: not a whole lot of takers of Reichmarks for food/fuel etc. A sure way to motivate divers.
Absolutely. There is a Sub museum in Manitowoc.
I'm not exactly a maritime law expert, but I always thought that if you found a wreck, you get the rights to it.
I also understand that governments have been recently trying to use all sorts of legal maneuvering to steal the ships from their discoverers, especially over pre-20th Century ships that carried precious cargo.
Yeah, but we won, so we get to set the rules!
Seriously, unless it is guarded, it will eventually be a dive target.
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