USS WAHOO found.

[Sailor]

Russian Divers Find Sunken Legendary WWII U.S. Sub

Russian divers have spotted the wreckage of a legendary U.S. submarine that was lost in the Pacific in 1943, The Associated Press quotes Russian media reports Thursday.

The ITAR-Tass news agency said that a diving team from the Far Eastern State Technological University in Vladivostok found the USS Wahoo in the La Perouse Strait and took pictures of it during a recent expedition.

Under the command of Dudley “Mush” Morton, the Wahoo became one of the most famous U.S. submarines of the Second World War. With 19 Japanese ships sunk, Morton was ranked as one of the war’s top three sub skippers.

The Wahoo in turn was sunk by the Japanese navy as it returned from its seventh patrol on Oct. 11, 1943. All 79 crewmen died.

www.mosnews.com/news/2006/08/18/legendarysub.shtml

That's two lost subs located within the last year. USS LAGARTO was located in the Gulf of Siam a few months back. At least a few more families will now know where their lost fathers and brothers rest.

Rest in Peace shipmates, and Thank You.

[tankcommander]

That's pretty cool Sailor. I followed the plans for the search on the NUMA website for a couple of years, but then they quit updating it, and I haven't been back, glad to hear they found her.

Did they find any evidence of what killed her? It's been awhile, but I read the Japanese account of the hunt for her. There is some speculation she tried to run the strait on the surface, and was hit by shellfire. Numerous air attacks were then made on her, and she seems to have been trailing oil pretty much from the start. The NUMA site has the Japanese account, and a couple of aerial photos. You can see the ASW ships closing in on her, like a pack of hounds.

www.mackinnon.org/wahoo-home-frame.html

[Sailor]

Sorry TC, I didn't even know Cussler and NUMA had been looking for her. There was no mention in the article of what had killed her.

As strange as it sounds, I don't think now that the hull in the photo is WAHOO. I've been looking at wartime photos of the boat on the NAVSOURCE website www.navsource.org/archives/08/08238b.htm and I don't know how I missed this before, I must really be getting old.

Where is the conning tower platform, either at the fore part of the conning tower or aft? Look at the broadside silhouettes on the NAVSOURCE site and then compare to the photo in the news article.

Where is the damn platform? Or is the camera ON the platform looking at the tower? To me, it doesn't look right.

I put the same links up on the WWII board at THC hoping that CT Burke or another professional naval historian will look and comment.

[101ABN]

More on the USS Wahoo here.

www.warfish.com/

[Sailor]

I've been comparing notes with other posters over on the THC WWII board. I have to agree with "NavyVet940", he ID's this wreck as a Japanese RO class boat based on the size and shape of the conning tower and placement of that deck mounting.

A lot of Japanese surface warships, merchies and subs were sunk in those waters. WAHOO is just one wreck hidden among many. I've no doubt she will eventually be identified, but it will take more time.

[tits]

The photo does indeed appear to be an IJN vessel, even the pressure hull does not look right.

Even though it has been only 60+ years, I am always amazed at how brittle those wrecks are today. The boats in deep waters with low O2 levels seem to survive much better.

What became of the Uboat raised and taken into the museum for restoration? It has been a while since I have been to uboat.net. They always had the best links and the best information on all WWII vessels.
uboat.net/index.html

Thanks Bob for the link.

[tits]

Here is my father-in-law's boat (sailor can you guess which one of the Balao class boats he managed to get posted to in April 1955). He retired with silver dolphins as an EMC after 23 years in 1967.


And then this was one of my uncle's boats during the war. He was an EM and could tell stories of surviving a depth charging. I can still hear him tell about hearing that "tick-click and then bouncing so hard that I thought that I had broken my ankles."

[Sailor]

Actually Tittus, I think the WWII boat is the one in the middle photo with the bottom photo clearly a post war refit with the "Guppy" type sail. As to naming either boat, sorry man, I haven't a clue and I can't read the hull number from the sail of the "Guppy."

Of course when you tell me I'm going to feel like Gilligan's dumber brother ... par for the course for me lately.

Ah well.

Later shipmate.

[peterd]

Great pictures Tittus. I think when they found the sub it brought closure for many family members. I am glad they they did and it does not matter who founded first.

[AmericanEngineer]

Not the Wahoo

by Paul Crozier

As news broke on August 16, 2006, that the wreck of Wahoo had been located and dived upon, everyone familiar with the story clamored for photographs of the boat. Within days, Russian media reports began to include the photo attachment below of a sunken submarine lying on its side in the murky depths. While it was a striking image, it was not USS Wahoo (SS-238) but rather the U-352, a Type VII German U-boat.



When closely examined, the conning tower shape, periscopes, and gun mount are all shaped differently than what one would expect to find on a Gato class American fleet boat. Furthermore, the same image was incorporated into the jacket design of the book "Lost Subs" by Spencer Dunmore and published in 2002.

U-352 was sunk May 9, 1942 southwest of Cape Hatteras during an engagement with the US Coast Guard cutter USS Icarus. Damaged by depth charges from Icarus, the crew surfaced and abandoned ship while several men scuttled the boat. 15 of her crew were killed in the action but 33 managed to survive. They spent the rest of the war as POWs.

Since the war, the wreck has become a favorite spot for sport divers. She rests in 100-115 feet of water and visibility is generally very good, ranging from 50 to 100+ ft. NC-WreckDiving.com reports: "The wreck is small and intact and can be circumnavigated a couple of times during a normal dive. It is sitting on its keel, with a strong (45 degree?) list to the starboard side. Most of what you see on the bottom is the remains of the pressure hull. The U-boat's outer casing has, for the most part, rusted away. For experienced NC divers, the biggest challenge of the U-352 is waiting for the boat captain to hook the wreck. It's small size and rounded edges make it the one the captains love to hate. New NC divers, however, beware. For some reason, over the years, the U-352 has claimed more that its fair share of diving accidents and fatalities."






www.warfish.com/gaz_not.html

[Sailor]

Then MOSNEWS just threw in a good looking file photo to go with their article. Figures.

Thanks AE.

[AmericanEngineer]

No problem.

[santee]

That is really intereseting. I always found the story of the US Sub fleet during WWII to be really interesting reading, especially with all the travails that they had to deal with. First with the Torps that didn't work, and starting the war with the outclassed and short ranged S-Boats was definitely a bad deal for them.

[Sailor]

The Navy traditionally refers to these boats and their men as "still on patrol."

It says a lot about these guys that they would continue to volunteer for submarine duty even knowing that they stood a very good chance of not coming home again.