Experts make bizarre discovery during search for lost WW2 submarine
The research team never expected this discovery
In June 2019, Tim Taylor and his team decided to investigate an American submarine that once mysteriously disappeared. With a remote-controlled underwater vehicle, they decided to begin their investigation, until they made a bizarre discovery. And believe us: this will make the hairs on your arms stand up.
Accidental error
Tim and his team chose to use a remote-controlled underwater vehicle to investigate the US submarine. While this unit was moving to its destination, an error suddenly occured. Unfortunately, the underwater vehicle had to be retrieved. Just to be sure, Tim checked the data captured by the underwater vehicle, and then he made a bizarre discovery…
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The USS Grayback
The submarine that had mysteriously disappeared was called the USS Grayback – or SS-208. The search for this submarine was conducted as part of the Lost 52 project. This project consists of finding 52 American submarines that disappeared in World War II. The Grayback was reported missing by the US Navy in March 1944. That’s quite some time ago.
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A message to the base
On February 24, the Grayback embarked on a combat patrol from Pearl Harbor. The submarine sent a message back to base saying they had hit two Japanese freighters. On February 25, they sent another message, with the news that another vessel had suffered serious damage.
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Sailing back to Midway Atoll
The Grayback had done well, but now had to sail back to the Midway Atoll for to be resupplied, the February 25 message reported. However, no one expected this to be the Grayback’s last message.
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Reported missing
The naval commander expected the Grayback to dock at Midway Atoll around March 7, but nothing could be further from the truth. Three weeks later, the Grayback still hadn’t arrived, so the sub, including its 80 crew members, was reported missing on March 30.
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Tragic news
This was of course extremely tragic, as dozens of men had left their families and loved ones alone as a result. The Grayback had also been a real asset to the US Navy, but the vessel had disappeared into thin air.
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Colossal
The Grayback was one of 74 submarines built during World War II. The Grayback was a Tambor-class vessel – of which twelve were built. The Grayback was a large vessel. At its widest point, the vessel was about eight meters wide and 90 meters long. At low speed, the submarine could remain submerged for about 48 hours.
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Giant equipment
The Grayback was well equipped too. There were ten torpedo tubes on the vessel and several 50-caliber machine guns and cannons. These weapons were intended to defend against airborne attacks, but could also be used to attack enemy ships when the Grayback surfaced.
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Many missions
After construction of the Grayback was ‘finished’, it took off on multiple missions across the ocean. The Grayback won many battles with other ships and managed to get through everything. Until the Grayback left for its tenth mission, which turned out to be its last.
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Curious about what happened during this last mission? Continue reading on the next page.
Last mission
This was on January 28, 1944. During this last mission, the Grayback single-handedly sank no less than 21,594 tons of Japanese vessels.
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Puzzle
What exactly prevented the Grayback from returning to its destination? This remained a mystery at that time. The US Navy believed that the submarine — including its 80 crew members — had sunk about 100 miles (160 km) off the Japanese island of Okinawa.
Was this correct? The answer turned out to be no…
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Wrong information
The information the US Navy believed was based on documents kept by the Japanese at the time. It turned out that a number had been mistranscribed by the US Navy when the document was translated by them. Because of this small mistake, the Grayback was much further away from the location that was passed on to them years ago.
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Years later
Many years later, in 2018 to be precise, Tim decided to re-investigate the Grayback’s disappearance. Tim is the founder of the Lost 52 project, a venture that works to locate 52 submarines that disappeared without a trace during World War II.
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Remote controlled robot
Using a remote-controlled robot, Tim and his team decided to search for missing submarines. For example, they already found a number of missing vessels during previous investigations.
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Curious how this remote-controlled robot worked? Continue reading.
Photos of wrecks
Thanks to the remote-controlled robot, they could take pictures of the wrecks. Tim and his team were also able to inform the relatives of the cause of their disappearance.
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In total, an awful lot of people died from the submarine disasters. Continue reading on the next page.