NationStates Jolt Archive


American submarine found.

Velo
13-07-2005, 00:42
USS Lagarto is found:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/BKK136593.htm

More on the sub here:

http://www.csp.navy.mil/ww2boats/lagarto.htm


http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/0837102.jpg


The decisive role played by the Silent Service during WW II is often overlooked, or the significance of their contribution is not fully understood. The Submarine Service represented only 1.6% of all Navy personnel during the war but they accounted for over 55% of all Japanese ships sunk, including one-third of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Submariners paid a high price for this accomplishment, however, with the highest percentage causality rate of any branch of the service, almost 23%. Fifty-two U.S. submarines were lost during WW II with over 3,500 men. Forty additional men were lost either from gunfire or tragic mishap. It should always be remembered that these men were all volunteers.



http://www.maritime.org/subslost.htm
Via Ferrata
13-07-2005, 01:10
Absolutely amazing that it hadn't been located before, given that she rests in a mere 225-feet of water (the Gulf of Siam is quite shallow).
Sabbatis
13-07-2005, 01:15
That is tremendous! I'm glad for the families. The ocean is a big old place isn't it? Wonder how many other mysteries are down there?
Velo
13-07-2005, 01:58
That is tremendous! I'm glad for the families. The ocean is a big old place isn't it? Wonder how many other mysteries are down there?

I can not reply for the mysteries but I found this site very informative about all the lost US subs in WWII:
http://www.maritime.org/subslost.htm, specially those lost in august 1945 while the US had Japan on it knees.
Tekania
13-07-2005, 13:38
Absolutely amazing that it hadn't been located before, given that she rests in a mere 225-feet of water (the Gulf of Siam is quite shallow).

Not really, finding a sunken ship, regardless of depth; in a gigantic ocean is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Ship positions are not completely accurate, or up-to-date.
Ships never sink "straight" down.
And the longer is sits there, the more the wreck is overrun by local sea life...
Jeruselem
13-07-2005, 14:07
Find sunken ships or worse submarines is a rather hit and miss task.
A ship could sink in a harbour and take 50 years to be found later.
Texpunditistan
13-07-2005, 14:34
Interesting...especially since I spent 20 years of my life in Lagarto, Texas (http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/LL/hnl4.html). :eek:
Velo
14-07-2005, 14:39
Bump
Kradlumania
14-07-2005, 14:51
I would be interested to know a little more precisely the location of the wreck. I have done all my diving in the Gulf of Thailand. I'm just a SCUBA diver, none of this deep sea stuff, but I'd like to know if I've been diving near it, or possibly sailed over it in my trips to and from and between the isands.

The Gulf of Thailand is a very beatiful area of the world - bizarre shaped islands thrust out of the water with lush crowns of greenery and strange geological formations.