Around late March of 1944, the U.S.S Grayback, also known as S.S.-208, disappeared with all hands on deck. 80 American sailors lost. Families of the crew never got to say goodbye or understand what exactly had happened to them. No one knew, until recently.
Read her story and see the latest images from her underwater grave.
Lost WWII Submarines
Because the terrible loss of the submarine on all its crew wasn’t forgotten, a special project specifically focused on locating the 52 U.S. submarines that were never seen again was launched. But that’s a different story. Read on to see what they found onboard this discovered sub and find out what really happened to this submarine.
A Bump in the Road
The “Lost 52 Project” has been graced with the funds and an expert team of researchers who are dedicated to finding an explanation for these submarines’ disappearances. It’s said that the last place the submarine was seen was the coast of Japan. As you’ll discover, a small error made it impossible to find the submarine after it went missing.
Grayback’s History
After encountering a challenge with their underwater vehicle, the team had to bring the craft all the way back up to the surface in order to analyze what could be causing the fault in the machine. After looking at the data, the scientist found two sets of anomalies, which result in Taylor sending back another probe. But beforehand, he had done a good amount of research on Grayback, in order to understand the history of the submarine and what had led it to its devastating end.
Read on to see the submarine’s many successes it had during the war and what was its eventual downfall.
A Message Had Been Sent
In January of 1944, Grayback left Pearl Harbor on a combat patrol mission. That wasn’t the first time that Grayback had gone on a mission though, it was the submarine’s 10th mission at that point. Sadly enough, it was about to be its last one too. Curiously, a couple of days before it sank, the crew members managed to send a message to the base just before it disappeared under the aggressive waves that characterized that specific day. The sub had managed to sink two Japanese ships, Takei Maru and Toshin Maru.
In Need of More Supplies
After all of that action, Grayback had to be resupplied pretty soon. After carrying so many attacks, the submarine had only two torpedoes left and was therefore set to sail into the North Pacific in order to get some more supplies. You’ll see just how worried the crew was when they finally realized that something was awfully wrong.
Declaring Grayback Lost at Sea
Since their colleagues on the ground had no idea that something had happened to the U.S submarine, the crew was waiting for Grayback at the dock of Midway Atoll on March 7, 1944. As time passed, the team began to feel a little bit worried. There was simply no sign of Grayback for three weeks. As much as it pained them, on March 30, the U.S authorities had to eventually declare the ship lost at sea, with its 80 crew members. Take a look at the history of these submarines and decide for yourself if you think the disappearance could have been avoided…