Legendary Sub USS Wahoo SS-238 Found After 63 Years!

Concord

Mr. Buckeye
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I love WWII History.

I especially love Submarine History.

On Eternal Patrol - U.S. Navy Press Release Regarding
USS Wahoo (SS-238)

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Cmdr. Dudley W. “Mush” Morton.

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Navy says wreck found off Japan is legendary sub USS Wahoo

From Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet Public Affairs, 31 October 2006.

PEARL HARBOR, HI – For more than six decades her whereabouts have remained a mystery; her story one of submarine legend – her crew on “Eternal Patrol.”

Yet, after an extensive review of evidence, the last chapters are being written as the Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet declared today that the sunken submarine recently discovered by divers in the Western Pacific is, indeed, the World War II submarine USS Wahoo (SS 238).

"After reviewing the records and information, we are certain USS Wahoo has been located," said Adm. Gary Roughead, the U.S. Pacific Fleet commander. “We are grateful for the support of the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park and appreciate greatly the underwater video footage of the submarine provided by our Russian navy colleagues, which allowed us to make this determination. This brings closure to the families of the men of Wahoo - one of the greatest fighting submarines in the history of the U.S. Navy."

In July, the Russian dive team “Iskra” photographed wreckage lying in about 213 feet (65 meters) of water in the La Perouse (Soya) Strait between the Japanese island of Hokkaido and the Russian island of Sakhalin. The divers were working with The Wahoo Project Group, an international team of experts coordinated by Bryan MacKinnon, a relative of Wahoo’s famed skipper, Cmdr. Dudley W. “Mush” Morton.

“I am very pleased to be part of an effort where old adversaries have joined together as friends to find the Wahoo,” said MacKinnon.

Wahoo was last heard from Sept. 13, 1943, as the Gato-class submarine departed the island of Midway en route to the “dangerous, yet important,” Sea of Japan. Under strict radio silence, Morton and his crew proceeded as ordered. Radio contact was expected to be regained with Midway in late October upon Wahoo’s departure from the Sea of Japan through the Kurile Island chain. No such contact was made. Following an aerial search of the area, Wahoo was officially reported missing Nov. 9, 1943.

At the time, the loss of Wahoo was believed due to mines or a faulty torpedo. But Japanese reports later stated that one of its planes had spotted an American submarine in the La Perouse Strait on Oct. 11, 1943. These reports indicate a multi-hour combined sea and air attack involving depth charges and aerial bombs finally sunk Wahoo.

Japan Maritime Self Defense Force retired Vice Adm. Kazuo Ueda assisted the group with providing historical records from the Imperial Japanese Navy that identified the location where Wahoo was sunk.

“We, the families of Wahoo, recognize the historical scholarship and support provided by the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force. We would also like to send our thanks to the U.S. Navy for their diligence in finding and identifying the USS Wahoo,” said Doug Morton, son of Dudley Walker Morton.

“The Morton family is thrilled that there will be closure to the loss of our father,” added Morton, who also spoke on behalf of his sister, Edwina Thirsher and her family. “The loss of a famous submariner who was loved by his family and crew has been very difficult.”

During Wahoo’s rare foray in the Sea of Japan, Morton reportedly sunk at least four Japanese ships. For the patrol, Morton was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross – his fourth.

Morton is credited with sinking 19 ships totaling nearly 55,000 tons during his four patrols in command of USS Wahoo; his total was second only to his own executive officer, Richard H. O’Kane. Retired Rear Adm. O’Kane went on to command USS Tang (SS 306) and to receive the Medal of Honor.

Noted naval historian Theodore Roscoe described Morton as “an undersea ace” in his book “Submarine Operations in World War II.”

“Few skippers equaled Morton’s initiative, and none had a larger reserve of nerve,” Roscoe wrote. “Combining capability with dynamic aggressiveness, Morton feared nothing on or under the sea.”

The discovery of Wahoo is the culmination of more than a decade of work by an international team dedicated to finding the ill-fated submarine. In 2004, electronic surveys sponsored by a major international energy company (The Sakhalin Energy Investment Corporation) identified the likely site.

The Bowfin Museum in Hawaii worked with the team as an independent “scrutineer” to ensure the project was done correctly and will serve as a central repository for all the Wahoo Project’s findings, according to museum executive director, submariner, and retired Navy Capt. Jerry Hofwolt.

“This is the right thing to do for the families,” Hofwolt said. “We want to be able to tell people that this is where your loved ones are and to be a clearinghouse for all of the information about this and other lost submarines.”

Hofwolt said the museum is making plans to host a memorial ceremony to honor the crewmembers, most likely in October 2007.

Officials with the Pacific Fleet Submarine Force reviewed analysis and photos provided by the Bowfin Museum and agreed the wreck is USS Wahoo. The wreck had several characteristics consistent with USS Wahoo, and the submarine was found very near those reported in Imperial Japanese Navy records. Photographs are available at www.warfish.com and www.OnEternalPatrol.com. General information about the USS Wahoo Project is available at www.usswahoo.org.

Wahoo is believed to be near the site of the Russian submarine L-19, possibly sunk by mines in late August 1945 after Japan had surrendered. Based on the information made available to them by The Wahoo Project Group, the Russian team wished to confirm the site was Wahoo and not the L-19. According to The Wahoo Project Group Web site, the group has offered continued assistance to the Russian government in finding that submarine as well.

In addition to the ceremony to be held in Pearl Harbor, U.S. Navy officials are planning an at-sea, wreath-laying service sometime next year to pay tribute to USS Wahoo. If it can be arranged, a combined service with the Russians and Japanese to honor USS Wahoo and the Russian submarine L-19, as well as the respective Japanese losses, is also a possibility.

The Navy has no plans to salvage or enter the Wahoo wreck. Naval tradition has long held that the sea is a fitting final resting place for Sailors lost at sea. The Sunken Military Craft Act protects military wrecks, such as Wahoo, from unauthorized disturbance.

Wahoo’s discovery comes on the heels of a similar discovery of USS Lagarto, which the Navy confirmed was found in the Gulf of Thailand in June.

“We owe a great debt of gratitude to the brave men on Wahoo and to all of our WWII submariners who performed so magnificently during the war. Much of our submarine force heritage, and many of our traditions, can be traced back to their legacy.” said Rear Adm. Jay Donnelly, deputy commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet. “One of my favorite quotes is from Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz who, after the war, said: ‘We salute those gallant officers and men of our submarines who lost their lives in that long struggle. We shall never forget our submariners that held the lines against the enemy while our fleets replaced losses and repaired wounds.’”

According to Pacific Fleet submarine history, the submarine force remained intact following the attack on Pearl Harbor. It became clear at that time the submarine fleet would take the fight to the enemy. By war’s end, submarines had supported all major fleet operations and made more than 1,600 war patrols. Pacific Fleet submarines, like Wahoo, accounted for 54 percent of all enemy shipping sunk during the war. Success was costly. Fifty-two submarines were lost, and nearly 3,600 submariners remain on “Eternal Patrol.”
 

Hostile

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Eternal rest be theirs.

Home Is the Sailor

Home is the sailor, home from sea:
Her far-borne canvas furled
The ship pours shining on the quay
The plunder of the world.

Home is the hunter from the hill:
Fast in the boundless snare
All flesh lies taken at his will
And every fowl of air.

'Tis evening on the moorland free,
The starlit wave is still:
Home is the sailor from the sea,
The hunter from the hill.

A.E. Housman
 

bbgun

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Terrible

Dive on Spiegel Grove wreck off Key Largo turns deadly for 3

sun-sentinel.com
Posted March 16 2007, 4:30 PM EDT

KEY LARGO -- Three divers died on Friday while diving on the Spiegel Grove ship wreck, the Monroe County Sheriff's office said.

In an e-mailed statement, Becky Herrin, spokeswoman for MSO, said the three men were part of a four-man team that was diving on the popular wreck from the commercial dive boat Scuba-do. All were reportedly advanced certified divers and planned a penetration dive into the sunken wreck. That's when something apparently went wrong.

``These wrecks can be very confusing inside,'' Herrin said. ``There's a lot of places to go wrong.

None of the four divers were immediately identified but Herrin said all were from New Jersey. They were not related, but were friends traveling together.

Herrin said the four divers dove on the Spiegel Grove wreck the day before. They did a penetration dive at that time as well, she said.

Here's what Herrin said happened on Friday:

One of the divers was stationed at the entrance of the and the other three went inside. The release did not say how deep the divers were. The ship was sunk about 5 miles off Key Largo in the Atlantic.

The diver left outside the wreck began to run out of air, according to detectives. He surfaced safely.

Two divers from another boat went down to look for the others. They surfaced with one diver who was in distress. That diver was taken on board a Coast Guard vessel where CPR was performed. Paramedics met the boat at shore and transported the victim to Mariner's Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The two other divers did not surface and initial searches of the wreck failed to locate them.

Just after 2 p.m., a dive team from Key Largo Fire Rescue that was searching the wreck located their bodies inside. According to detectives, the bodies are so deep inside, it will be difficult to recover them. More divers from that team will be deployed to the wreck on Saturday and will make another attempt at recovery.

Names of the divers were not released pending notification of next of kin.

The USS Spiegel Grove was a Navy Landing Ship Dock that was sunk to create an artificial reef off Key Largo in 2002. The vessel is 510 feet in length and 84 feet wide. When it was sunk it went down on its side. In 2005, underwater currents caused by Hurricane Dennis shifted the ship upright into its present underwater berth. The highest point of the ship now sits 40 to 60 feet below the surface.
 

Hostile

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That is a sad story.

I have had a lot of "adventures" in my life and still have a lot of them I want to do. Diving on a wreck is one I want to do. No way I'd attempt it without a rope so I can find my way back out of the wreck.

I was a fireman for 7 years. I always knew to follow the hose to get out of the building when my air was low. I just don't think I could do it without that safety measure.

One of these days I hope to have this adventure. My brother-in-law has already done this and has a plate and fork from the wreck he dove on. I was so jealous.

I don't think I'd ever dive on a military wreck though. At least not with the intent to enter it. To swim around it and feel the history in the barnacles, etc. Yeah, I'd do that.
 

bbgun

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Hostile;1425024 said:
That is a sad story.

I have had a lot of "adventures" in my life and still have a lot of them I want to do. Diving on a wreck is one I want to do. No way I'd attempt it without a rope so I can find my way back out of the wreck.

Exactly. Where was their "guide rope"?--the equivalent of dropping bread crumbs. I thought that was standard.
 

iceberg

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bbgun;1425026 said:
Exactly. Where was their "guide rope"?--the equivalent of dropping bread crumbs. I thought that was standard.

hard to say - maybe they just thought they were going to peek in and remembering a couple of turns wouldn't be that big a deal. in the end, you hate to hear stories like this.
 

ologan

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From William Whiting

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who biddest the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy Word,
Who walked on the foaming deep,
And calm amidst its rage didst sleep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
Most Holy Spirit! Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give, for wild confusion, peace;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
O Trinity of love and power!
Our family shield in danger’s hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect us wheresoever we go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.
 

Hostile

The Duke
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ologan;1425286 said:
From William Whiting

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who biddest the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy Word,
Who walked on the foaming deep,
And calm amidst its rage didst sleep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
Most Holy Spirit! Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give, for wild confusion, peace;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
O Trinity of love and power!
Our family shield in danger’s hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect us wheresoever we go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.
That's the poem I was looking for. I couldn't remember the author.

Thank you.
 
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