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| USS Grunion found after 74 years on patrol |
| 2006-08-18 |
| Edited for brevity. There was no distress call, no indication of enemy depth charges exploding or bulkheads breached, just a dead silence that stretched from a few days into 60 years. The USS Grunion disappeared in July 1942, leaving 70 American families grieving and the three sons of skipper Mannert L. "Jim" Abele without a father. Abele's boys -- who were 5, 9 and 12 and lived in Newton, Mass., when their father disappeared -- grew up and built their own lives. But they dwelt on the fate of their father. At 2 a.m. Wednesday, a grainy sonar picture e-mailed via satellite appeared in Bruce Abele's in-box, appearing to show what they had searched for for much of their adult lives: the outline of an oblong object believed to be the Grunion deep in frigid Alaskan waters. Full story at link. |
| Posted by:Dar |
| #7 No matter how young or old, they wanna know - RIP USS GRUNION. * On a separate, personal note, I've always been surprised how many of the pre-war S-class subs were still in combat action post-Pearl Harbor despite the advent of the BALAO/GATO-etal. classes. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-08-18 23:35 |
| #6 Perhaps not in the Wahoo case, but it seems that with many other ships and subs it's the ages of both the family members and the technology. In other words, the children of the crews may have gone on to have successful careers and are now at the point, 60+ years later, where they have the money and the time to investigate. And, of course, ever since improvements in technology allowed Ballard to find the Titanic, there have been more improvements and more discoveries. From this article, it sounds like the Navy has no interest in funding these trips unless they have immediate value. The Navy did help fund Ballard's original Titanic expedition because they tasked him to check on the Thresher and Scorpion. |
| Posted by: Dar 2006-08-18 14:00 |
| #5 More info on the Grunion Blog. Rest in Peace. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2006-08-18 13:58 |
| #4 Well, here's your in this case... For years, the sons -- Bruce, Brad and John, who is the founder of Boston Scientific Corp. -- have pored over Navy documents and any shipping records of the area they could locate, and contacted others interested in the Grunion's fate. John Abele, a billionaire, has paid for much of the search. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-08-18 13:31 |
| #3 What is with these newfound boats? First the Wahoo and now the Grunion. Are we/russia stepping up patrols or did the Navy/CG get a bonus in their budget for looking for these things? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they found it. Just suspicious of the timing's all. |
| Posted by: BA 2006-08-18 13:24 |
| #2 Um... I meant to say *64* years on patrol. |
| Posted by: Dar 2006-08-18 13:08 |
| #1 Excellent. Rest in peace, Grunion. |
| Posted by: Mike 2006-08-18 13:02 |