You have commented 358 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
-Short Attention Span Theater-
Divers make incredible discovery in hunt for missing submarine that has a haunting history
2025-05-25
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A military submarine that crashed over 100 years ago has finally been found on the bottom of the ocean.

The huge Navy vessel was discovered off the coast of California after being lost during a training accident in 1917.

It was spotted in sand next to a training aircraft that had crashed into the sea in an unrelated incident in 1950.

Researchers released incredible images of the sunken vehicles after finding them using advanced underwater technology and expert divers.

The US Navy submarine USS F-1 collided with its sister sub - USS F-3 - during surface exercises off the coast of San Diego on December 17, 1917.

The F-3 tore a massive hole in her sister ship's port side, causing the F-1 to sink in just ten seconds, the Submarine Force Library and Museum Association says.

Nineteen out of its 24-man crew were unable to escape, going down with the vessel as it sank to the seafloor.

Underwater Archaeologist Brad Krueger said: 'It was an incredibly exciting and humbling experience to visit these historically significant wrecks and to honor the sacrifice of these brave American Sailors.

'All of us at the NHHC are grateful for this collaboration, which also enabled us to document and assess the condition of the crafts.'

He continued: 'USS F-1 was conducting a 48-hour engineering run and performance test traveling from San Pedro and San Diego, CA, when the accident occurred.

'USS F-2 and USS F-3 were alongside performing similar testing when all three vessels entered a fog bank.

'USS F-3 collided with USS F-1, and following the collision USS F-3 remained on scene to help rescue survivors from the water.'

The wreck remained undiscovered for nearly 60 years until it was located by a Navy deep submersible vehicle looking for a jet fighter that crashed in 1972.

In October of 1976, Lt. Dave Magyar took a deep-sea rescue submersible down off the coast where he found the submarine 'intact'.

'It looked like a big ax had hit her,' he said about the discovery. The 142-foot, 330-ton submarine was found lying on its right side, facing west-northwest on the ocean floor.

'It will remain the grave of 19 men,' Captain Willard Johnson, commander of Submarine Development Group I, said. 'There is no reason at this time to bring it up.'
Posted by:Skidmark

00:00