Lost 52 Project

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The Lost 52 Project is a private organization founded by Tim Taylor to do research on the 52 U.S. Navy submarines lost on patrol during the Second World War, performing discovery, exploration, and underwater archeology where possible. [1] [2]

Found, so far: [3] [4] [5]

SubmarinesDate lostCircumstances of lossDate found
USS Lagarto May 4, 1945Depth charged by Japanese escort ships while attacking a convoy in the Gulf of Thailand May 2005
USS Grunion July 30, 1942Sank after torpedo and dive plane malfunction near Kiska August 2006
USS Wahoo October 11, 1943Sunk after combined aerial bombing and surface depth charging in the La Pérouse Strait October 31, 2006
USS Perch March 3, 1942Depth charged on March 1, partially repaired, then scuttled after being fired upon on the surface to prevent falling into enemy hands near Surabaya November 23, 2006
USS Flier August 13, 1944Struck a mine and sunk in the Balabac Strait February 1, 2009
USS R-12 June 12, 1943Sank due to flooding from unknown causes in forward battery compartment near Key West May 25, 2011
USS S-26 January 24, 1942Sank after collision with Sub chaser PC-460 in the Gulf of Panama September 2014
USS S-28 July 4, 1944Sank under unknown circumstances near Oahu September 20, 2017
USS Robalo July 26, 1944Presumed to have struck a Japanese mine near Palawan Island May 2019
USS Stickleback May 29, 1958Sank after collision with USS Silverstein during training near Hawaii August 2019
USS Grayback February 27, 1944Sunk by aerial bomb from Japanese B5N torpedo bomber in the East China Sea November 10, 2019
USS S-35 April 4, 1946Used as a target ship and sunk by torpedo fireAugust 4, 2020
USS Harder August 24, 1944Depth charged by Japanese escort ships while attacking them near Dasol Bay May 2024

The organization has not limited itself to discovery of submarines. It has also located other Navy ships:

ShipDate LostCircumstances of lossDate found
USS Mannert L. Abele April 12, 1944Struck by kamikaze plane and Japanese flying suicide bomb during the Battle of OkinawaDecember 2022

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References

  1. Lost 52 Project
  2. United States Submarine Losses
  3. US Navy validates final resting place of WWII submarine S-28.
  4. "7th WWII Submarine Discovered by Explorer Tim Taylor's 'Lost 52 Project'". PR Newswire . Cision. August 4, 2020. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
  5. "Veteran ocean explorer discovers WWII submarine in South China Sea". NBC News. May 22, 2024. Retrieved May 22, 2024.