Hand Salute
Memorial Service to Honor USS Lagarto Crew
Navy News | David Rush | May 03, 2006
Pearl Harbor, HI. - Families of crew members serving on the ill-fated World War II submarine USS Lagarto (SS 371) will gather May 6 in Manitowoc, Wis., to honor the men whose submarine went missing six decades ago and was only recently located by divers.
For 60 years, crew members' families did not know the exact circumstances surrounding the 86 submariners who perished. Lagarto was last heard from May 3, 1945, as it was preparing to attack a Japanese convoy under heavy escort. Japanese war records later revealed that the minelayer Hatsutaka reported sinking a U.S. submarine at roughly the same time and location.
In May 2005, MacLeod and a group of commercial divers found Lagarto in the Gulf of Thailand sitting upright in 225 feet of water. A large rupture in the port side bow area confirmed that Lagarto had apparently been struck by a depth charge.
But there was something else that MacLeod's team noticed that caught their attention: an open torpedo tube door, with an empty torpedo tube. It seemed to suggest that Lagarto had gone down fighting.
"We owe a great debt to these men, and to all of the World War II submariners," said Cassias. "In the world's darkest hour, they faced the greatest risks and demonstrated the most noble courage to preserve the freedom of our nation."
We have a WWII Sub here in Oklahoma, the USS Batfish. I have had the honor to tour it a few times and even helped with the spring prep one year.
If you ever get a chance to tour one, do it. It will give you an insight into what these men went through.
To.
Full Story Here.
Navy News | David Rush | May 03, 2006
Pearl Harbor, HI. - Families of crew members serving on the ill-fated World War II submarine USS Lagarto (SS 371) will gather May 6 in Manitowoc, Wis., to honor the men whose submarine went missing six decades ago and was only recently located by divers.
For 60 years, crew members' families did not know the exact circumstances surrounding the 86 submariners who perished. Lagarto was last heard from May 3, 1945, as it was preparing to attack a Japanese convoy under heavy escort. Japanese war records later revealed that the minelayer Hatsutaka reported sinking a U.S. submarine at roughly the same time and location.
In May 2005, MacLeod and a group of commercial divers found Lagarto in the Gulf of Thailand sitting upright in 225 feet of water. A large rupture in the port side bow area confirmed that Lagarto had apparently been struck by a depth charge.
But there was something else that MacLeod's team noticed that caught their attention: an open torpedo tube door, with an empty torpedo tube. It seemed to suggest that Lagarto had gone down fighting.
"We owe a great debt to these men, and to all of the World War II submariners," said Cassias. "In the world's darkest hour, they faced the greatest risks and demonstrated the most noble courage to preserve the freedom of our nation."
We have a WWII Sub here in Oklahoma, the USS Batfish. I have had the honor to tour it a few times and even helped with the spring prep one year.
If you ever get a chance to tour one, do it. It will give you an insight into what these men went through.
To.
Full Story Here.
posted by Hujonwi at 01:57
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