Finding The WWII Lost Submarine U.S.S. Grunion

The U.S.S. Grunion was lost on July 30, 1942 off Kiska Island in the Aleutian chain off Alaska. The captain’s three sons did not know exactly when, where or how their father’s boat was lost and set about finding out over many decades. Clues finally surfaced from slim accounts from survivors of a Japanese freighter, which was attacked in that period at that location. The sons eventually commissioned & organized two deep diving remote expeditions, which found the lost submarine at 3000 feet from which the cause of the loss was theorized. That cause may be the most interesting part of the story, although the determination of the son’s journey of discovery is vital.

https://www.legion.org/library/9370/...ry-solved-last

A video featuring one of the sons and exceptionally clear video is interesting —

https://youtu.be/JL9XAf_xAXE

3D Video of the separated bow section, which was found later —

https://youtu.be/0C3mjTHsErQ

The theorized ultimate cause of loss of the Grunion was the failure of the torpedoes. Two hit the target and failed to explode, while one went under the Kano Maru and circled back hitting the Grunion causing it to dive with a stuck diving plane until it was crushed by the pressure. Both American torpedoes failing to detonate upon contact and doing a 180 degree circle back to the submarine has been a known catastrophic defect, which were corrected later in the war.

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Originally Posted by wacojoe

The theorized ultimate cause of loss of the Grunion was the failure of the torpedoes. Two hit the target and failed to explode, while one went under the Kano Maru and circled back hitting the Grunion causing it to dive with a stuck diving plane until it was crushed by the pressure. Both American torpedoes failing to detonate upon contact and doing a 180 degree circle back to the submarine has been a known catastrophic defect, which were corrected later in the war.

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I have to ask----why didn't they either cut power or reverse the props? That would be the ultimate example of----"when you find yourself in a hole---stop digging!"

That was the first action I thought of, as well. There must be a cogent answer why Capt. Abele did not apparently do that. I would like an answer from a submariner. The video says the open hatch had sheared pins from an explosive decompression as it was crushed at depth.