Missing WW II U.S. sub found off Thailand

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Science Daily
August 08, 2005

CHICAGO -- The families of 86 U.S. Navy sailors lost in a submarine in the South China Sea in 1945 are awaiting confirmation the missing USS Lagarto has been found.

"We believe the wreck to be the Lagarto," said Jamie Macleod, who, with the U.S. Navy's permission, dove to look at the outside of the vessel in May.

Experts told the Chicago Tribune it is the missing boat because it's believed to be the only U.S. Balao class submarine sunk in the Gulf of Thailand during the war, and because Japanese records released after the war show Japanese sailors sank a submarine in the area where the Lagarto was last reported.

U.S. Rep. Daniel Lipinski, D-Ill., has called on the Navy to confirm the submarine's identity.

On July 31, a diver tucked a dozen white roses into sunken vessel's conning tower and minutes later the flowers had disappeared.

"We thought that was nice," said Elizabeth Kenney-Augustine, whose grandfather, Bill Mabin, was on the vessel. "Like they accepted our offering."


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