USS LAGARTO

In 2005, Thai diving veteran, the late, Jamie Macleod (owner and Instructor Trainer of a leading technical diving facility on the island of Koh Tao, in the Gulf of Thailand) together with Stewart Oehl, located one of the US Navy’s last submarine’s lost in WW II, the USS LAGARTO.

Jamie Macleod

A 1,500 ton ‘Balao class’ submarine, that disappeared without trace on May 4, 1945 – after attacking a Japanese tanker and destroyer convoy some 100 miles off the southeast coast of Thailand. – the submarine was eventually discovered sitting upright on the seafloor at a depth of 73-metres.

In 2006 the USN confirmed the identity of the submarine and the families of LAGARTO’s eighty-six man crew received word of the subs final resting place, but no details about the sinking.

Richie Kohler (L) and John Chatteron

At the request of a Veterans Association, and with the support of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, the ‘Deep Sea Detectives’, Richie Kohler, John Chatterton and Evan Kovacs joined the original team to look for the cause of the sinking.  Although the submarine was mostly intact, the divers discovered a large rupture in the pressure hull on the port bow section, suggesting that the USS LAGARTO had fallen victim to a depth charge attack.

—ENDS—

Categories: History

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