the US had lost 52 submarines to the
deep blue sea during World War II
leaving many Spectators wondering what
had happen to them but one researcher
decided to act Tim Taylor and his team
made it their ultimate mission to find
those submarines and in 2010 they found
the first vessel however it wasn’t until
almost a decade later that the team
would stumble upon a valuable submarine
revealing a 75 year long mystery because
that particular submarine had
disappeared appeared off the face of the
Earth without any explanation and for
professional Ocean Explorer Tim Taylor
this was more than just passion he was
focused on finding some of the United
States’s most historical submarines lost
in battle during World War II but the
thing about these Subs is that they were
nowhere to be found for decades so how
exactly was he going to find them before
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any new stories back in 1944 there was
one particular vessel that was one of
the US military’s most prized submarines
the USS greyback
ss28 this submarine was deemed lost at
sea after the Marines team on land never
heard from them again the location of
where the submarine was lost along with
what actually happened to it had haunted
people for many years so how exactly was
this vessel lost at sea in the first
place the whole story begins during
World War II the USS greyback had set
sail out of Pearl Harbor towards the end
of
1941 and ended up being one of the most
important vessels during that time its
sole purpose was to syn Freight vessels
damage cargo ships and take down the
Rival submarines and that it did over
the course of about 2 years the
submarine had been a part of 10
successful War Patrol missions hitting
and sinking a total of 63
835 tons of cargo and 14 ships 1942 was
a big year for the USS greyback the team
and vessel had hit its very first Target
a
3,291 ton Freight ship on March 17th and
within the next few months it had proven
to be a vicious vessel for any enemy
Target but damaging the enemy’s cargo
ships and Subs wasn’t the only thing the
USS greyback was known for the vicious
vessel also honorably assisted in the
rescue of six survivors after a b26
plane crashed in January 1943 little did
they know that just a year later the
submarine itself would be the one who
needed rescuing and since the USS
greyback was a submarine the team on it
was prepared to be out at sea for a long
period of time after all they would be
under the water and needed to be
prepared for any and all scenarios but
after its ninth Mission out to sea the
ss20 made a safe return to shore to rest
and prepare for its next War Patrol so
far things were going great for the sub
and its crew they returned to Shore and
were locked and reloaded for their 10th
mission in January
1944 they set sail on January 28th 1944
from Pearl Harbor and had hit two more
cargo ships within the next month at
that point they were running low on
Torpedoes and were commanded to return
back to shore to reload nobody would
have ever expected what would happen
next though one of the reasons why the
ss28 is known to be so legendary in the
world of Navy units is the fact that Not
only was she a vicious vessel but she
didn’t go down without a fight on
February 27th 1944 the submarine’s crew
had updated the unit on land that they
had damaged and sunk another Target a
naval transport vessel However
unfortunately during that same time the
USS greyback had sadly been damaged by
an aircraft during battle that was the
very last update that anyone ever
received from its crew members aboard
the submarine when the submarine never
returned home by March 30th there was no
choice but to declare it lost according
to the US defense official website the
Naval History and Heritage command
documented the vessel’s demise that same
day February 27 a Japanese carrier-based
plane spotted a submarine on the surface
in in the East China Sea and attacked
according to Japanese reports the
submarine exploded and sank immediately
but anti-submarine craft were called in
to depth charge the area clearly marked
by a trail of air bubbles until at last
a heavy oil slick swelled to the surface
can you imagine what a huge loss this
was for the states not only did the
country lose one of its most valuable
submarines along with all of the
supplies and ammo but it also lost all
of its loyal Sailors and crew members
aboard the submarine you can understand
why it was such a big deal to figure out
where exactly the ship was located and
get some closure on the whole story
sadly there didn’t seem to be any hope
of discovering what had really happened
that is until 2010 the only Clues anyone
had about the whereabouts of the lost
sub was it had to be somewhere in the
South Pacific near the South China Sea
according to those records it should
have been located about 100 Mil
southeast of okanawa Japan but alas they
had no luck of actually finding the
vessel itself but amazingly enough what
the Navy couldn’t accomplish one loyal
Ocean Explorer could however if there’s
anything we can learn from Tim Taylor
it’s that if there’s a will there’s a
way and he was going to prove to the
world that he could accomplish something
that not even the military was able to
when we think of Key West Florida today
we probably imagine a vacation spot
filled filled with beautifully sandy
beaches however for the US Navy’s us
sr12 crew it was anything but during a
day Mission the submarine unfortunately
had an accidental default and as a
result it sunk to the ocean’s floor
while five members were thankfully found
and rescued sadly the
ussr2 and the remaining 42 Sailors were
never heard from or seen again the ussr2
had been set for its final mission to
control the Key West area but was then
lost at sea in
1943 Tim Taylor and his research vessel
tiberon were determined to put an end to
this mystery and get some closure the
team had the resources and capabilities
and had managed to locate a world war2
submarine known as the ussr2 ss89 in the
fall of
2010 it was on October 10th 2010 that
they had successfully found the
submarine laying there on the ocean
floor this successful find inspired and
motivated Taylor to make it his mission
to find other lost vessels like the USS
greyback but this heroic success didn’t
mean that he would always be successful
Taylor and his team Dove down and
embarked on their first underwater
Expedition and successfully found one of
the US Navy’s cherish submarines the US
sr12 that amazing Discovery would help
them find find other historical vessels
too but who exactly is this mystical Tim
Taylor and how would he be able to find
the USS greyback if the military
couldn’t it all comes down to his
ambitious passion and experience in the
Underwater World Tim Taylor has been
working in the underwater vehicle
industry for about three decades when he
set on his mission to find the
ussr2 in a 2015 interview with Marine
technology news he shared I have been
interested in Exploration my entire life
and it has been a series of progressive
steps from physical exploration taking
me to limits in wanting to go further
years of support and underwater
operations and Explorations aboard my
company’s research vessels has given us
the Hands-On field knowledge of a broad
base of disciplines Tim Taylor didn’t
just work in the industry as an Explorer
he is the CEO for tiberon subc a new
york-based firm that automates
underwater Vehicles Taylor further
shared in 2015 that the company’s focus
is going Beyond military applications
and making autonomous equipment
available on a timely reliable basis
with that in mind he launched his own
private project to locate and learn
about World War II vessels at Sea using
cuttingedge technology and search
techniques he titled the project the
Lost 52 project and had found five
different sub Marines before tackling on
the USS gryback Taylor and his team had
located five different submarines within
less than a decade how exactly by using
a very special method the very first
step is all about pre-production and
research the team tries to collect as
much data as possible before heading
down into the ocean during this first
step they do as much research as
possible including finding any sources
that might be able to help them they
usually look for documents clue
and any historical data that can help
them pinpoint the location or explain
what might have happened when it sunk
doing research for almost anything in
life is crucial when it came to the USS
gryback though things didn’t necessarily
go according to plan during their
research the team obtained Japanese
documents containing coordinates of
where a bomb had struck the USS gryback
on February 27th
1944 however there was a critical error
the translated coordinates were off by
one digit Shifting the location by over
100 miles after correcting the mistake
the team set out for the new location in
June 2019 they sailed to okanawa Japan
equipped with state-of-the-art
submersible drones using Sonar
technology to scan the ocean
floor however they soon encountered
multiple technical issues that hampered
their progress from Refrigeration
failures to equipment malfunctions the
expedition was fraught with challenges
as the team prepared to return to Port
an unexpected issue with the submersible
drones led to a shocking Discovery while
scanning the ocean floor the camera
moved from the bow to the bridge
revealing a plaque bearing the
submarine’s name there was no doubt they
had finally found the USS greyback after
75 years it was an emotional moment
especially as they had almost given up
before the discovery could be officially
confirmed the team needed to verify
their findings with the Navy to do this
they created a detailed 4D model of the
submarine providing a closer look at its
condition after decades underwater this
discovery was part of the Lost 52
project dedicated to documenting the
final resting places of World War II
submarines of the 52 submarines lost
during the war
374 officers and
3,131 sailors perished including 80 crew
members aboard the USS greyback for the
families of those lost the discovery
brought long awaited closure the team
ensured that relatives of the Fallen
Sailors were informed before the news
went public giving them a private moment
of reflection and Remembrance losing a
loved one without knowing their fate
leaves a painful void Taylor expressed
it’s a missing piece of their family
stories and their legacy it haunts them
their entire lives it’s very very sad
but rewarding to finally show these
families where their loved ones made the
ultimate
sacrifice for Kathy Taylor the niece of
a fallen USS Grayback sailor the
discovery was deeply personal I
committed from the very beginning as a
little girl that I was going to find him
or keep his memory alive however I could
she shared with tears in her eyes thanks
to the team’s Relentless efforts Not
only was a historic mystery solved but
families were finally given the closure
they had long sought