Experts Unraveled The Mystery Of A Lost WWII Submarine – And Its 80 Vanished Crew Members

When a U.S. submarine vanished under mysterious circumstances 75 years ago, the U.S. Navy searched for answers for decades. But a recent interest in the lost craft — and the 80 sailors on board who vanished with it — was revitalized when a researcher named Tim Taylor set out to solve the decades-old mystery once and for all. When Taylor's team descended to the missing sub's last known location, however, their underwater vehicle developed a serious fault, forcing them back to the surface. Taking a look at the data they recorded, he didn't expect to find much... until he spotted a strange inconsistency. And what the technology finally unearthed was enough to make your hair stand on end.

Salvage mission

This salvage operation was carried out on behalf of the Lost 52 Project. The admirable group is dedicated to locating the 52 U.S. submarines that disappeared during World War II. And the U.S. Navy had previously posted the Grayback – or S.S.-208, as it was less lyrically known – as missing in late March 1944. That’s how it remained until Tim Taylor got involved.

Finding the Grayback

Taylor felt that he had a realistic chance of locating the wreck of the Grayback. And, amazingly, the Lost 52 Project team did indeed find the lost submarine – with the help of a diligent researcher. The hull of the sub was almost entirely in one piece even after several decades had passed. Yet this discovery was a cause for mixed emotions among the divers and researchers.

Mixed emotions

“We were elated,” Taylor told The New York Times after the discovery. “But it’s also sobering because we just found 80 men.” And, of course, there were others for whom this discovery was a momentous event. They were the relatives of the submariners who had lost their lives aboard the Grayback. These families had been waiting a lifetime for answers.

Pearl Harbor bound

As far as they knew, the Grayback had embarked on a combat patrol from Pearl Harbor on January 28, 1944. The sub then sent a message back to base on February 24. It reported that she’d sunk the Japanese freighters Toshin Maru and Taikei Maru and hit two others. Its final message came a day later.