SimonLakeSub
Full Member
- Dec 6, 2006
- 160
- 1
In August, the three sons of Lt.Cmdr. Mannert Abele, commander of the lost submarine USS Grunion, announced they may have discovered the location of the missing sub that took their father and all hands to the bottom in 1942. For years, Bruce, John, and Brad Abele have been searching for the wreck site using side scan sonar, in waters near the Aleutian Islands. In 2002, a man who had heard about the search sent them a report written in the 1960s by a Japanese military officer, Seilchi Aiura, who served in the Aleutian Islands. In the report, he recorded that the sub launched several torpedoes at his ship, that he returned the fire and believed the sub had been hit. Also included in the Japanese report was a diagram showing the respective paths of the Japanese ship, the sub, and the shots fired between them. With that information, the Abeles hired a marine survey firm, Seattle-based Williamson and Associates, to mount an expedition in August to kiska. The sonar picked up a 290-foot long object wedged into a terrace on the slope of a undersea volcano. The Abeles are hopeful enough to be planning a second survey next summer, but until further investigations can verify the target, they are mindful of jumping to conclusions. USS Grunion (SS-216) was a Gato-class submarine. Her keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, and was launched in December 1941. On duty off Kiska Island in the summer of 1942, Lt. Cmdr. Mannert L. Abele was ordered to bring the sub back to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, after reporting intense anti-submarine activity in the area. USS Grunion was never heard from nor seen again.
Simonlake
Simonlake
