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After leaving the submarine base at New London, Connecticut on June 19, 1941 the USS O-9 SS-70 was about to conduct deep submergence tests, which she failed. The old submarine was built in 1917 at Fore River Shipbuilding in Quincy, Mass and at 24 years old was completely outdated. She had missed the Great War having deployed on Nov. 2, 1918, but of course when the armistice was signed on the 11th and she returned to the USA untested in war. She spent the rest of her career operating out of New London and the Canal Zone as a training boat. When World War II broke out she was brought back to life following a ten year decommissioning period for use again as a training boat. On June 19, 1941 O-9 along with the O-8 SS-69 and the O-10 SS-71 departed New London for diving exercises, which all completed successfully, but on the 20th when O-9 went deep she never came up again. Rescue operations began immediately, but because of the depth, were futile. Only the thirty four men on board know what caused the loss, but sadly they are still inside the wreck of their boat. |
© 2007 Michael W. Pocock MaritimeQuest.com |
USS O-9 seen just after her launch. |