Daily Event for June 20, 2007

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Shipbuilding in Quincy, Mass and at 24 years old was completely outdated.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.