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Old 11-14-2019, 01:08 PM
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Thumbs up WWII - Navy verifies lost sub rediscovered

WWII - Navy verifies lost sub rediscovered
By: Associated Press - 11-14-19 - 3 hrs ago
RE: https://www.navytimes.com/military-h...-rediscovered/

1941 Photo of the USS Grayback Submarine:
https://www.armytimes.com/resizer/Gg...S73AET5IR4.jpg

NEW YORK — A team of ocean explorers say a U.S. submarine with 80 sailors on board when it disappeared in 1944 has been discovered in Japanese waters.

The “Lost 52 Project” announced Sunday that the World War II submarine Grayback was found in June after it had disappeared in February 1944 during its final combat mission.

The U.S. Navy officially verified the discovery of the submarine that was located about 50 nautical miles south of Okinawa by the group of ocean explorers.

Video link of the USS Grayback Discovered: https://youtu.be/ubNbxbwFb1c

The group says in a release that this is the 5th WWII submarine discovery for the team led by undersea explorer Tim Taylor using robotics and other underwater technological methods and vehicles.

The project’s objective is to find the 52 U.S. submarines that were lost in WWII.

Navy Times editor’s note: With eight battle stars, Grayback was one of the great boats in Navy history, credited with sinking 14 enemy vessels and 64,835 tons of shipping during World War II.

But let’s talk about Grayback’s 10th and last war patrol.

The boat left Pearl Harbor on 28 January 1944 for the East China Sea. On 19 February, Grayback attacked Japanese convoy TAPA 02, sinking the enemy army cargo ship Taikei Maru southwest of Formosa. When sister transport Toshin Maru retrieved the survivors, Grayback sank it, too.

By then, Grayback was down to two torpedoes and was ordered home. On 26 February, however, Japanese naval aircraft operating from land bases located and attacked the sub in the East China Sea, damaging the boat.

That didn’t stop Grayback from sinking the naval transport Ceylon Maru the next day. Hours later, a Japanese plane spied an American submarine operating on the surface and attacked, later reporting that the boat “exploded and sank immediately.”

Japanese antisubmarine vessels then salted the East China Sea with depth charges. Air bubbles and then a telltale trail of heavy oil gurgling to the surface seemed to mark where Grayback went on eternal patrol.

The Navy didn’t know the fate of Grayback and later mistranslated the intercepted Japanese transmissions about where a sub had been attacked, which led to decades of confusion about where it finally rested.

Grayback failed to reach Midway as expected by 7 March and was listed as overdue and presumed lost 23 days later.

On 2 July 1957, the Navy’s second Grayback (SSG-574) was launched at the Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo, California.

The boat’s sponsor was Mrs. John A. Moore, the widow of the first Grayback.

The lead ship in its class, Grayback was the first Navy guided-missile submarine to carry the Regulus II sea-to-surface missile.

But it soon became outdated, thanks to the advent of cheaper Polaris missiles. After nine patrols and 20 months at sea traveling more than 130,000 on strategic deterrent strike missions, it was decommissioned at Mare Island on 25 May 1964.

It was recommissioned as an amphibious transport submarine four years later (LPSS-574) and one of its missions included Operation Thunderhead in 1972, a tragic attempt by Navy SEALs to rescue American prisoners of war trying to escape North Vietnam.

It was decommissioned a dozen years later for the second time and was returned to the sea in a 13 April 1986 SINKEX.
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#1 A PRAYER

By: Rear Admiral Emory S. Land, War Shipping Administrator, invited the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America to cooperate in the observance of Maritime Day, and Dean Charles P. Deems of St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral of Minneapolis wrote this prayer for use in the churches and in the homes of the nation.

Eternal Father, who rulest over wind and wave, look with favor we beseech Thee upon the men of the US Navy & Merchant Marines. Preserve them from the perils of storm and fog, of hidden reef, and lurking enemy. Be strong to save them in the hour of disaster, and bring them safe at last unto their desired haven.

Bless, we pray Thee, all their loved ones. Provide for the needy, heal the sick, strengthen the tempted, console the lonely, encourage the anxious, and comfort the sorrowful, that in the sweet hours of reunion no shadows may dim the brightness of their joy.

Guide and direct all who control the conditions under which they labor at sea. Enlighten and uphold all who minister to their needs ashore. Give to those who commit their possessions and their lives into their keeping a full realization of the fidelity with which this stewardship is discharged.

Above all, make the nation deeply grateful for the prosperity and protection provided by the heroism and faithfulness of those who pursue their business on great waters.

Draw near also to their partners of the sea -those who build the ships - and grant them a vision of the full meaning of their task, and a daily faithfulness worthy of that vision. Make sacred their toil and every relationship of their lives.

These things we ask in the Name of Him whose word even the winds and the waters obey,

Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Source: American Seamen, Vol. IV, Number 2, Spring 1944

#2 Psalm 107

They that go down to the sea in ships,
that do business in great waters;
These see the works of the Lord,
and his wonders in the deep.
For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind,
which lifteth up the waves thereof
They mount up to the heaven,
they go down again to the depths;
their soul is melted because of trouble.
They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man,
and are at their wit's end.
Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble,
and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the storm a calm,
so that the waves thereof are still.
Then are they glad because they be quiet;
so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness,
and for all his wonderful works to the children of men!

#3 A Seaman's Prayer

Heavenly Father, creator of the seas, Bless us as we assemble for this most solemn remembrance. We give you thanks for all your servants who go to sea in ships and those who have paid the supreme sacrifice by giving their lives in the service of their nation.

The passing of over 50 years has not diminished our love and gratitude for the thousands who went to sea and never returned, and for our Brother Shipmate who has gone to meet them in your loving, eternal embrace.

O Father, grant his family today, and in the days hereafter, peace and comfort in the glory of his service to his fellow man, and in the knowledge he sails with you, O Lord, our maker and protector.

Amen

* The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - a song I listen too often: https://youtu.be/9vST6hVRj2A?t=14 (merchant ship loss).

Boats
__________________
Boats

O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
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