In 2019, American explorer Tim Taylor and his team traveled near the East China Sea on the mainland, and their radar showed an unknown behemoth on the seabed not far from them.
After discussion, Taylor decided to put the detector down to take a look.
The behemoth resembles a submarine, and the probe also found human remains inside, and Taylor was pleasantly surprised, he searched for many years and finally found the American submarine that had been missing for 75 years.
When the news came back to the United States, the United States was uncharacteristic, they were unwilling to let Taylor salvage the submarine, nor did they want Taylor to bring out the remains inside. Is there another conspiracy in the United States?
Because the location of the submarine was found near the East China Sea, 435 meters under the sea, and the United States has not found excuses to enter the mainland sea area in previous years, and now it has to be guarded against this exit.
Why are there US submarines in the East China Sea? When did it appear?
The submarine, called the Grayback, was developed by the United States at the beginning of the last century, with a length of 94 meters, a cruising speed of 19 kilometers per hour, a submersible speed of 3.7 kilometers per hour, and a range of up to 20,000 kilometers.
With a displacement of 1499 tons on the water and 2410 tons under water, it is an American diesel-electric submarine of the "gar" class, with a total of 4 diesel-electric generators that can perform ocean-going missions.
But the gray whale has an Achilles heel, that is, it cannot stay underwater for a long time, the deeper it goes, the shorter the gray whale stays, and it must float to the surface to breathe, otherwise the gray whale itself will suffer huge damage.
During World War II, after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in the United States, the United States sent the Gray Whale to Japanese waters, targeting Japan's passing ship fleet, whether it was a cargo ship or a warship, the Gray Whale would aim and launch torpedoes to give a fatal blow to Japanese ships and fleets.
The Gray Whale carried 1 deck gun, 2 machine guns, 24 torpedoes and 10 detonators, which was already a very powerful existence at that time. Coupled with advanced radar guidance, neither Japanese ships nor warships ran past the Gray Whale.
The Gray Whale once aimed at a large-ton cargo ship in Japan, and when a torpedo passed, the cargo ship sank to the bottom of the sea. The Gray Whale also hit Japanese warships, secretly aiming at the bottom of the sea and firing torpedoes to drive Japanese warships into the bottom of the sea.
According to relevant statistics, in 1943 alone, the United States fired more than 4,000 torpedoes, destroying 300 Japanese warships, of which the Gray Whale destroyed 14 Japanese warships and became a thorn in Japan's side.
Because the Gray Whale is a submarine, it is difficult for Japan to confirm the location of the Gray Whale, and for a while there is really nothing to do with the Gray Whale.
On January 5, 1943, the Gray Whale received a distress signal from the American B-26 bomber, and they were forced to land on Munda Island to request the Gray Whale for support.
The Gray Whale was on a cruise mission in the Solomon Islands, and after receiving a call for help from the B-26, it immediately decided to go to the rescue.
Japanese reconnaissance aircraft have been patrolling around Munda Island, and the Gray Whale sent 2 navies to quietly swim up Munda Island from the bottom of the sea to find the pilot of the B-26 while the night was thick.
There were six pilots in the B-26, three of whom were so badly injured that it was difficult to avoid the Japanese reconnaissance aircraft and return to the Gray Whale, so they had to wait until late afternoon to return home.
The success of this rescue operation made the Gray Whale famous again. Everyone realized that the Gray Whale was not only powerful in combat, but also capable of performing rescue missions. Japan is even more annoyed with the Gray Whale, always thinking of catching the Gray Whale and destroying it.
In mid-May 1943, the Gray Whale's shell was damaged, returned to San Francisco, USA, for repairs, and re-shipped in September for its 9th cruise. During this period, several Japanese cargo ships and warships were destroyed.
Japan hated the Gray Whale to the bone and decided to attack the Gray Whale.
Although the Gray Whale was built long ago and was not used as a weapon submarine before, after the transformation of the United States, the combat effectiveness of the Gray Whale has increased significantly, and it is more than enough to fight Japanese warships.
Japan has been targeting the Gray Whale for a long time, but has not found a suitable opportunity.
In January 1944, the Gray Whale again departed from the United States to cruise near the East China Sea, mainly around the Japanese island of Okinawa.
On February 25, the Gray Whale once again destroyed Japanese warships, this time completely enraged, and sent bombers to indiscriminately bomb the island of Okinawa near the East China Sea.
The Gray Whale got in touch with the US side, and after discussions between the US side and the mainland, the Gray Whale was allowed to return from the East China Sea.
On February 27, the returning gray whale carried only 2 torpedoes, at this time, they aimed at a Japanese Ceylon Maru freighter, only heard a few "bangs", the freighter fell apart, the location of the gray whale was also exposed, but the gray whale was at the bottom of the sea after all, and the Japanese bombers could not help it.
That night, when the Gray Whale found a place to dive for air, it was hit by a missile fired by a Japanese anti-submarine aircraft, and then the Japanese anti-submarine destroyer also came and repeatedly bombarded the Gray Whale with depth charges.
At this point, the gray whale, which has won 8 American Combat Star medals, ended its service career by sinking to the bottom of the sea.
Originally, the gray whale's return to the United States was on March 7, and it was not until the end of March that the United States determined that the gray whale had sunk and issued an announcement to the public. The 80 navy members of the Gray Whale followed suit and sank to the bottom of the sea.
After the end of World War II, the United States communicated with Japan about the gray whale, when the United States got the sinking location in the waters near Okinawa Island, and the United States sent a search and rescue team to search here for many years without finding the gray whale, so the search and rescue team withdrew.
However, the American underwater explorer Taylor was not willing to give up and paid for a team to search the vicinity of Okinawa.
In 2018, while rummaging through sources, an amateur Japanese historian found a wartime recording dated February 27, 1944, in which it was mentioned that the Japanese army dropped a 500-pound bomb and knocked out a former submarine that popped out to sea, which the historian believes is the "gray whale" that the United States has not been able to find for a long time. The location where the Gray Whale sank was 160 kilometers away from the location that the US military was looking for.
He immediately shared the news with Taylor, who rushed with the team to the right location, 80 kilometers south of Okinawa.
With the help of an unmanned small submarine and a sonarator, Taylor found the wreckage of the Gray Whale, which at this time was heavily corroded and the metal sheet of the name on the submarine was intact.
The news was transmitted back to the United States, but the United States uncharacteristically did not allow Taylor to salvage the Gray Whale, which caused the dissatisfaction of the 80 Navy families of the Gray Whale and strongly demanded that the United States send a search and rescue team to salvage it.
Some people even claim that the United States does not salvage the Gray Whale because there are top-secret documents on it, and once it is taken away by someone with a heart, then the United States will be in trouble.
Things were stalemated for a while, and in the end, the United States finally said that the main reason for not salvaging the gray whale is because the gray whale has been on the bottom of the sea for 75 years, it has long been corroded, and it will fall apart with a light touch, followed by the gray whale at 435 meters under the sea, which is difficult to salvage and costs a lot of money, which is really unnecessary.
In addition, the sinking site of the Gray Whale is also relatively close to the East China Sea on the mainland, and if salvage work is carried out, it is inevitable that it will have to deal with the mainland, and the United States is unwilling to open this mouth.
The Gray Whale and 80 members of the U.S. Navy remain at the bottom of the sea.
Resources:
[1] Dagong.com, "75 Years of Unsuccessful Search for Mistranslation of Data, US World War II Submarines Finally Retrieved" 20191113