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Undersea hulk may be World War II sub

The sons of the vessel's leader led the search.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The mangled remains of a vessel found in the Bering Sea are likely those of a World War II submarine that disappeared with a crew of 70 off the Aleutian Island of Kiska.

The discovery of the USS Grunion last week culminates a five-year search led by the sons of its commander, Mannert Abele, and may finally shine a light on the mysterious last moments of the doomed vessel.

"Obviously, this is a very big thing," the oldest son, Bruce Abele, said Thursday from his home in Newton, Mass.

A remotely operated vehicle snapped pictures and captured three hours of video footage of the Grunion on a rocky underwater slope north of the volcanic island, according to another brother, John Abele, who was in Kiska Harbor with the search team on Thursday.

The submarine lies 1,000 feet below the surface and had been crushed by water pressure, Abele said. He is director and co-founder of the medical equipment company Boston Scientific Corp. and the youngest of the three brothers.

"The most surprising thing was the damage," he said. "It was much more than we or anyone else imagined. Initially it was very hard to recognize as a ship."

The hull had imploded so severely that the interior, including bunks and a dive wheel, were clearly visible, Abele said. No human remains were found.

The search team hired by the Abeles, Deep Sea Systems International, said no identifying markings or lettering could be seen. However, the location and appearance of the vessel indicate it is the missing sub.

"There's a 95 percent chance that this is the Grunion and a less than 5 percent chance that it's not," said Christopher J. Nicholson, general manager of the Cataumet, Mass., company. "The fact that they actually found this in an expanse of ocean is really pretty spectacular."

The Grunion had a propeller guard, which was rare in subs of the day, Abele said. The vessel discovered also had the fence, which prevented docking lines from getting caught in the propeller.

The Grunion patrolled Alaska's Aleutian Islands during the early months of World War II. Its last official radio message to the submarine base at Dutch Harbor came on July 30, 1942, and described heavy enemy activity at Kiska Harbor.

[Last modified August 26, 2007, 01:41:13]