The final resting place of Lagarto was unknown for 60 years until it was discovered in the Gulf of Thailand in 2005. Now, the Wisconsin Maritime Museum has exclusive underwater footage and is developing a documentary on "the lost sub."
In March 2007, the Wisconsin Maritime Museum sponsored a dive expedition by Richie Kohler and John Chatterton, the History Channel's "Deep Sea Detectives," to solve the mystery of Lagarto's disappearance. Along with Kohler and Chatterton, the museum is working with two Emmy-award winning producers to create a documentary on Lagarto titled "Lost & Found: The Legacy of USS Lagarto."
Below is a low-resolution preview of the documentary. (Original is in High Definition)
The Wisconsin Maritime Museum is currently raising funds to support the Lagarto documentary. To make a donation, please contact Bobbie Novak at 1-866-724-2356 or e-mail her at bnovak@wisconsinmaritime.org.
View a message from Norma Bishop, Executive Director of the musuem, about making a tax-deductible donation to the documentary project. The Wisconsin Maritime Museum is a 501(c)3 organizatio
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Lagarto was one of 28 submarines built by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company during World War II. Lagarto was on its second war patrol when it sank just weeks before the end of the war in May 1945 in the Gulf of Thailand. For sixty years, the sub with 86 seamen aboard was lost in the Pacific Ocean.
In May 2005, Roy Leonhardt, an associate member of the U.S. Submarine Veterans of WWII, contacted a diver in Thailand, Jamie MacLeod, and directed him to focus on an area of interest. Leonhardt had researched submarine patrol records and heard reports from fishermen of tangled nets. Based on that location information, MacLeod discovered Lagarto.
According to a 1946 letter written by James Forrestal, then Secretary of the Navy, to the wife of a crewmember, the submarines USS Lagarto and USS Baya were to attack an enemy convoy in the Gulf of Siam, now known as the Gulf of Thailand. "The Baya proceeded on ahead of Lagarto about fifteen miles and was driven off by alert radar-equipped escorts. The Baya had no further contacts with Lagarto."
Lagarto was discovered sitting upright in 225 feet of water. Kohler and Chatterton found a large rupture in the portside bow, apparently from a depth charge.
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