US Submarine S-21 sunk in WW II has been discovered off the coast of Maine

US Navy Archives

U.S.S. S-21 off Pearl Harbor

During this process they narrowed the search area to what they considered manageable enough to solicit the services of Garry Kozak, a side scan sonar expert who specializes in shipwreck location. Kozak previously worked with Bob Ballard of Titanic fame and Clive Cussler.

The S-21 was built by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation at Quincy Massachusetts and commissioned by the US Navy on 18 August 1921.

At 220 feet long with a compliment of four officers and thirty-four enlisted men the submarine was designed for coastal and harbor defense. The submarine operated off the East coast from commissioning until the start of WW II. The submarine then provided defense in the Pacific around the approaches to the Panama Canal.

In 1942 the submarine was decommissioned and transferred to the Royal Navy and became Her Majesty’s Submarine (HMS) P553 before being returned to the US Navy in 1944 and stored at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.

In March of 1945 the submarine was towed north and sunk as a test target off the Maine Coast. In October 5 2008 S-21 was found lying on its port side with its center section severely damaged. The bow with the torpedo tubes is intact and these can be clearly seen in the sonar image.

The stern is also relatively intact.