00:00The U.S. had lost 52 submarines to the Deep Blue Sea during World War II,
00:05leaving many spectators wondering what had happened to them.
00:08But one researcher decided to act.
00:11Tim Taylor and his team made it their ultimate mission to find those submarines,
00:15and in 2010 they found the first vessel.
00:17However, it wasn't until almost a decade later that the team would stumble upon a valuable submarine,
00:23revealing a seven-five-year-long mystery.
00:25Because that particular submarine had disappeared off the face of the Earth without any explanation.
00:31From exotic sea creatures to beautiful ecosystems, it's amazing what's hidden beneath the water's surface.
00:37But one of the most interesting things to find along the ocean's floor is ships and submarines.
00:43And for professional ocean explorer Tim Taylor, this was more than just passion.
00:48He was focused on finding some of the United States' most historical submarines lost in battle during World War II.
00:54But the thing about these subs is that they were nowhere to be found for decades.
00:58So how exactly was he going to find them?
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01:08Just because you know something is lost doesn't mean you know where it was lost after all.
01:13That's the whole point of it being lost.
01:15But this wasn't like losing your phone at a sporting event or something like that.
01:19These were vessels that were a few hundred feet in length.
01:22These submarines weren't just shipwrecked and lost at sea.
01:25They just mysteriously vanished into the ocean's depth, nowhere to be found.
01:29That is, until Tim Taylor came along.
01:32But even he couldn't prepare for what things were going to be like when he decided to start his mission.
01:36Especially since they were military vessels.
01:38The fact that so many submarines were never heard from again made the mystery that much more captivating.
01:44Back in 1944, there was one particular vessel that was one of the U.S. military's most prized submarines.
01:51The USS Greyback, SS-208.
01:54This submarine was deemed lost at sea after the Marines team on land never heard from them again.
02:00The location of where the submarine was lost, along with what actually happened to it, had haunted people for many
02:06years.
02:06So how exactly was this vessel lost at sea in the first place?
02:11The whole story begins during World War II.
02:14The USS Greyback had set sail out of Pearl Harbor towards the end of 1941, and ended up being one
02:22of the most important vessels during that time.
02:24Its sole purpose was to sink freight vessels, damage cargo ships, and take down the rival submarines, and that it
02:31did.
02:31Over the course of about two years, the submarine had been a part of ten successful war patrol missions, hitting
02:37and sinking a total of six, three, eight, three, five tons of cargo, and 14 ships.
02:451,942 was a big year for the USS Greyback.
02:48The team and vessel had hit its very first target, a 3,291-ton freight ship, on March 17, and
02:56within the next few months, it had proven to be a vicious vessel for any enemy target.
03:01But damaging the enemy's cargo ships and subs wasn't the only thing the USS Greyback was known for.
03:07The vicious vessel also honorably assisted in the rescue of six survivors after a B-26 plane crashed in January
03:141943.
03:16Little did they know that just a year later, the submarine itself would be the one who needed rescuing.
03:21The way things work with military vessels, especially when they're in an area far from populated areas, is that they
03:27are supposed to be sent out for a certain amount of time before going back.
03:31And since the USS Greyback was a submarine, the team on it was prepared to be out at sea for
03:36a long period of time.
03:37After all, they would be under the water and needed to be prepared for any and all scenarios.
03:43But after its ninth mission out to sea, the SS-208 made a safe return to shore to rest and
03:49prepare for its next war patrol.
03:51So far, things were going great for the sub and its crew.
03:54They returned to shore and were locked and reloaded for their tenth mission in January 1944.
04:00They set sail on the 28th of January 1944 from Pearl Harbor and had hit two more cargo ships within
04:06the next month.
04:07At that point, they were running low on torpedoes and were commanded to return back to shore to reload.
04:14Nobody would have ever expected what would happen next, though.
04:17One of the reasons why the SS-208 is known to be so legendary in the world of Navy units
04:22is the fact that not only was she a vicious vessel, but she didn't go down without a fight.
04:27On February 27th, 1944, the submarine's crew had updated the unit on land that they had damaged and sunk another
04:36target, a naval transport vessel.
04:38However, unfortunately, during that same time, the USS Greyback had sadly been damaged by an aircraft during battle.
04:47That was the very last update that anyone ever received from its crew members aboard the submarine.
04:52The final words of the USS Greyback were sent on February 27th, but they were expected back to shore on
04:58March 7th.
04:59When the submarine never returned home by March 30th, there was no choice but to declare it lost, according to
05:05the U.S.
05:07Defense official website, the Naval History and Heritage Command, documented the vessel's demise.
05:12That same day, February 27th, a Japanese carrier-based plane spotted a submarine on the surface in the East China
05:20Sea and attacked.
05:21According to Japanese reports, the submarine exploded and sank immediately, but anti-submarine craft were called in to depth-charge
05:29the area,
05:30clearly marked by a trail of air bubbles, until at last a heavy oil slick swelled to the surface.
05:36It was a devastating loss.
05:38The country lost not only a key submarine, but also the brave crew members aboard.
05:43Given the weight of the tragedy, it became important to determine where the Greyback had actually gone down.
05:48For years, no one could find it, but that changed in 2010.
05:54Clues were limited.
05:55It was believed the sub had sunk somewhere in the South Pacific, near the South China Sea.
06:00Access to Japanese military records gave the Navy a better idea about 100 miles southeast of Okinawa,
06:06but still, the exact location remained unknown.
06:10Surprisingly, it wasn't the Navy that would uncover the mystery, but a civilian ocean explorer named Tim Taylor.
06:17Military equipment is often top-tier, with inventions like GPS and the Internet tracing back to defense development.
06:23Still, even with advanced tools, the military never managed to locate several World War II-era subs, including the Greyback.
06:31Taylor, however, had different plans.
06:33He believed determination, paired with the right tools and research, could succeed where others had failed.
06:39Earlier that same year, he had already achieved a remarkable feat, discovering the wreck of the USS R-12.
06:46The USS R-12 had sunk during a mission near Key West in 1943 due to a malfunction.
06:52While five crew members survived, 42 perished, and the sub remained missing for decades.
06:58In October, 2010, Tim Taylor and his team aboard the research vessel Tiburon, located the R-12 resting on the
07:06seafloor.
07:07That success gave him the momentum to launch a broader mission to find other lost submarines, including the Greyback.
07:13This wasn't a fluke. Taylor was well prepared.
07:16With over 30 years of experience in underwater exploration, and as the CEO of Tiburon Subsea,
07:22he had both the technical and operational knowledge to carry out deep-sea missions.
07:27In a 2015 interview, Taylor said his passion for exploration had always driven him.
07:33His work over the years gave him a deep understanding of autonomous underwater vehicles
07:37and how to use them effectively for real-world discovery.
07:40Using this expertise, he launched the Lost 52 Project,
07:44named for the 52 U.S. submarines lost during World War II.
07:48Within less than a decade, Taylor's team had found five of them.
07:52Their process began with intensive pre-production, collecting as much data as possible,
07:57before launching any expedition.
07:59This included gathering historical documents, maps, and military records to narrow down potential search areas.
08:05Research was critical, but even with the best planning, finding the USS Greyback wouldn't go smoothly.
08:11The team had fortunately obtained Japanese military documents that recorded the coordinates of the bomb strike
08:17that sank the USS Greyback on the 27th of February, 1944.
08:22But there was a problem one digit in the translated coordinates was incorrect.
08:26The coordinates' translation was off by one digit.
08:29That changed the location by more than 100 miles,
08:33Taylor explained in an interview with the Washington Post.
08:35After realizing the mistake, the team corrected their data and prepared for the expedition.
08:41They believed this time, they had a real chance.
08:44In June 2019, they set sail for Okinawa, Japan, equipped with advanced submersible drones,
08:51using sonar imaging to scan the ocean floor.
08:53These drones sent back high-resolution data, providing a detailed view of the underwater landscape.
09:00Despite the technology, challenges quickly emerged.
09:03Technical issues from refrigeration system malfunctions to drone errors began to stack up.
09:08Morale was low, and the crew was preparing to abandon the expedition.
09:12Then, during what was planned to be a 24-hour dive, a technical glitch appeared.
09:17But this apparent failure turned out to be a breakthrough.
09:19As the drone's camera swept along the wreck, it passed over a plaque on the submarine's bridge.
09:25There was no mistaking it, this was the USS Greyback.
09:28After 75 years, the lost submarine had finally been found, elated but cautious.
09:34The team's next step was to confirm the identity with the U.S. Navy.
09:38In the meantime, they collected extensive imagery and built a 4D model of the wreck,
09:43enabling researchers to examine the submarine in remarkable detail.
09:47The discovery was not just technical, it was deeply human.
09:50Despite being underwater for decades, the Greyback had become a small ecosystem.
09:55The team was struck by how nature had reclaimed the vessel.
09:58But one final step remained the most emotional of all.
10:02The Lost 52 Project's mission is to provide the fullest possible documentation and accounting of these locations
10:08for our missing World War II Navy sailors, their families, and the nation.
10:13Of the 52 submarines lost during the war, 374 officers and 3,131 enlisted men died.
10:22On the USS Greyback alone, 80 sailors were lost.
10:26Once the Navy verified the submarine's identity, Taylor's team turned to locating the families of the fallen.
10:32For many, the loss had remained an open wound, no remains, no final resting place, only silence.
10:39But Taylor's work brought long-awaited closure.
10:42One of those touched by the discovery was Kathy Taylor, niece of sailor John Patrick King.
10:47She had grown up with her uncle's story and always hoped to one day find answers.
10:51I committed from the very beginning when I was a little girl that I was going to find him or
10:56follow him or keep his memory alive, whatever I could do,
10:59Kathy said in an emotional interview with ABC News.
11:02For families like hers, the discovery was a moment of release, a long-lost piece of history, and a family
11:09brought back from the depths.
11:11Thanks to Tim Taylor's perseverance, cutting-edge technology, and an unwavering commitment to the memory of those lost,
11:18the story of the USS Greyback finally found its end.
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