USS Grunion
 

Today I got to watch the uncut video(4 hours) of the USS Grunion located 4500 feet down. All camera work done by ROV. Gil Bohanan(Torsk historian) asked the family who's son of the skipper has spent a better part of his life looking for her. Gil asked for a copy to determine what sent her to the bottom. She hit a sea mountain at about 1200 feet and slid down the side to the sea floor. She rests now at 4500 feet. The aft torpedo room looks to have imploded as well as manuvering. About 10 feet of the bow is totally missing. You can see inside. Skids for the torps are there, visable. It is hard to tell what caused her to go down. She was on the surface battling it out as the story goes. Probably close to the truth as both scopes are down. Also, the hand rails were still mounted topside. These were usually moved below when submerging. Perhaps she had to crash dive quickly and they did not pull them or her fate was sealed on the surface and the hand rails were the last thing on the crews mind. The pressures experience was huge. The dogs on the conning tower hatch were completely blown off and spun around 180 degrees. Take a look at the dogs on the hatch....large chunks of steel. The forces must have been huge.

I was following the story at some of the websites. these sites have witnesses from the Kano Maru that testify to hitting the submarine with a shell while it was still submerged, but possibly attempting to surface.

http://www.ussgrunion.com/

It's a gripping story, and it really brings home the horror of it all..

Yes, it is a gripping story and they are looking for a definitive answer as to her sinking. Viewing the footage shows only small clues. The hand rail for example is still mounted topside. Much of the aft sections looks to have suffered implosion. Same with the bow, what is left of it. I believe it will be darn near impossible to know for sure.