DiverDownD3
Contributor
Ugh got to drive to Pax in a few weeks. No interest diving there, but this has been an interesting thread
S-49 submarine Patuxent River, MD
- Thread starter Bowtie22
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Bob DBF
Contributor
Quite a caveat. But to be fair, even during the "wars" now they would have lost command because of the glut of officers waiting for command.
It didn't too long to find those because, being a submariner, I have read a lot of submarine history and knew where to look.
Keep your dives and surfaces equal.
Bob
It used to be that about every 5 years or so one of the local newspapers would run a story on the old S-49. None of them has done a story on it for quite a while now. There have been so many "urban legends" and tales about this submarine and I have just about heard them all. It was long reported by many locals that it was a German U-boat. Of course there were also stories about how Hitler made his escape in it and lived out his life in the U.S. {people will dream up anything}...there actually is a U-boat sunk near here, the U-1105, but it is in the Potomac River. It is a dive site too and the state has a buoy on it. It lays in 89 feet of water and the visibility is just as bad. Neither is a dive worth doing.
I had a great uncle that worked at the Solomon's Annex when they were using the S-49. He said that it was pretty much emptied out when it arrived from the Philadelphia Navy Yard. He told me that he removed some plastic hinges from it and promised to give me them when he found them in his shop. That was 30 years ago and he has long passed. I never got any plastic hinges from him.
Another submarine, the USS Blenny was used at the Solomon's Annex and later sunk off Ocean City in the Atlantic. It was here in the Late 80's early 90's and I actually got to go on it.
Glen Stone
Registered
I dove the S-49 around 1995. The bottom was around 135 feet and the top of the conning tower was about 90 feet. My visibility was only about ten feet and the current was ripping so I didn't explore much but I do remember that there was a huge hole in the wreck big enough to swim into but I didn't do that. I could see well into the interior of the wreck with my light. I remember the hole being near the "end" of the sub but I couldn't establish if I was on the bow or the stern because I couldn't get a good orientation of where I was because of the low vis. I would like to go back and do some more exploration. I live near the wreck if anybody is interested in planning a dive there. Winter is best for visibility.
That is interesting...any chance your depth gauge could be off? I dove it in 1986 or 87 and it was like 102 or 103 ft to the bottom. I scanned it back in 2004 or 2005 and the charts and my scanner said the same thing, like 102 or 103 feet to the bottom. Since I last posted on this thread I went out with my brother-in-law on his new boat and scanned it again and the depth read like 125 ft to the bottom. I was told by one individual that the sub "shifted to a deeper part of the river" but I seriously doubt it. I found it in the same place it has always been.
It appears that the bottom changes, which is entirely possible due to scour from the current. She was pretty well exposed as I remember when I dove it. When I scanned it the first time {2005} it appeared to be pretty well silted in but not covered. It looked like it was silted about 1/2 to 2/3 up the sides of the hull. On the latest scan, which was only like 3 weeks ago, it showed what appeared to be the entire hull sitting pretty high off the bottom and again 122-125 feet of depth to the bottom.
The large hole is interesting too. The only large hole I saw was right on the side of the conning tower and yes, I could look right inside. I could see what appeared to be a panel of either round breakers or lights and was told later this was gear added so they could dive and resurface the boat. That system failed and doing so was abandoned. If there is a hole in the hull near the bow or stern it must be deterioration due to rust. One thing is for sure...it is a very empty hull, the Navy pretty much took everything out to the point it was nothing but a hollow hull save the air tanks.
She was used as a training vessel while in the service of the Navy and several men were killed one day when a battery exploded while she was tied to a pier. The first commander, Lt. Chrestensen was later to become the civilian owner of the boat after he left the Navy. He was made to paint the sub yellow and also paint a big "C" on the side of the hull to denote it was a "civilian" submarine. There are no color pictures of the boat known to exist. He sold postcards of the sub and a little book with several pictures and some info back when he traveled around and had it on display. The postcards as well as the book occasionally comes up for sale on ebay.
Glen Stone
Registered
well actually what happened is that when I threw down the anchor line it landed on the bottom about 50 feet from the wreck and I reeled off from there looking for the sub. I read a bottom of about 135 but I think i was in the deepest part of the canyon and my gauge could have been off. I didn't actually check the bottom depth once I found the wreck. I remember it was a rock hard bottom at the time and the sub was sitting high on the bottom. There was no silt anywhere. Regarding the hole, I was pretty disoriented on the wreck because I had spent considerable time reeling around the bottom around 130 looking for the wreck so when I actually found it I didn't spend a lot of time there. so Maybe the hole I saw was the same hole as you say but I didn't think it was on the side of the conning tower. I would like to go back and explore it some more. I put a milk jug on a string to mark it at the time and always meant to go back but I never made it back. At the time I dove it there was no marker but later I saw a small white round buoy. Are you interested in diving it again sometime?
I understand, even at slack tide the current is pretty bad there. I guess that is what keeps it scoured out. I would do it again, but it is a pretty bad dive. The depth doesn't bother me, but the fact that you really don't see much when you are there almost makes it not worth it. When I dove it the Navy {well, I guess it was the Navy...that is what we were told} still had a steel cable and big round buoy on it. We wore gloves and went down the line right to that big A-frame thing on the top of the con. I felt like a flag blowing in the wind on the cable. That buoy and cable is long gone and the best way would be to get a grapple on the hull or conning tower to descend on. Otherwise you can end up running out your dive time trying to locate the thing. It doesn't seem like a 200 plus foot long hull laying cross ways in a fairly narrow channel would be all that hard to find, but that is often not the case. I know several guys that tried simply descending to it "free fall" and they tried three or four times from up river, but were not able to reach the wreck. Biggest thing for me is I don't have a dry suit to be able to go in the winter.
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