USS Dragonet (SS-293)

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dvankirk

Contributor
Messages
263
Reaction score
86
Location
Cary, North Carolina, USA
# of dives
500 - 999
For anybody who knew or cares that this sub is in the Chesapeake Bay, we were able to successfully find and dive the wreck a couple of weeks ago. The silt bottom was at 145' (with the bedrock that the sub rests on somewhere below that) and visibility ranged from 0 to 5 feet - conditions not for the faint at heart. The video is what you would expect from such poor vis, but with lots of light and a great captain, we landed on what we believe to be one of the two gun decks within 10 feet of what we think are the two periscopes shears. We didn't have enough time to get definitive evidence as to the damage done to the sub from the Navy's explosive testing in 1961, but it is there.

[video=youtube;YYen4OmImDc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYen4OmImDc[/video]
 
Hey, this is fantastic! I have only read about the Dragonet in Gary Gentile's book but have never known anybody to dive it. In Gary's book he says that the dragonet is almost completely covered in silt with only a couple feet of the conning tower sticking out of the mud. Your video certainly shows that there is more than just a few feet above the mud. Do you think that is the main deck gun in the beginning of your video? If so then you would have only been a few feet from the conning tower. Did you find the conning tower? Also, the deck guns of the Balao class had a barrel that was huge, like 6-8"" in diameter. Your video seems to show a barrel much smaller in diameter. But I am no expert. I know that these can turn into a big jumbled mess when they have been bombed and it is hard to tell what is what. I spent an entire winter about fifteen years ago searching for the s-49 also in the chesapeake (patuxent river). It had been bombed also. We finally found it in 130 feet of water in similar condition as what your video shows. We were diving in winter so I had about 20 feet of vis in a ripping current. Your vis is actually much better than 5' in some of your video which is surprising in the summer. Usually it is much better in the winter. Anyway, that was a good find!
 
Hey, this is fantastic! I have only read about the Dragonet in Gary Gentile's book but have never known anybody to dive it. In Gary's book he says that the dragonet is almost completely covered in silt with only a couple feet of the conning tower sticking out of the mud. Your video certainly shows that there is more than just a few feet above the mud. Do you think that is the main deck gun in the beginning of your video? If so then you would have only been a few feet from the conning tower. Did you find the conning tower? Also, the deck guns of the Balao class had a barrel that was huge, like 6-8"" in diameter. Your video seems to show a barrel much smaller in diameter. But I am no expert. I know that these can turn into a big jumbled mess when they have been bombed and it is hard to tell what is what. I spent an entire winter about fifteen years ago searching for the s-49 also in the chesapeake (patuxent river). It had been bombed also. We finally found it in 130 feet of water in similar condition as what your video shows. We were diving in winter so I had about 20 feet of vis in a ripping current. Your vis is actually much better than 5' in some of your video which is surprising in the summer. Usually it is much better in the winter. Anyway, that was a good find!

I can only speculate that we landed on one of the gun mounts. It is my best guess considering the distance to the periscopes shears. There was very little above the mud. We aren't sure if the sub is intact and buried or in pieces and we just happened to find the conning tower. There isn't much relief on the sonar picture. We were very cautious and didn't venture far considering the reports we had of the condition of the wreck. As far as we know, it hasn't been dived in many years. I had a good conversation with Uwe Lovas (who found many of the subs that I dive frequently) a couple of months ago about this wreck (and the U-1105) and he said that is was a mess when he dove it 30 years ago. I hope to get back out for further investigation.

There is also the U-1105 off of Piney Point - same vis, but only 85'.
 
this is awesome. thank you for sharing.
 
For anybody who knew or cares that this sub is in the Chesapeake Bay, we were able to successfully find and dive the wreck a couple of weeks ago. The silt bottom was at 145' (with the bedrock that the sub rests on somewhere below that) and visibility ranged from 0 to 5 feet - conditions not for the faint at heart. The video is what you would expect from such poor vis, but with lots of light and a great captain, we landed on what we believe to be one of the two gun decks within 10 feet of what we think are the two periscopes shears. We didn't have enough time to get definitive evidence as to the damage done to the sub from the Navy's explosive testing in 1961, but it is there.

[video=youtube;YYen4OmImDc]
My father was a crewman on the Dragonet.If you ever manage to get a pic of it on a dive I would cherish it!
 
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