Researchers have located the wrecks of two military vehicles that had been lost for decades on the seabed a few miles off San Diego: an American submarine that sank during a training accident in 1917 and a US Navy training aircraft that crashed in the same area in 1950 .
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The submarine USS F-1 sank within seconds after being severely damaged in a collision with another Navy submarine. Nineteen crew members drowned in the accident, while three were rescued by the other submarine.
The wreck of the USS F-1 was discovered by chance in the 1970s, but a mission to the area earlier this year by researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the U.S. Navy was the first to capture high-resolution images of it after it sank. It now lies more than 1,300 feet (400 meters), well beyond the limit of human diving. The wreck was studied using the manned submarine Alvin and the autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry, both operating from WHOI's Atlantis research vessel.
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Bradley Krueger, an archaeologist with the U.S. Navy's Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC), participated in some of the dives with Alvin and described the details of the fateful 1917 sinking. Stickrott said he had located the wreckage roughly based on Navy records and that the autonomous submarine Sentry was sent to explore the area. The wreck was located on the first afternoon of the search.
The F-1 submarine is now lying on its starboard side, with its bow facing northwest. Subsequent explorations by the rover have shown that the submarine is "remarkably intact," despite having been at the bottom for more than 100 years.
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The wreck is now a war grave for the 19 crew who lost their lives in the 1917 accident. WHOI and the Navy have agreed not to come into contact with the wreck, "in order to preserve its condition and honor its legacy."
Source: livescience
