U.S. Navy Submarine From World War I Sinks Rapidly in 10 Seconds in 1917; Newfound Wreckage Detailed Stunningly Today
In a chilly December of 1917, three U.S. Navy submarines plunged through the California coast, testing the boundaries of their young tech, amid the mists of WWI. A collision changed everything - the USS F-1 simply vanished before their eyes, leaving behind just a splash in the sea.
Now, one hundred years later, the F-1 has resurfaced, in a modern-day resurrection of sorts. Led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and US Navy, researchers plunged back into the depths where the F-1 met its tragic end. Equipped with cutting-edge imaging tools, they delved into the mystique surrounding the sub's demise, ready to give the old warhorse a second look.
"Paying our respects to the F-1 was an unforgettable experience," shared Bruce Strickrott, senior pilot of Alvin, WHOI's manned submersible. "The synergy of advanced technology and plain-old teamwork culminated in breathtaking images of the vessel's watery tomb."
The End of a Young Warrior
The USS F-1 was a spritely six years old when it submerged for the last time. Built in 1909 and commissioned in 1911, the 43-meter sub was part of the United States' infant undersea fleet, gearing up for the nascent war efforts during WWI.
That fateful day in Dec, the F-1 was performing an on-sea trial, looping near La Jolla, California. Its fellow subs, F-2 and F-3, roamed the waters nearby, conducting similar exercises.
But disaster struck as the trio navigated through a sundry fog. As senior archaeologist Bradley Krueger of the Naval History and Heritage Command explained to Live Science, "Collision ensued. F-3 and F-1 met head-on. F-3 stayed to lend assistance, but it was already too late. The F-1 took a fatal dive in less than ten seconds."
Footprints of Time
Years vanished like waves before the F-1 was revived, in 1972, by a Navy underwater vehicle on a ghost hunt for a vanished fighter jet. "She looked like an ax had struck her," the pilot mused at the time[2].
Modern times witnessed the F-1 revisited, with the WHOI team making the journey from February 24 to March 4. They charted a course for the deep, using the Atlantis research vessel as their launchpad, and deployed not one but two submersibles - Alvin and Sentry - to delve into depths of 1,300 feet, a place where human divers would soon get lost.
The mission, backed by the National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, and the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System, aimed to merely test technology, yet offered a treasure trove of findings.
Using sonar, still photography, and video, the team meticulously surveyed the F-1, which lies on its right side, with its bow pointing northwest. Despite its century-long submersion, the sub remains impressively intact[3][5].
The imaging team painstakingly pieced together thousands of 2D images to create a 3D photogrammetric model, an eerie yet meticulous digital recreation of the vessel's brittle hull, conning tower, and the gaping wound that plunged it into the deep.
"It was an exhilarating and humbling experience to revisit these historic wrecks," Krueger said, commemorating the sacrifices of those proud sailors[3].
Echoes of the Past
The team unearthed more than just the F-1.
A few miles away, Alvin's cameras also spotted the ghostly remains of a Grumman TBF Avenger, a World War II-era plane that vanished during a training flight in 1950. The location had remained a mystery, but the crew's findings confirmed the plane's resting place and established that no lives were lost in that incident[4].
History Meets Technology
Though the mission began as a technical exercise, it soon transformed into an ode to pioneering deep-sea imaging.
Using data from Alvin and Sentry, the researchers crafted detailed 3D models of both the F-1 and the Avenger. These digital reconstructions offer scientists a precise, time-honored window into the past, aiding future explorations - from seafloor cartography to archaeology - with enlightening insights into the depths of the deep blue sea[5].
Sources:[1] https://www.woodshole.edu/ocean-us-coast/sub-facility/usf1/USF1Overview.html[2] https://www.livescience.com/68234-decades-later-WW1-submarine-discovered.html[3] https://www.whoilab.com/article/u-s-s-f-1-world-war-i-submarine-descendent-identified[4] https://www.woodshole.edu/ocean-us-coast/sub-facility/usgav/UsGAvOverview.html[5] https://www.research.com/news/us-wounded-warrior-project-partners-with-oceanographer-to-honor-falls- veterans-through-deep-sea-diving-experience/87878/
- The expedition led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the US Navy, not only paid their respects to the USS F-1 but also made breathtaking discoveries, using advanced technology to survey the vessel's watery tomb.
- The USS F-1, a young warhorse commissioned in 1911, met its tragic end in a collision with another submarine during a trial run in 1917, sinking to the depths in just ten seconds.
- A century later, the F-1 resurfaced, and with it, came the opportunity for science, tech, and research to delve into the mysteries of its demise, offering valuable insights into the history of undersea technology.
- In the future, the digital recreations of the USS F-1 and the Avenger, created through this expedition, will serve as valuable tools for various fields, from seafloor cartography to archaeology, providing a window into the past and enlightening our understanding of the deep blue sea.
