As we prepare to celebrate the 238th anniversary of our declaration of independence, “Tidbits” will be showcasing some patriotic submarine photos. USS LAGARTO (SS-371) was lost with all hands on 3 May 1945, in the midst of her second war patrol. In 2005, divers found her wreckage in about 230 feet of water in the Gulf of Thailand. Although a large portion of the port side of her bow had been blown away, the boat had come to rest, upright and dignified, on the ocean floor. The divers did not disturb LAGARTO’s remains–she, like all sunken U.S. naval vessels that took crewmembers down with them, is a protected gravesite–they did affix an American flag to one of her masts as a sign of respect for the 88 men of her crew who died defending our freedom.
