April 23, 2002 Wahoo Search Newsletter #1

Welcome

Welcome to the inaugural Search for the Wahoo Newsletter. The goal is to keep the interested Wahoo community up to date with how the search is progressing. The project officially commenced on April 5, 2002 and we hope to be diving on her before autumn.

Project Mission

The Wahoo Project is the inaugural part of a multiyear program that includes the

• Submarines USS Wahoo and (pending approval) USSR L-19
• Submarine USS Tang
• IJN Ships Jinyo, the Urakaze and Kongo
• Submarines USS ALBACORE, USS CISCO and USS GUDGEON

The Wahoo and L-19 are both believed to be in the Soya (aka La Perouse) Strait which lies between Hokkaido, Japan and Sakhalin, Russia. Our intention is a low cost external “locate and identify” mission. There is no plan to enter either boat.

Project Team

Since April 5, a small and directed multinational team has been assembled that includes staff from Japan, Australia, the U. S., and South Africa. It contains a core team of volunteers that includes technical divers, project organizers, and researchers.

Project Website

The official project web site is located at www.mackinnon.org/numa Currently, it contains the project profile, search location map, and other information. These will be added to regularly as the project develops.

Current Activities

The initial focus has been to address some of the more critical aspects of the project:

• Developing the project plan and profile
• Securing project funding
• Assembling the project team
• Obtaining Russian permission.
• Locating critical hardware including a fishing boat, side scan sonar, and proton magnetometer.
• Planning for training dives that that simulate conditions in the Soya Strait.

About NUMA

Founded in 1979 by author Clive Cussler, the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) is a 501C3 non-profit, volunteer foundation dedicated to preserving our maritime heritage through the discovery, archaeological survey and conservation of shipwreck artifacts.

NUMA Japan was established in 2001 and is an affiliate projects office of NUMA Australia. Our purpose in Japan is to facilitate research into Japan based archives for NUMA missions and to assist with NUMA missions. NUMA Japan works in conjunction with the MacKinnon Organization which has been conducting research into the USS Wahoo (SS-238) since 1995. We operate with the assistance from primarily Japanese staff who volunteer their time and resources to make information available from inquiries from around the world.