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After a Successful Search & Find Operation for Israeli Submarine Lost 32 Years, Nauticos Recovers Components
In January 1968, the Israeli submarine Dakar, the second of three modernized WWII T-Class submarines purchased by Israel from the United Kingdom, departed from Portsmouth en route to Haifa. It was to be her maiden voyage as a member of Israel's updated submarine fleet. The crew of 69 Israeli submariners, all volunteers, had almost all been away from their homes and families for up to two years while preparing and training to bring Dakar to their young country. A hero's welcome awaited them. A 16 mm film camera recorded their boarding and departure with military fanfare from Portsmouth. This film proved to be the last visual record of the men of the INS Dakar.
After a brief stop in Gibraltar, the final planned landfall before Haifa, the submarine sailed southeast into the Mediterranean, homeward bound. Per the Israeli Navy sailing orders, the submarine reported her status by HF Morse Code every six hours. Her reported position was updated daily at 6:00 am. Her last verified position was just east of Crete. On January 25, 1968, a last transmission was received from INS Dakar-followed by silence. A vast air and sea search turned up no clues as to her fate. Then, a full year later, one of Dakar's emergency beacons was found by a fisherman, halfburied in sand on a beach in Gaza-a grim, tantalizing clue to the fate of the submarine.
The emergency buoy proved to be a cryptic messenger. Analysis of the damage to the cable that had attached it to the ship, and of the sea life and sediments on and within the buoy led researchers to conclude that the submarine had gone down in shallow water, triggering searches in the Aegean and off the coast of Egypt. The U.S. Navy loaned assets up to, and including, the nuclear-powered submarine NR-1 to the effort, but to no avail. As the years passed, any strategic, monetary, or military value in finding Dakar diminished, but the searches continued. Israel simply wanted to solve the riddle of her loss and, if possible, return her crew to their home, honoring the unwritten commitment by Israel to never leave a fallen...