The Lost 52 Project is a private organization founded by Tim Taylor to do research on the 52 U.S. Navy submarines lost on patrol during the Second World War, performing discovery, exploration, and underwater archeology where possible.Lost 52 ProjectUnited States Submarine Losses
Found, so far:US Navy validates final resting place of WWII submarine S-28. +SubmarinesDate lostCircumstances of lossDate found21 January 1942Scuttled after striking Taka Bakang reef near Sulawesi 13 May 20014 May 1945Depth charged by Japanese escort ships while attacking a convoy in the Gulf of Thailand May 200530 July 1942Sank after torpedo and dive plane malfunction near Kiska August 200611 October 1943Sunk after combined aerial bombing and surface depth charging in the La Pérouse Strait 31 October 20063 March 1942Depth charged on 1 March, partially repaired, then scuttled after being fired upon on the surface to prevent falling into enemy hands near Surabaya 23 November 200613 August 1944Struck a mine and sunk in the Balabac Strait 1 February 200912 June 1943Sank due to flooding from unknown causes in forward battery compartment near Key West 25 May 201124 January 1942Sank after collision with Sub chaser PC-460 in the Gulf of Panama September 20144 July 1944Sank under unknown circumstances near Oahu 20 September 201726 July 1944Presumed to have struck a Japanese mine near Palawan Island May 201929 May 1958Sank after collision with during training near Hawaii August 201927 February 1944Sunk by aerial bomb from Japanese B5N torpedo bomber in the East China Sea 10 November 20194 April 1946Used as a target ship and sunk by torpedo fire 4 August 202024 August 1944Depth charged by Japanese escort ships while attacking them near Dasol Bay May 202418 June 1945Destroyed by Japanese escort ships during an attack on the cargo ship Konzan Maru in the Sea of Japan 2025 The organization has not limited itself to discovery of submarines. It has also located other Navy ships: +ShipDate LostCircumstances of lossDate found12 April 1945Struck by kamikaze plane and Japanese flying suicide bomb during the Battle of Okinawa December 202228 May 1945Struck by multiple kamikaze planes during radar picket station duty off Okinawa 202510 June 1945Fatally damaged by a bomb-laden kamikaze plane that came to be underneath the ship's keel and abandonded 2025 As of 2026, the organization has announced that it has also located non-US Navy ships: +ShipDate LostCircumstances of lossDate foundKonzan Maru18 June 1945Torpedoed and sunk by the 2025
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