Divers Off Maine Find US Ship Sunk by German Sub
49 sailors on the USS Eagle PE-56 went down with the ship in 1945
By John Johnson, Newser Staff
Posted Jul 19, 2019 8:09 AM CDT
(Newser) – They finally found the Eagle 56—a war grave off the coast of Maine. Divers discovered the wreckage of the USS Eagle PE-56, which was sunk by a German sub in the final weeks of World War II, reports the New York Times. Forty-nine of the 62 people aboard were killed in the blast on April 23, 1945. The Navy initially blamed the sinking on a boiler explosion and didn't formally change that conclusion until 2001, thanks to the research of naval historian Paul Lawton, per the AP. Video from the discovery, to be aired in an upcoming documentary on the Smithsonian Channel, show that both of the ship's boilers are intact. The ship's hull is broken in two and sits in water about 300 feet deep some five miles from Maine's coast, in an area beyond the reach of recreational divers.
https://www.newser.com/story/278033/divers-off-maine-find-us-ship-sunk-by-german-sub.html
