Lost Military
The Golden Submarine I-52
Sank 1944 · located 1995 · Mid-Atlantic, ~1,200 mi W of the Cape Verde Islands
Found, unrecoveredThe prize. 2.2 tons of Japanese gold bound for Nazi Germany
Where. Mid-Atlantic, ~1,200 mi W of the Cape Verde Islands
Status. Found, unrecovered
Where. Mid-Atlantic, ~1,200 mi W of the Cape Verde Islands
Status. Found, unrecovered
The account
On her maiden run the I-52 carried gold, tungsten, and opium across the world to pay Hitler for technology, and US codebreakers read her every move. A hunter-killer group found her in the dark Atlantic and an acoustic torpedo did the rest. She lies three miles down, located in 1995 by a treasure expedition; the gold is still aboard, too deep, so far, to lift.
Leads, where the trail points now
- A Japanese submarine sunk in the mid-Atlantic in 1944 while carrying two tons of gold to Nazi Germany; it was found in 1995 by Paul Tidwell at about 5,200 meters.
- The wreck is located but the gold has never been recovered, blocked by the extreme depth and by legal and cost questions.
- The lead is the well-documented cargo manifest and the precise deep-Atlantic position.
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