An exploration team led by Tim Taylor aboard the expedition vessel RV Tiburon has located and documented the wreck of the WWII submarine USS R-12.

The R-12 was lost on June 12,1943 in 600 feet of water, sinking in less than 15 seconds.

She sank nearly 70 years ago taking 42 US servicemen to their deaths off the coast of the Florida Keys, USA. The reason for her loss remains unknown.

R-12 began its career as a World War I era sub that was re-commissioned for service in World War II. At the time of the sinking R-12 was engaged in war time patrol operations near Key West. Only two officers and 3 enlisted men survived the disaster that claimed 42 lives.

In making the discovery, the team deployed a state-of-the-art autonomous underwater robot which collected first ever imagery of the remains of R-12. They are collaborating and sharing their findings with the US Navy.

RV Tiburon is launching an expedition in the Spring of 2012 to further investigate the possible causes of the sinking, and collect detailed archeological baseline data.

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