On September 20, 1941, the Navy confirmed what many had feared since that summer. The wreck of the USS O-9 had been found, lying deep off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Three months earlier, on June 20, the old submarine had slipped beneath the waves during a routine test dive and never returned. Thirty-three men went with her, lost in an instant when the Atlantic crushed her beyond her limits.

For weeks, the Navy searched, divers risking their lives, families waiting for word, and oil slicks rising from the sea as the only sign of her fate. By September 20, the exact resting place was fixed, marked forever as the grave of the O-9 and her crew. This story is not about victory in battle, but about sacrifice in training, and the cost of pushing an aging submarine too far. O-9 remains on eternal patrol.