"Top Secret" Maritime Archaeology: Preliminary Investigations on the San Pablo, Sunk During an OSS Operation in Pensacola, Florida in 1944

Author(s): Gregory Cook

Year: 2013

Summary

As one of the many popular diving spots in Northwest Florida, divers have been visiting the site of the San Pablo for decades.  Little was known about the vessel's history until recent research revealed the large, steel-hulled freighter was sunk in a top secret OSS operation known as Project Campbell.  The project involved the development of a disguised, remote-controlled vessel carrying explosives capable of attacking and sinking enemy vessels, and it was intended to be deployed during the invasion of Japan toward the end of World War II.  The San Pablo served as the target ship in the groundtesting of Operation Campbell, and was successfully sunk via a remote control piloted vessel in 1944.  The University of West Florida has initiated a research program focusing on the remains of  the San Pablo,  and thispresentation provides an overview of Project Campbell and our preliminary work on the wreck site.

Cite this Record

"Top Secret" Maritime Archaeology: Preliminary Investigations on the San Pablo, Sunk During an OSS Operation in Pensacola, Florida in 1944. Gregory Cook. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Leicester, England, U.K. 2013 ( tDAR id: 428633)

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Keywords

General
freighter secret WWII

Geographic Keywords
North America United States of America

Temporal Keywords
20th Century

Spatial Coverage

min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 453