The mystery of Uss Cyclops

Not a bad thought Hardluck. What is interesting is the reports that vary so widely. Some say he had extra coal and food and overloaded manganese, and some say he had too little. Some reports claim a cracked cylinder in one engine and then I read something stating it was repaired and both engines were functioning. The fact that the ship was inspected and released makes one wonder, but the inspection was in Rio. Perhaps Worley planned to return to Rio and that's why he headed south?

If only 1 engine was functioning wouldn't the ETA date reflect it?  Like you say Hardluck perhaps the extra weight was using fuel too quickly, or was Worley pushing the 1 remaining engine too hard to make up time? If he lost that engine as well (assuming he had only the one) and was drifting the reported storm could easily have broadsided them. Could that storm have pushed them farther out over deep water before sinking Cyclops? I wonder if there are storm records to show how it was moving?

Perhaps he turned inland to make for an emergency port? There aren't a lot of places between Barbados and Baltimore once you get north of the islands besides Bermuda without going quite a way out of his way. hmmm 
Sorry rambling thoughts

Here was an interesting tidbit. Perhaps one of the three was found but ignored.

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No clue turned up until 1968 when master navy diver, Dean Hawes, descended on a large hulk lying in 180 feet of water about 40 nautical miles northeast of Cape Charles. Hawes was stunned. He found himself standing on a vessel unlike any he'd ever seen. The bridge sat on steel stilts above the deck and huge arms stretched upward along the main deck into the liquid gloom.

Hawes finally surfaced with the intention of going down again with his dive team, but bad weather forced the navy salvage ship to abandon the wreck and sail back to Norfolk. The dive exercise was rumored to be a searching for the then missing nuclear submarine, Scorpion that was later found on the bottom west of the Azores, and the navy felt no need to spend unnecessary time investigating the wreck further.

Years later, Hawes happened to read an article on the mystery of the Cyclops. Included was a picture of the ship, exactly what Hawes had explored.

Hawes managed to convince the navy to return and check out the site again, but a different wreck was located and nothing resembling the Cyclops was found.

Somebody call Bob Ballard or Paulina Zelitski! 

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,12001.msg78020.html#msg78020

Hi Seldom those dang hurricanes been messing you all up down there haven't they? Hopefully not too much damage was done  :-


the good ol USGS has images for download. Occasionally they do something good!

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Not sure the resolution of the download is high enough to see much but I thought it might be worth a gander at the Albemarle Shelf.
Just an interesting note, the Cyclops sister ships 2 of which sank of unknown means and one converted to an aircraft carrier USS Langly which was damaged by Japanese aircraft and sunk. Nothing to suggest a particular flaw but the fact there were only 4 of the Proteus class made says something.

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,12001.msg78133.html#msg78133

BA definitely didn't mean to slight the Langley. First of her kind. She survived the fight but died from her wounds, not because of a flaw. I was hoping to find a common problem but there is nothing left to analyze.

Wondering if there was a design flaw in the superstructure, seeing as how aircraft carriers don't have much. Perhaps it was too top heavy? Hatch design? Aircraft carriers probably don't carry as much raw tonnage either but thats just a guess.

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,12001.msg78141.html#msg78141

Hello BA

There is part 1 of an article of interest in the October 1974 edition of "Naval engineers journal" Asking about the fate of the three ships of that class. It might be an interesting read from a naval engineers viewpoint. Unfortunately I  was unable to get the full article.

Here is the first page of the article.

Hardluck 



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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,12001.msg78166.html#msg78166

Hello Ivan Salis

It certainty was a ship with all the cards stacked against it. I cannot  image the foreboding the crew had sailing out of Rio?

I suppose the real mystery is what was final straw that broke the camels back? There are so many possibilities with this ship.

What ever happened it must of been so catastrophic to leave no trace of the fate of the Cyclops.

Making it one of the most enduring mysteries of the sea.

Hardluck 

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,12001.msg78182.html#msg78182