Date of Loss: 25 January, 1968
Returned to Service: No
The Israeli submarine Dakar (ex-HMS Totem) disappeared in the eastern Mediterranean while on her maiden voyage to Israel from the British shipyard where she had been refurbished after being purchased (along with two sister submarines) by the Israeli Navy. Dakar departed Portsmouth, England on 09 January. She arrived at Gibraltar on the morning of 15 January and departed late that night. The last communication from Dakar was received just after midnight on 25 January. The next communication should have been received later that morning, but nothing was heard.
On the morning of 26 January, an extensive search operations was launched. Eventually Israeli, British, American, Greek, Turkish, and even Lebanese vessels and aircraft participated.
On the 27 January, a radio station in Nicosia, Cyprus reported receiving an SOS signal on the frequency of Dakar's emergency buoy. Most international forces stopped searching on 31 January, but Israeli units continue search operations until 04 February. The submarine was never found. The only physical clue to Dakar's disappearance was her after emergency buoy marker, with 65 meters of cable still attached, which was found washed up on a beach in the Gaza Strip over a year later, on 09 February 1969.
The Israeli government went so far as to offer a reward for the discovery of Dakar.
69 men lost. No survivors.
The remains of Dakar were found on 28 May 1999 by a company that had been contracted by the Israeli Navy to conduct a search for her. (The Israeli Navy had continued to search for Dakar on a regular basis ever since she disappeared).
Her hull rests in two pieces in 2,900 meters of water, very near the position she should have been in when she made her last transmission (based on the location of the wreckage, it has been estimated that the accident occured between midnight and 0300. The bridge and conning tower were also separated from the hull The forward section of the hull, including the engine rooms, sits upright on the sea floor.
A portion of Dakar's bridge, along with the housing of the after emergency buoy marker have been recovered and is part of a memorial to her crew.
Editor's Note: During the many years that Dakar was missing, many theories have been put forward about her loss. There has been at least one fictional book written about her (and there are probably several that I don't know about). Based on the time and location where her after emergency buoy marker was found (a year later and on the Gaza Strip), many people felt that she had been lost near the Egyptian coast, in relatively shallow water, and probably due to hostile action.
The discover of Dakar, very near the location of her last transmission, and on her proper course shows that all the early theories were wrong. Still, the question remains - what caused the loss of INS Dakar?
It appears that the most likely cause was some kind of flooding accident in one of the forward compartments, which then lead to an uncontrollable dive. The strongest evidence for this explanation is that the forward compartments are still intact, indicating that they were at least partially flooded before Dakar reached her crush depth. Another possibility is a a diving plane failure similar to the one that occured aboard USS Chopper (SS-342), just a year later during an ASW exercise off Cuba.
While collision with a merchant ship might also seem to be a possibility, the physical evidence has largely ruled this out, as no collision marks were found, nor was the structural damage consistant with a collision.
In either case, it is clear that Dakar dove below her crush depth and imploded. During the implosion, the hull damage was severe enough that her after emergency buoy marker was released. The emergency buoy marker then spent the next year slowly drifting toward the beach where it was found.
(Adkins & Handler, pg. 35; Dunmore; Israeli Submarines (website); Nauticos Company Website; BBC World Service and various news wire reports)
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