Press Release: Amelia Earhart Search

Press Release

August 7, 2002
For Immediate Release
Contact Person:
Lynn Jourdan (207) 967.0666

President of Israel Makes Award to Nauticos' Tom Dettweiler

Deep Ocean Explorer Lauded for Leading his Team in Successful Search and Salvage of Israeli Submarine

Hanover, Maryland - At a ceremony conducted at his residence on July 28th, President Moshe Katsav awarded Tom Dettweiler with a medal of distinguished service to Israel for leading Nauticos' successful mission to locate Israel's lost submarine INS DAKAR. The ceremony was attended by high ranking Israeli Naval and government officials, as well as the surviving DAKAR family members. President Katsav also awarded a commemorative medal to each of the families in a touching ceremony.

The Nauticos role was hailed in speeches given by several key Israeli officials, including the President Katsav, Admiral Yawri (Chief of Naval Operations), and Captain Michael Kesary (chairman of the Israeli Submariners Association). Doron Amir also spoke of his experience sea during the recovery mission. A highlight of that mission for him was the recovery of a dress uniform that had been carefully pressed and stored for the submarine's homecoming. The uniform was later identified and donated to the DAKAR Memorial Museum in Haifa.

After the presentation Tom had the opportunity to meet with family members and people who had been involved with DAKAR project, including Yechiel Ga'ash, former DAKAR project officer. "Meeting with the families was a very good conclusion to the project. I love the engineering challenges of deep ocean recovery, but we must never forget the tragedy that each wreck represents," Tom said when he returned.

While in Israel Tom gave a lecture to the Israeli Submariner's Association summarizing the DAKAR project and answering questions regarding the cause of the sinking. Forensic analysis of the wreck suggested that a catastrophic mechanical failure caused the submarine to collapse and plunge to the sea floor.

While under contract to the Israeli Navy, Nauticos found the DAKAR in May of 1999, ending a thirty-one year search for the missing submarine. The next year the company returned to the site to determine the cause of the sinking and recover the submarine's sail from it's watery grave at 10,000 feet.

Nauticos Corporation is an ocean exploration company based in Hanover, MD that has made several notable deep ocean discoveries in the last few years including the discovery of the Kaga, a WWII Japanese aircraft carrier in the Pacific. Their most recent project is the search for Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra in the deep ocean near Howland Island.

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