At 8 AM on April 23rd, 1945, 62 American Sailors cast off from Portland Maine aboard the USS Eagle 56 for, what should have been, a routine coastal patrol. Less than 5 hours later, their ship had sunk, 13 men had been pulled from the frigid water, and 49 families were about to learn that their loved ones were never coming home. The US Navy initially classified the sinking an accident, leaving the families wondering “who aboard that ship was so negligent, that they killed my son.” (Harold Peterson - Eagle 56 Survivor). 

From the beginning, the survivors told a different story. As WWII progressed, the Eagle story faded into the background but those families and survivors never forgot. It took a passionate researcher and a team of dedicated technical divers working in more than 200 ft of frigid, murky water to locate and document the wreckage to finally set the record straight, validate the survivors' testimony, and provide closure for the families.