USS Truxtun and USS Pollux

The USS Truxtun (Clemson Class Destroyer) and the USS Pollux (Castor Class General Stores Ship) were lost during a winter storm on February 18, 1942 off Chamber’s Cove and Lawn Head, Newfoundland, enroute to the US Naval Base at Argentia. 110 of USS Truxtun’s crew perished as did 93 members of the USS Pollux’s crew.

Of the 389 men on board the two ships, 203 perished. 186 people survived, due in large part to the assistance by residents of St. Lawrence and Lawn, who provided rescue and shelter to those in need. Both of these wreck sites are considered war graves.

As the USS Truxtun was on an operational escort patrol it was fully provisioned with munitions.

USS Pollux on 26 May 1941 (Photo: US Navy)

 

USS Pollux shipwreck at Lawn Head, NL 22 February 1942
(photo credit: Ena Farrell Edwards)

 

USS Truxtun (Photo: US Navy)

UXO at the USS Truxtun and USS Pollux

The present-day locations of the USS Pollux and USS Truxtun are known, and the shipwrecks are visited annually by recreational divers. In 2022, the DND UXO Legacy Sites Program became aware of the potential for Unexploded Explosive Ordnance (UXO) at these sites through photos taken by divers of the Shipwreck Preservation Society of Newfoundland and Labrador. UXO are military explosives that did not explode or function as intended. Examples of UXO include bombs, rockets, grenades, artillery shells, flares, and mortars.

The Canadian Armed Forces will be conducting a series of reconnaissance dives at these shipwrecks to better understand the risks they pose to divers.

Suspected aerial bombs at USS Truxtun (photo: Neil Burgess SPSNL)

 

Suspected artillery shells at USS Truxtun (photo: Neil Burgess SPSNL)

The Department of National Defence would like to thank Neil Burgess and the Shipwreck Preservation Society of Newfoundland and Labrador for their support and assistance on the USS Pollux and USS Truxtun Project.