Submarine gone Missing.  SSN USTAFish?

FELTON: Yellow submarine vanishes from radar A 7,000-pound yellow submarine is missing from its Santa Cruz Mountains berth, leaving its owner and sheriff’s deputies awash with questions.

The 10-foot-long vessel that a former Felton resident built to patrol the Monterey Bay during the 1940s and ’50s had been stored on Steinmaier Road, at least until last week, when it fell off the radar. Owner Carl Barker called the Sheriff’s Office Thursday evening to report it stolen.

“It sounds bizarre,” sheriff’s detective Kevin Coyne said Tuesday.

Investigators said they have no leads in the case of the missing submarine.

“All I know is ... there’s no suspects,” Coyne said, adding that no official investigation has been launched because of the lack of details.

But there are rumors. Someone could be planning a feature piece on the historical submarine, or the family of Irven Thomson, the man who built the vessel about 60 years ago, might want it back.

“One of the neighbors said they saw a tow truck loading it up,” Barker, 38, said. “Someone knew they wanted it and came and took it. I don’t think they stole it for any kind of recycling value.”

Sheriff’s deputies ask anyone with information about the missing yellow submarine to call the investigations division at 454-2311.

(Read Jennifer Squires' full story in tomorrow's Sentinel.)

http://www.nbc11.com/news/11072331/detail.html?subid=10101681

Santa Cruz Yellow Submarine Not Stolen After All

POSTED: 7:45 am PST February 21, 2007 UPDATED: 1:28 pm PST February 21, 2007

FELTON, Calif. -- The mystery surrounding a 3 1/2-ton yellow submarine, from Felton, has been solved.

According to the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the vessel has been found and the sheriff's investigation has been closed.

A man name Kevin Deetz drove to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's office Wednesday and told deputies he had taken the submarine. He said he had permission to take the vessel and said that he was beginning to restore it.

A sheriff's spokesman called the incident a misunderstanding.

The 10-foot-long sub, built by a resident to patrol Monterey Bay during the 1940s and 1950s, was reported missing Feb. 15 from its berth on Steinmaier Road by Carl Barker.

The submarine had been parked on Barker's property for years.

Another man, Irven Thomson, built the submarine from an old propane tank about 60 years ago. He added a turret, hatch, windows and a cement keel, rudder and navigational instruments.

According to the paper, Thomson's grandson gave the submarine to Deetz, who is a local artist.

It's not clear if Barker knew the grandson had given the submarine to someone else.

Sheriff’s deputies set up a meeting between Deetz and Barker Wednesday morning to resolve the ownership questions, according to the paper.

"Now that it's someone who's into the history of it and fixing it up, I'm fine with it," Barker said.

Decades ago, the vessel's original owner would go on vigilante patrols of the bay and used the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf as his home base.