Exploring Theories on Lost Israeli Sub Dakar

On May 28, 1999, the Israel Navy announced that the submarine INS Dakar had been found after 31 years of searching. The loss of the Dakar remains one of the country's worst nautical disasters, yet the reason for her loss has never truly been explained. In the British city of Portsmouth, a few hundred meters from where the Dakar set sail in 1968, stands the Royal Submarine Museum and in its archives previous captains of the Dakar share their theories on the tragedy. The Dakar began life as HMS Totem, a T-class submarine, built in 1944 to fight in the final months of World War II. During a tour of Canada in 1945, the crew was presented with a totem pole by the Cowichan tribe. Legend stated that as long as the crew sailed with the totem, the ship would come to no harm. This legend was followed by her crew and the totem was always attached to the conning tower when she entered port. ON NOVEMBER 10, 1967, the Star of David replaced the Union Jack and HMS Totem became INS Dakar. She was crewed by 69 experienced IDF sailors led by Lt.-Cmdr. Ya'acov Ra'anan, a man noted as having "a professional submarine approach of the first rank" by his Royal Navy counterparts.