Government cover-ups and top secret military operations on one of our favorite local dive sites?  The SS San Pablo, locally known as the Russian Freighter, has it all.

The S.S. San Pablo was a refrigerated cargo steamer built in 1915 in Ireland. The ship had three decks and a steel hull. It’s length was 315 feet and she had a 40 foot beam. Prior to World War II, the San Pablo was owned by Central American merchants and mainly shipped fruit between Caribbean ports. Like all other merchant vessels, during World War II the San Pablo became a target for the German submarines who sought to disrupt commerce worldwide.

In May 1942, a U-boat intercepted and fired on San Pablo as she sailed near the Yucatan Channel. The San Pablo was unarmed and so frantically maneuvered in an attempt to outrun the submarine. Finally, the Key West command center bluffed the Germans by radioing that air support was on the way. The U-boat submerged which allowed the San Pablo to escape to safety in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica.

Unfortunately, the San Pablo was not safe for long. While unloading cargo at the same port in July, the German submarine U-161 fired two torpedoes which struck the San Pablo midship. The ship quickly sank, killing all 23 men aboard. The masts and superstructure remained above water.

In early 1943, the ship was raised and towed to Tampa for repairs. However, the War Shipping Administration declared the San Pablo a total loss. She was then towed out and sunk in September 1943 for use in target practice. Later it was decided that the ship was a hazard to navigation, so it was destroyed by explosives.

Or so the story used to go.  That last paragraph was the US cover story.  The truth is that in August of 1944 amid rampant rumors of foreign spies and espionage, San Pablo exploded off Pensacola’s coast, hence her local name “Russian Freighter.” Recently declassified documents reveal that San Pablo was actually destroyed in a top-secret U.S. military operation testing an experimental weapon system. American agents sank the freighter with a radio-controlled boat carrying over 3,000 lbs. of explosives.

The wreck is now almost completely a debris field, and her wreckage is scattered across the seafloor where you can explore boilers, refrigeration coils, and huge sections of twisted metal, all home to an impressive array of marine life.

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