Former Augusta man dives for true Pearl Harbor story
Copyright © 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
WASHINGTON — World War II touched Al Kalvaitis' life twice.
Contributed photo/National Oceanic & Atmospheric AdministrationFormer Augusta resident Al Kalvaitis climbs out of the Pisces IV submersible. click to enlarge
Once when he and his parents fled Lithuania as German and Russian armies came through, resulting in the family settling in Augusta.
And again about three months ago when Kalvaitis was one of three men crammed inside the submersible Pisces IV in the waters off Pearl Harbor. The trio helped confirm a theory that U.S. forces actually fired the first shot in the Pacific during the second world war.
Kalvaitis, 60, and the crew are credited with discovering the hulk of a Japanese midget submarine reportedly sunk by the USS Ward, a Navy destroyer, hours before the dawn attack on Pearl Harbor on this day 61 years ago.
The shot was unconfirmed until the discovery by the Pisces IV and V, working from the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory. Kalvaitis got his close-up view of history as part of his job with the National Undersea Research Program.
"It was really incredible to see this, like coming across the Titanic," said Kalvaitis, who now lives in Alexandria, Va., just outside of Washington, D.C.
"It was the first shot of World War II in the Pacific and for the United States. We didn't declare war on Germany until several days after."
Kalvaitis' family settled in Augusta in the late 1940s, and he was a 1959 graduate of Cony High School. Kalvaitis went to the University of Maine, graduating in 1963 with a degree in mechanical engineering.
He was an only child of veterinarian Alfonsus Kalvaitis and Mary Kalvaitis, who worked for years at D.W. Adams Department Store on Water Street. Both his parents have died.
For the past several years, Kalvaitis has returned to Maine for vacations, mostly in the Boothbay Harbor area, and occasionally passing through Augusta.
"I went by Fort Western," he said. "Things looked great."
After college, Kalvaitis first worked for Exxon, and then joined the federal government in the National Undersea Research Program.
"Our program is unique," Kalvaitis said. "We place scientists underwater using submersibles and have the only undersea laboratory, Aquarius, at Key Largo in Florida."
Kalvaitis is program officer and senior engineer for operations and safety for the undersea research program, which is based in Silver Spring, Md., a suburb of Washington, D.C.
Because he is responsible for the safety and emergency preparedness of operations, once a year he goes to sea.
On Aug. 28 he was observing two submersibles being used together for the first time as a pair.
Kalvaitis' role was to observe safety and emergency protocols to see how well the subs could find each other and communicate with the ship 1,300 feet above.
"We were going through this exercise, and at the end of it the discovery was made," he said. "It was in the back of everybody's mind. They've been looking for it for decades."
Bob Ballard, who pinpointed the remains of the Titanic, searched for it two years ago.
Kalvaitis revels in his role in the discovery. "I was an accidental witness to history," he said. "It's ironic that I was affected by the war in Europe and wound up in the U.S., and here I am going on this dive and I come across what I did."
He tried to document it by taking photographs through a porthole. "They didn't come out very good," he said.
Greenish water colors other photos that did come out. They show a conning tower and the stern propeller of the 78-foot-long, 6-foot-diameter two-man sub. Barnacles encrust everything.
The Pisces crews videotaped the sunken sub and showed it to survivors of the USS Ward, many of whom live in the St. Paul, Minn., area.
The Ward was a 1,247-ton Wickes class destroyer built in California for World War I. Decommissioned after service in the Atlantic and the Pacific, it was recommissioned in January 1941.
The Navy ship was on routine patrol on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, when it reported sinking a Japanese midget submarine a few hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
That attack on Pearl Harbor left 2,390 people dead and 1,178 wounded.
Exactly three years later, the Ward was badly damaged by Japanese aircraft and a suicide bomber. The crew was ordered to abandon ship and it was sunk by gunfire from the USS O'Brien.
Kalvaitis' voyage 1,200 feet down to the bottom of the sea was less than comfortable. He had to wedge his 6-foot-7 frame through a 19-inch diameter hatch.
"If you can imagine spending seven hours in a middle seat where you're all cramped out, it's pretty agonizing," said Kalvaitis. "It gets cold."
The water temperature was estimated at 48 degrees Fahrenheit.
"Probably my biggest fear was no indoor plumbing," said Kalvaitis. He said he had limited his fluids prior to the dive to ease the problem.
"I go out to sea maybe once a year," said Kalvaitis. "If you don't, you lose touch. You need the experience. I spend most of my time pushing papers at a desk."
There are six undersea research centers, including those at the University of Connecticut at Avery Point, Groton, Conn., and at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J.
The center has made history previously, discovering the steamship Portland, in the waters between Portland and Boston.
On their return to Pearl Harbor, Kalvaitis and his fellow crew members were interviewed at dockside by television crews and other media when they returned from their historic dive.
A detailed story of his experience is available on the Web at www.nurp.noaa.gov under the subject of Japanese Midget sub.
Betty Adams — 621-5631 badams@centralmaine.com