In 1978, the USS Stein - a United States Navy Knox-class destroyer escort which was named after Medal of Honor recipient Tony Stein - was running special operations in the Pacific Ocean somewhere between Acapulco and Ecuador, when it encountered something extremely large and entirely unseen in the water. Completely out of nowhere, the ship began to experience severe technical issues and suffered the eventual failure of its SONAR system (a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate and detect objects under the surface of the water), a problem which required the ship to immediately return to port in California.

Upon arrival, the ship was dry-docked at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard and maintenance teams went to work to repair the damage of the system. As the teams approached the SONAR dome, they took notice of extreme visible damage to the rubber coating that wrapped around the dome itself. Over 8% of the surface was covered in deep cuts, gashes, and scrapes. Within the deepest of these cuts, the repair team discovered large, curved hooks that were frighteningly similar to the kind of hooks found within the suction cups of large squid. The only problem though was that these hooks were almost five times larger than any known squid.

So after a few days of maintenance on the dome, the SONAR was repaired and the ship was sent back out to continue its mission. The collected hooks were then sent out for analysis and study. Unsurprisingly the results of the study confirmed that the hooks were indeed from a large, unknown type of gigantic squid. Official measurements of the hooks, as well as the gashes believed to have been created by the suction cups, revealed that the size of the creature they had come from had to be upwards of 150ft (45.72m) long. This is startling to imagine because the largest squid known to man, the Colossal Squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni), only grows to upwards of 46ft (14m). The second-largest squid known to man, the Giant Squid (Architeuthis), has been estimated to reach the maximum size of 43ft (13m) for females and 33ft (10m) for males.

So what attacked the USS Stein in 1978, could it truly have been a new species of giant squid not yet known to science? Throughout the years, the proposed number of different giant squid species has been greatly debated within the scientific community, with some believing multiple species exist and others believing relatively few exist. But it appears that science may be close to settling this debate. Through genetic testing on the washed-up corpses of giant squid found along beaches, the evidence is starting to suggest that only one species of giant squid actually exists.

Until this gigantic monster squid is once again encountered though, it shall remain nameless and hidden within the black depths of the vast ocean. And when it finally does decide to make itself known to science, we think the name Monumental Squid would fit nicely.

-The Pine Barrens Institute

*Image Credit: https://www.imagekind.com/Giant-Squid-attacking-ship-during-a-storm_art?IMID=10a5264d-6eaf-47bf-8e5a-02c8fb6b3fc7

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