GTA 5 Submarine Parts Locations: All 30 Pieces and How to Find Them

GTA 5 hides 30 Submarine Parts on the ocean floor around Los Santos and Blaine County, and finding all of them unlocks a short questline with Abigail Mathers that wraps up with the mission "What Lies Beneath." It is entirely optional - it is not on the GTA 5 100 percent completion checklist - but if you want to comb every inch of the map's underwater world, here is how to start the hunt, where the parts cluster, and how to grab all 30 without wasting hours guessing.

Essentials:

• 30 Submarine Parts are scattered on the seabed, from Paleto Bay in the north down to the waters south of Los Santos.
• Only Michael can start the questline, but any character can dive for parts once it is active.
• You must buy the Sonar Collections Dock ($250,000) in northwest Blaine County, then talk to Abigail Mathers to begin.
• A shrinking white circle on the map and minimap tells you how close you are to each part.
• Turning in all 30 triggers "What Lies Beneath" and pays out just $10 - this is a completionist reward, not a money method.

What Are the Submarine Parts in GTA 5?

The Submarine Parts are a Strangers and Freaks side questline tied to Abigail Mathers, a mechanic who wants to rebuild a submarine and needs someone to recover the pieces she believes are still down there, scattered across wrecks and debris fields on the sea floor. It plays out in two stages: first you collect all 30 physical parts hidden underwater, then Abigail calls you in for the payoff mission once the last one is turned in. For the full rundown of every other side activity in the game, see the GTA 5 Strangers and Freaks guide.

How to Start the Submarine Parts Hunt

You need to unlock Trevor in the main story before this questline becomes available. Once he is playable:

1. Head to the Sonar Collections Dock in the northwest corner of Blaine County, near Paleto Bay.
2. Buy the property for $250,000 (any character's cash works, but only Michael can trigger the first conversation).
3. Talk to Abigail Mathers, who is usually standing near the dock. She explains the job and the hunt begins immediately.

From that point on, you can dive for parts with any of the three protagonists. There is no time limit and no missable window, so you can chip away at the list between story missions.

Where to Find All 30 Submarine Parts

The parts are not evenly spread out. They cluster in a handful of wreck sites and debris fields along the coast, and each cluster usually holds several parts within swimming distance of each other.

Zone	Roughly how many parts	What is down there
Paleto Bay and the cove near the dock	About 3	Debris scattered near the starting area, good for your first few pickups
Fort Zancudo coastal waters	The largest cluster, around 7	The broken fuselage and tail section of a downed airliner on the sea floor
A sunken vessel further along the coast	A couple more	Wreckage around the wheelhouse and stern of an old boat
Port of Los Santos and its canals	About 6	A crane arm, a rusted metal frame under a bridge, and pieces near the Ocean Motion dive shop
Southern reefs and islands east of the port	Several	Fragments scattered across rocky ravines and reef lines
Remote waters in the northeast	The rest	Isolated pieces far from any road, usually the last ones players find

If you fly along the coastline in a helicopter first, you can spot the general wreck sites from the air before committing to a dive - it saves a lot of blind swimming. For context on the base that anchors the Fort Zancudo cluster, see the Fort Zancudo military base guide.

Tips to Find Every Piece Faster

• Use the sonar circle. Once the questline is active, a white circle appears on your map and minimap around each part. It shrinks as you get closer, so swim toward the center rather than searching at random.
• Get in the air first. A Buzzard or a Sparrow helicopter lets you scout a stretch of coastline and line up your dives before you get in the water, which is much faster than swimming between clusters.
• Bring the right gear. Diving goggles or a wetsuit from a clothing store make it easier to see and move underwater for long stretches.
• Watch for sharks. The Fort Zancudo waters in particular have shark spawns. They usually leave you alone if you do not linger too close, but keep a melee weapon ready just in case.
• Work north to south. Starting at the dock in Paleto Bay and working down the coast toward Los Santos avoids backtracking, since the clusters roughly follow the coastline.
• Progress is saved per save file, not per character, so switching between Michael, Franklin and Trevor to dive does not reset anything.

The Reward: What Lies Beneath

Once you collect the 30th Submarine Part, Abigail Mathers calls and asks you to meet her at Paleto Cove. That triggers the final mission in the questline, "What Lies Beneath," which wraps up her storyline. The payout for finishing is a modest $10 - there is no unique vehicle, weapon or property tied to the collectible, so this is purely a completionist and exploration reward.

Is Collecting All 30 Submarine Parts Worth It?

If you are chasing 100% completion, you can skip this one; it does not count toward the checklist. But the questline is one of the better excuses to actually explore Los Santos' waters, and it pairs well with other underwater curiosities players have found in the game, like the long-running GTA 5 Kraken myth. If you are already hunting collectibles, the 50 Letter Scraps make a natural companion project, and divers who enjoy combing the coastline often end up finding some of the game's rare hidden vehicles along the way too.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need Trevor to start the Submarine Parts quest? Yes. The Sonar Collections Dock and Abigail Mathers' storyline only become available after Trevor is unlocked in the main story, even though any character can dive for parts once it has started.

Can I do this in GTA Online? No. The 30 Submarine Parts and the "What Lies Beneath" payoff mission are a Story Mode questline tied to Abigail Mathers; they do not exist in GTA Online.

What happens if I lose count of how many parts I have? The game tracks your progress automatically. You can check how many Submarine Parts you have collected from the Collectibles tab of the pause menu at any time, so there is no need to keep your own tally.

Is there a faster way than searching manually? Flying the coastline first to spot wreck sites, then diving cluster by cluster from north to south, is the fastest non-map-assisted method. Interactive maps from third-party guide sites also mark exact positions if you want a checklist to follow while playing.