• Light/Dark

Wreck of Japanese aircraft carrier Kaga, sunk during the Battle of Midway, has been found (Update: Akagi too!)

Reader mode

Deleted member 5745

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,429

Deep-sea explorers scouring the world's oceans for sunken Second World War ships have uncovered the wreck of a Japanese aircraft carrier destroyed in the pivotal Battle of Midway.

Fought in June 1942, the clash saw US aircraft carriers ambush their Japanese foes and sink all four opposing Imperial Navy (IJN) flattops thanks partly to intelligence gained through intercepted communications.

The crew of the Petrel research vessel, in conjunction with the US Navy, revealed on Friday that it had found the Japanese carrier Kaga lying 5.4km beneath the waves. This week, the crew is sending robots into the abyss to investigate what may be another wreck site.

The expedition was started by the late Paul Allen, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, working with officials around the world to locate and document sunken ships, of which it has found 31 so far. It is illegal to otherwise disturb the underwater US military grave sites, and their precise coordinates are secret.

Eerie footage released by the Petrel team on Friday revealed the twisted wreck of the Kaga, which was finally tracked down after scans of some 500 nautical miles inside the Papahanaumokuakea marine national monument, a US conservation preserve which includes Midway atoll. The ship is said to be missing much of her flight deck, while animals have colonised her pipework and shattered metal plates.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

This is huge. Kaga is the first of the four Japanese carriers sunk during the Battle of Midway (Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu, and Soryu, all of which participated in the raid on Pearl Harbor) to be discovered (the lone US carrier loss, USS Yorktown, was found in 1998 by Robert Ballard). They found some wreckage in 1999, but the main wreck has gone undiscovered until now.

The Petrel team has been on an absolute roll the past few years. Most famously, they've located the wrecks of the battleships Hiei and Musashi, USS Hornet, USS Wasp, USS Lexington, and the USS Indianapolis, among several others.

Wiki article on Kaga: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_aircraft_carrier_Kaga
Petrel website: https://www.paulallen.com/rv-petrel

EDIT:
The Sum of Zero said:
From Petrel's Facebook page, they confirmed the second wreck to be the Akagi. She's about 18 nautical miles away from Kaga. From the sonar images it looks like the flight deck is completely gone.

FB-IMG-1571635282725.jpg

FB-IMG-1571635284863.jpg


Edit: https://apnews.com/f026d20d928143ddadfc3df0f3d36f77
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
Last edited:
neonglow

neonglow

Member
Oct 25, 2017
799
What usually happens to these shipwrecks once they're located? Does it just stay there or will countries pay to retrieve them?
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 5745

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,429
neonglow said:
What usually happens to these shipwrecks once they're located? Does it just stay there or will countries pay to retrieve them?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

They're usually designated as war graves so people don't go scavenging from the wrecks.

Also, an interesting fact: Kaga is at a depth deeper than the Titanic (17,000 feet compared to 12,500 feet).
 
Other

Other

Member
Oct 28, 2017
152
The Sum of Zero said:
They're usually designated as war graves so people don't go scavenging from the wrecks.

Also, an interesting fact: Kaga is at a depth deeper than the Titanic (17,000 feet compared to 12,500 feet).
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Which is not to say that their war grave status stops people from trying, the metal content of a sunken ship from that era is surprisingly valuable, having been produced before the first nukes went off their low-background radiation steel is quite rare and more than a few wrecks have been illegally desecrated in the search for a quick buck. Fortuantley at that depth Kaga will have quite a bit of protection from scavengers
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 5745

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,429
Just to clarify, I had the upcoming Midway movie in mind more than Azur Lane when I posted this. I figured more replies would be about that.

But AL Kaga is cute af
 
Temascos

Temascos

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,614
Incredible find! Hope it's treated with respect.

I do wonder, if circumstances change with a sunken ship what is usually done? Say for instance unexploded bombs are found to be at risk of detonating or there's a chemical leak of some kind.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 5745

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,429
Temascos said:
Incredible find! Hope it's treated with respect.

I do wonder, if circumstances change with a sunken ship what is usually done? Say for instance unexploded bombs are found to be at risk of detonating or there's a chemical leak of some kind.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I may be wrong but I believe, depending on the depth, they're left alone. Not much damage they can do on the ocean floor, I'd imagine.

Then again, Prinz Eugen was drained of oil recently, but she was sunk in shallow waters in Bikini Atoll after the atomic tests.
 
Last edited:
lake

lake

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,294
The second photo in the article, with bioluminescent sealife colonizing the hull, felt like something out of Nausicaa.
 
MikeHattsu

MikeHattsu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,005
They found another one:

A group of deep-sea researchers looking for sunken World War II ships have found a second Japanese aircraft carrier that went down in the Pacific during the historic Battle of Midway.

Vulcan Inc. director of undersea operations Rob Kraft says an initial review of sonar data captured Sunday show what could be either the Japanese carrier Akagi or the Soryu resting deep in the Pacific.

The find comes on the heels of the discovery of another carrier, the Kaga, last week. The crew of the research vessel Petrel hopes to find all ships lost in the 1942 Battle of Midway, which historians consider a pivotal fight for the U.S. in WWII.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 

Emiya777

Banned
Jan 14, 2019
358
Didn't know a sunken ship could make really hard fire emblem games.
Seriously though cool find.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 5745

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,429
I wonder if they'll do a follow-up visit to the Yorktown wreck after they finish hunting down the Japanese carriers. No one's been to the Yorktown since 1998.
 

lupinko

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,154
Looks like all the grinding of the Foxmine was worth it after all with these two drops.
 
HammerOfThor

HammerOfThor

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,865
Things like this amaze me. I love deep ocean finds.

Other said:
Which is not to say that their war grave status stops people from trying, the metal content of a sunken ship from that era is surprisingly valuable, having been produced before the first nukes went off their low-background radiation steel is quite rare and more than a few wrecks have been illegally desecrated in the search for a quick buck. Fortuantley at that depth Kaga will have quite a bit of protection from scavengers
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Wow I've never heard of this before, can you elaborate?
 
Last edited:
Petrel mission at Midway has concluded
  • Index
    • OP
    OP

    Deleted member 5745

    Account closed at user request
    Banned
    Oct 25, 2017
    5,429
    Post from the RV Petrel team on Facebook, their Midway mission is done for now. The ROV suffered damage from the dive to Kaga so there are no pictures or video of Akagi, just the sonar images.

    I hope they can return and find Hiryu and Soryu some day.


    Petrel's Midway mission has concluded today. This was an extended project for our team, fraught with challenge and adversity from its inception which has taken its toll. Upon recovery of our ROV from the KAGA dive, the ROV suffered damage that was beyond our ability to repair on site. Regrettably, as a result, there will be no video or photographs of AKAGI from this mission. Most importantly though, our team and assets are safe and will return in 2020 with some exciting new projects!

    The Petrel team are honored and proud to have been a part of this extraordinary and successful expedition. We sincerely thank our colleagues, support groups and participating partner agencies, Naval History & Heritage Command, US Navy, Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Midway Atoll staff and you, the public, for your unwavering support and feedback.

    There is so much more work we would like accomplish here in the future and look forward to returning soon.

    We are posting and extended version of the KAGA video this evening and will resume with the Battle off Samar wrecks shortly.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
     
  • Index
    • Omanisat

    Omanisat

    Member
    Sep 25, 2018
    2,420
    North Bay, Canada
    HammerOfThor said:
    Things like this amaze me. I love deep ocean finds.


    Wow I've never heard of this before, can you elaborate?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Steel made nowadays is contaminated by trace amounts of nuclear material left in the atmosphere by atomic bomb detonations. Steel made before 1945 doesn't have this contamination and thus is valuable for making high accuracy scientific measuring equipment. As a result easily accessible old shipwrecks tend to get torn up for it.
     
    Acorn

    Acorn

    Member
    Oct 25, 2017
    10,972
    Scotland
    Paul Allen died? Dunno how I missed that.

    The low radiation metal stuff is nuts, first time hearing about that too.
     
    Futaleufu

    Futaleufu

    Banned
    Jan 12, 2018
    3,910
    IIRC you can sink both carriers in Capcom's 1943. Now that I think about it its weird that you are shooting japanese carriers as an american plane in a japanese game.
     
    psynergyadept

    psynergyadept

    Shinra Employee
    Member
    Oct 26, 2017
    15,861
    Omanisat said:
    Steel made nowadays is contaminated by trace amounts of nuclear material left in the atmosphere by atomic bomb detonations. Steel made before 1945 doesn't have this contamination and thus is valuable for making high accuracy scientific measuring equipment. As a result easily accessible old shipwrecks tend to get torn up for it.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    huh....You learn something new everyday!
     
    CaptSpaulding

    CaptSpaulding

    Banned
    Jul 13, 2019
    393
    Couldnt find an official Midway movie thread so i just dug this out of the void. Anyone seen it yet? It looks like dumb mindless fun but just curious if its historically accurate at all.
     
    Zed

    Zed

    Member
    Oct 28, 2017
    2,544
    CaptSpaulding said:
    Couldnt find an official Midway movie thread so i just dug this out of the void. Anyone seen it yet? It looks like dumb mindless fun but just curious if its historically accurate at all.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    It was funded partially by China so I wonder how accurate it is since it is a movie that involves Japan.
     
    CaptSpaulding

    CaptSpaulding

    Banned
    Jul 13, 2019
    393
    So looks like Midway will actually end up #1 for the weekend, holy smokes.

    Is this like the most ignored #1 movie of all time? It's almost like no one knows it came out.
     
    Kinthey

    Kinthey

    Avenger
    Oct 27, 2017
    22,552
    Man, 5 kilometers under the sea is hard to imagine. Terrifying to think you're body being dragged down there, even when you're already dead at that point
     
    Psittacus

    Psittacus

    Member
    Oct 27, 2017
    5,971
    psynergyadept said:
    huh....You learn something new everyday!
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Theres a similar thing with lead shielding for neutrino experiments that happens for completely different reasons. Lead ore contains uranium which decays into a radioactive isotope of lead. The uranium is removed when the lead is purified so the metallic lead decreases in radioactivity of time. Because of this particle physicists and archeologists are always fighting over lead ingots from Roman shipwrecks which is several thousand times less radioactive than new lead.

    That situation is worse than with steel really. You can actually make new low activity steel it's just needs to involve expensive purification. The amount of low activity lead is finite.
     
    HammerOfThor

    HammerOfThor

    Member
    Oct 26, 2017
    3,865
    Psittacus said:
    Theres a similar thing with lead shielding for neutrino experiments that happens for completely different reasons. Lead ore contains uranium which decays into a radioactive isotope of lead. The uranium is removed when the lead is purified so the metallic lead decreases in radioactivity of time. Because of this particle physicists and archeologists are always fighting over lead ingots from Roman shipwrecks which is several thousand times less radioactive than new lead.

    That situation is worse than with steel really. You can actually make new low activity steel it's just needs to involve expensive purification. The amount of low activity lead is finite.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I find this really fascinating.

    have any places where I can read more?
     
    Reader mode
    You must log in or register to reply here.