Wreckage of World War II aircraft carrier USS Hornet discovered

[Blue_Tires]

Source: CBS News

The research vessel Petrel is perched on a spot in the South Pacific Ocean that was anything but peaceful 77 years ago. Then, it was the scene of a major World War II battle between the U.S. and the Imperial Japanese Navies. For the U.S. aircraft carrier, Hornet, it would be her last battle.

Now, researchers are revealing Petrel found the wreckage of the USS Hornet in late January - exactly what they were looking for. The ship was found more than 17,000 feet below the surface, on the floor of the South Pacific Ocean near the Solomon Islands. The USS Hornet is best known for launching the important Doolittle Raid in April of 1942 and its role in winning the Battle of Midway. Richard Nowatzki, 95 now, was an 18-year-old gunner on Hornet when enemy planes scored several hits, reports CBS News' Mark Phillips.

"When they left, we were dead in the water," Nowatzki said. "They used armor piercing bombs, now when they come down, you hear 'em going through the decks ... plink, plink, plink, plink ... and then when they explode the whole ship shakes."

With 140 of her crew already dead, the order was given to abandon ship. The Hornet went to the bottom - three and a half miles down - which the crew of the Petrel has been scanning with a deep-sea sonar drone that sends back live pictures.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uss-hornet-wreckage-world-war-two-warship-discovered/

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Technology gets better all the time, and there are so many things on the ocean bottom waiting to be found at previously impossible depths...

EDIT: I wonder if anybody is going to claim the $40?

[pecosbob]

1. I've been to the Solomons and gone diving in Ironbottom Sound

a lot of sailors and marines died there. I was onboard a navy frigate dispatched for the ceremony that restored independent soverign status to the longtime territorial possession in the late seventies along with British, Australian and New Zealand delegations. Cool stuff. Hung out with a Peace Corps spook for a couple of days smoking pot.

[JudyM]

18. That is cool, bob. Sounds like a great memory to have.

[Dennis Donovan]

2. The USS Hornet!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Hornet_(CV-8)



I remember my Mom (who was 12 at the time) telling me how thrilling it was to hear we struck back after Pearl Harbor.

There's a single "Doolittle Raider" alive now, Richard Cole:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_E._Cole

[Brother Buzz]

15. There's another interesting part of the Doolittle Raiders story

When Doolittle and his crew bailed out in China, they were rescued by Chinese civilians and smuggled by river beyond Japanese lines in Zhejiang province where Baptist missionary, John Birch, briefly met and assisted them.

When Doolittle arrived in Chongqing, he told Col. Claire Chennault, leader of the Flying Tigers, about Birch’s help. Chennault said he could use a Chinese-speaking American who knew the country and he commissioned Birch as a second lieutenant on July 4, 1942 to serve as a field intelligence officer, although Birch had expected to work as a chaplain.

Birch built intelligence networks of Chinese informants, supplying Chennault with information on Japanese troop movements and shipping, often performing dangerous field assignments, during which he would brazenly hold Sunday church services for Chinese Christians. He was promoted to captain and received the Legion of Merit on July 17, 1944.

http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,872243-1,00.html

Decades ago, I read I Could Never Be So Lucky Again: An Autobiography of James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle, and Boy Howdy, it made a lasting impression; the "Raid on Tokyo" was a minor! chapter in a fascinating life Doolittle lived. Good read!

[jberryhill]

3. You might want to check that link to "read more"

I'm not sure what your intention was, but it is not a link to the story you posted.

[pecosbob]

4. Yes, you might want to work on your link OP

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uss-hornet-wreckage-world-war-two-warship-discovered/

[Archae]

5. Wrong URL.

[keithbvadu2]

6. Huge warship at the time - 20,000 tons displacement... USS Ford 100,000 tons now

Huge warship at the time - 20,000 tons displacement... USS Ford 100,000 tons now

(figures may vary according to what article you read)

[DarthDem]

7. The Article (Correctly Linked by Others) Doesn't Say So, But

For anyone interested, the name of the engagement in which the Hornet was lost was called the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. The awful, tragic loss left the Enterprise as the USN's only aircraft carrier in the Pacific for quite some time, which is more and more amazing every time I think about it.

[Dennis Donovan]

8. ...but then the Essex-class carriers entered the fray.

...and it was game-over for the Empire's aspirations. Well, that, and Enola Gay.

[pecosbob]

9. With, unfortunately a dozen major and bloody amphibious assaults of island redoubts in between

Early in my service I was stationed aboard Nimitz CVN-68. It was truly a wonder to behold. I can still smell all the JP-5 in my mind.

[Dennis Donovan]

10. I *can't* stop smelling avgas or JP-5

...it's in my blood.

[pecosbob]

12. The smell has always made me think of new and unkown horizons and destinations...

[3Hotdogs]

17. I've often wondered why the U.S. didn't just surround and cut off supplies to the islands.

[cab67]

20. Japan was capable of breaking a blockade until relatively late in the war.

Its submarine fleet would have decimated ships in the Sea of Japan. It might also have adopted suicide attack tactics earlier than they did. Losses from kamikaze attacks were part of the calculus that prompted Truman to order the use of atomic bombs.

[pecosbob]

23. and they were very adept at running destroyer flotillas at night to resupply troops

[oneshooter]

24. The Japanese subs never went after the freighters. It was considere a"cowards" target.

And the convoys that traveled across the Pacific were VERY well defended.

[melm00se]

29. Japanese submarine doctrine

was different than the US and Nazi Germany's doctrine.

The US and German submarines were primarily tasked as commerce raiders.

The Japanese doctrine, on the other hand, attached their submarine forces to their attack fleets and were focused on attacking warships.

Furthermore, you can see this when comparing the American, German and Japanese submarine torpedoes (the Mark 14, the G7 and the Type 95 respectively). The Type 95 had a much longer range (almost double its contemporaries) and approximately 10-15% faster. This allowed the Japanese submarines, in theory, to fire from much farther out thus making ASW efforts exponentially more difficult.

[oneshooter]

34. And the Japanese submarines were the very definition of "pigboat".

The only ones that came close to anybody else's were the 400 Series.

[hack89]

30. They needed airbases for strategic bombers.

that being said, many Japanese bases were bypassed and left to wither away.

[oneshooter]

35. They also needed strategic bombers.

The Japanese land bombers were able to travel long distances. But to do so they had to carry a lighter bomb load.

[whistler162]

36. Tokyo Express and Guadacanal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Express

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Battle_of_Guadalcanal

[DarthDem]

19. Absolutely!

Whenever I talk to anyone about the Pacific campaign in WWII I always emphasize that the Wasp, the Hornet (lost within a month of each other) and then the Enterprise amazingly hung on against a much larger fleet until the Essex reinforcements arrived. An amazing story of courage by everyone involved.

[Thekaspervote]

11. My former father in law served on the USS Hornet. Spent several hours in the water.

Like many veterans, he talked very little about his experience.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

13. Please remember that the research vessel, The Petrel,

is the brain child of the late Paul Allen, co-founder of MicroSoft. His team has made it one of their missions to discover as many US NAVY ships, lost in war and in peace, as possible. They have also located wrecks of the Royal Navy, the Japanese Imperial Navy and the Royal Australian Navy. Additionally, The Petrel has done sea-floor mapping as well.

Among the US ships they have located: USS INDIANAPOLIS, USS WARD, USS COOPER, USS JUNEAU, USS HELENA, USS ASTORIA, USS QUINCY, USS VINCENNES, USS NORTHAMPTON, USS ATLANTA, USS LAFFEY, USS MONSSEN, USS BARTON, USS CUSHING, USS LITTLE, USS PRESTON.

The Royal Navy ship, HMS THE HOOD, destroyed by the German ship THE BISMARCK, on May 24, 1941 was also recovered by The Petrel

Paul Allen and his crew are to be commended for their work; they have done an outstanding job. They have brought closure to so many.

[Blue_Tires]

14. Personally I'd love it if he got to work on finding MH330

[MicaelS]

27. I assume you mean MH370. n/t

[Blue_Tires]

31. yes

[whistler162]

37. Doubt he will ever get to work on MH370

or anything else since he died in mid October. Also then need a narrow starting point, relative to the whole ocean.

[oneshooter]

25. Properly it is

HMS Hood

KM BISMARCK

Proper use of the countries designation.

[Angleae]

28. Actually it's just Bismark (no prefix)

KM is used by people who think all warships must have a prefix and they don't. For them, KM stands for Kriegsmarine which is just the german word for their navy. WWII Germany never used a prefix.

[oneshooter]

33. And yet the Allies did in all of their official dispatches.

Strange how that worked out.

[cab67]

16. Doolittle's Raid was an incredible act of courage by the pilots and the crew of USS Hornet.

I'm no fan of "Pearl Harbor," but its reenactment of the Doolittle Raid is actually good.

It was intended to be a morale booster stateside, but it ended up causing the Japanese military to withhold forces for defense of the home islands. Its impact was greater than intended.

[oneshooter]

26. It directly lead to the Battle of Midway.

Which the Japanese LOST big time.

[CTyankee]

38. Hubby and I watch that movie every time it is on TV. We love it.

I cry most every time I see it. Those wonderful pilots. The horrific attack on Pearl.

The movie really personalized the whole episode, even tho some of it is fiction.

[oneshooter]

39. Which one?

The new one is historical crap.

The best on, that holds to historical fact is TORA! TORA! TORA!

[Codifer]

21. I served on her replacement namesake.

(CVS 12, Essex Class) In 1965 to 1968 in the Tonkin Gulf... and, yeah, the smell of avgas and JP4 does linger in memory. Years ago I would light a small pot pipe with a Zippo, always brought back memories. Thank goddess that I have never smelled anything quite as bad as stack gas again. That was reeking high-sulfer hideous.

[Maxheader]

22. RIP

Honor the fallen by leaving the ship alone...

[ProfessorPlum]

32. Shades of the Good Reuben James