Warship Wrecks - Found Or Not Found?

[ijnfleetadmiral]

Originally Posted by USS Sea Tiger

the Hipper, is found,, though not divable as she is quite deep, but water clarity allows that on calm days and a bright moon you can see her from above in a aircraft.

If you mean the Admiral Hipper, she was scuttled in shallow water and scrapped after the war...her wreck no longer exists.

Originally Posted by USS Sea Tiger

Fuso is found, but in two lrge sections, about 2000yds apart. No one can really expain why so far apart, but it happened.

Fuso's wreck has NOT been found, and Anthony Tully's recent book Battle of Surigao Strait has stated conclusively that the battleship was NOT ripped in half by a ginormous explosion. As far as we know, Fuso is still in one piece.

Of the other WWII wrecks previously listed in this thread, only HMS Hermes has been found, and that was back in 2006. She lies upside down in very shallow water (only about 150 feet) and is (obviously) heavily damaged. To my knowledge, none of the Italian warships sunk during the war have been located, either.

All the wrecks from the Java Sea battles have also been located as of this writing.

As for the IJN, countless merchant ships have been found over the years, but I'm only going to list the major warships here.

MINELAYERS
Hatsutaka, Itsukushima

SUBMARINES
RO-60, RO-65, I-1, I-7, I-14, I-30, I-33, I-34, I-52, I-58, I-169, I-201, I-401

Of these, I-30, I-33, and I-34 were all salvaged and scrapped. Their wrecks no longer exist. I-14, I-201, and I-401 were sunk as target ships postwar. I-58 (yes, the sub that sank Indianapolis)'s discovery is only a shaky rumor. Details of the wreck are unavailable.

DESTROYER-ESCORTS
Kuwa

DESTROYERS
Oite, Fumizuki, Nagatsuki, Kikuzuki, Yuzuki, Ayanami, Amagiri, Akatsuki, Shigure, Arare, Kuroshio, Shimakaze, Shimotsuki

Of these Ballard discovered a DD wreck in Ironbottom Sound off Guadalcanal back in 1992. The wreck had the Japanese katakana symbol for 'a' clearly visible on its stern. As no positive ID could be made at the time, it is unknown whether the wreck is that of Ayanami or Akatsuki. The discovery of Shimakaze is - like that of I-58 - rumor only.

LIGHT CRUISERS
Kuma, Kinu, Isuzu, Sakawa

Isuzu's discovery is yet another unfounded rumor.

HEAVY CRUISERS
Haguro, Ashigara

Haguro has been extensively dived. Ashigara lies in very shallow water (around 200 feet or so) and has been heavily salvaged.

SEAPLANE & AIRCRAFT CARRIERS
Akitsushima, Kaga

Only a small piece of Kaga (one of her AA gun sponsons) was located.

BATTLESHIPS
Kirishima, Yamashiro, Nagato, Mutsu, Yamato

Yamashiro was supposedly located back in 2006, lying on her starboard side in 600 feet of water in reportedly very good condition. As no pics have come from this, I consider this rumor to be unfounded. As for the remaining BBs, there was to have been an expedition to look for Kongo's wreck back in March 2010, but it never got off the ground due to lack of funding. Musashi's wreck - despite the nutcase claims she was to be salvaged and rebuilt as a museum ship - remains unlocated.

If anyone wants more info about the wrecks mentioned here, let me know.

-Matt