Warship Wrecks - Found Or Not Found?

[AntEater]

For the Japanese:
http://www.combinedfleet.com/atully08.htm
(combined fleet: Located and surveyed shipwrecks of the IJN).
Among those, there are some located and dived on by divers of USS Chanticleer only months after they had been sunk. Mostly for navigational markers, but also for Intel purposes as salvaging such items as documents and radar and coding equipment.
Diving on a recently sunk warship in tropical waters must have been one of the most nerve wracking experiences I can imagine.
The usual traps of wreckdiving plus unexploded ammo, oil, rotting corpses and sharks...
U boat wrecks can be found at uboat.net

[Torplexed]

Somebody raised this thread from the deep. :p

Still haven't found the Musashi I see. Hopefully she's in better shape than her sister the Yamato.

[Kapitan_Phillips]

What about the Gneisau (sp?)?

[joea]

Originally Posted by Kapitan_Phillips

What about the Gneisau (sp?)?

Scrapped wasn't it? IIRC the RAF hit her with a bomb while she was unloading ammo, there was talk of re-arming her with 15 inch guns (6 instead of the 9 11 inchers) but it came to naught. I do believe some of her turrets were installed as coast fortresses in Denmark or Norway, someone will correct me.

[AntEater]

Gneisenau was hit by the RAF in Kiel shortly after the Channel dash in 1942.
One of the luckiest hits of all times: the bomb detonated on the anti-bomb armour deck just beside the air vent of the propellant charge magazine for A turret. Hot splinters fell through the air vent and caused a detonation which lifted the A turret out of its bearings, destroyed a major part of the forecastle and killed 112 men.
While the whole forecastle was gutted she could still move under her own power and tranferred to Gotenhafen assisted by icebreaker "Stettin", which still exists as a museum ship.
That was to be part of a major reconstruction, in which the 15 cm secondary guns and the 10,5 cm flak were to be replaced by 12,8 cm dual purpose turrets, so the secondary artillery was landed as well.
Hitler was not content with the original 28 cm armament anyway (after insisting on it in the first place!) so the barbettes were constructed to take heavier calibers as well.
The forecastle was pretty much gutted.
The conversion scheme fell through after the Kriegsmarine shifted all priorities to U-Boats in 1943.
The old 28 cm turrets and secondary armament were installed in Norway, where one turret ("C", I think) and some 15 cm guns are still existing as museums.
Gneisenau was used as a Blockship in Gotenhafen in 1945, and was apparently torpedoed by both sides, last time by german S-Boats because a soviet artillery spotter had taken up residence in her main mast.
The Poles raised her in 1950 and scrapped her.

Scharnhorst was discovered in the Barents sea a few years ago, but is not in good shape.

[seafarer]

Did you check wrecksite?

http://www.wrecksite.eu/wrecksite.aspx

also http://www.ukdiving.co.uk/wrecks/index.php

[HMS Hood]

They raised Oklahoma from Pearl then scrapped her. Also don't go diving at Graf Spee it is covered in fishing nets and the waters muddy so you might die. NOT KIDDING!!:dead : Graf Zeppelin was raised by the Soviets and the Germans let them keep it for scrap.

[bookworm_020]

Originally Posted by bookworm_020

If you want to add to the not found list HMAS Sydney, She went missing off the West Australian coast after fighting KSK Kormoran

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_...d_HSK_Kormoran

I guess the good news is that she has been found, alnog with KSK Kormoran. They are about to get some photos of the wreck in the near future.

Graf Zeppelin was raised by the Soviets and the Germans let them keep it for scrap.

Which they then used for bomb and torpedo test and then sunk it, as previous posts have stated.

[bigboywooly]

Originally Posted by HMS Hood

They raised Oklahoma from Pearl then scrapped her. Also don't go diving at Graf Spee it is covered in fishing nets and the waters muddy so you might die. NOT KIDDING!!:dead : Graf Zeppelin was raised by the Soviets and the Germans let them keep it for scrap.

Not quite true
Under the Allied Tripartite Commission, a "Category C" ship (damaged or scuttled) should have been destroyed or sunk in deep water by August 15th 1946 Instead, the Soviets decided to repair the damaged ship and it was refloated in March 1946.

Last known pic in April 47 leaving Swinemünde

http://neverhost.net/grafzeppelinn8.jpg

Pictures of her find in 2006

http://www.hss.mw.mil.pl/index.php?akcja=galgraf#nogo

[AG124]

@ HMS Hood - BBW already addressed your point on the Graf Zeppelin, but I would like to take the opportunity to make a minor correction on your point about the USS Oklahoma - she was indeed raised and sold for scrap (or just the bare hull, actually) but she was never actually scrapped, as she foundered and sank off the coast of Hawaii while under tow back to the mainland in 1946.

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by Fitz505

Pumping the bunkers empty was the option. If I recall, there is still almost 1/2 million gallons still aboard. Of course you are dealing with a government organization, so by the time they get around to doing anything, it will probably just collapse someday. Then add the fact, it is a wargrave (people are still be buried there (urns only), that probably compounds the problem as far as preservation is concerned.

Fitz

I think the wargrave issue is the biggest reason, but there was a technical reason also. I dod't remember what it was.

[nikimcbee]

Then there are all those missing midget subs that they have found! The one off Oahu and Syndey Harbor.

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by AG124

@ HMS Hood - BBW already addressed your point on the Graf Zeppelin, but I would like to take the opportunity to make a minor correction on your point about the USS Oklahoma - she was indeed raised and sold for scrap (or just the bare hull, actually) but she was never actually scrapped, as she foundered and sank off the coast of Hawaii while under tow back to the mainland in 1946.

IMO the wreck won't be much to look at, because they removed most of her upperworks and probably the turrets before the scrap tow. The top 10 WWII warship wrecks that I would like to see found are:

1. Indianapolis
2. Glorious
3. Juneau
4. Akagi
5. Barham
6. Kaga
7. Helena
8. Shinano
9. Hiei
10. Dorsetshire

EDIT - you probably realized she was stripped, based on your "bare hull" comment.

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

IMO the wreck won't be much to look at, because they removed most of her upperworks and probably the turrets before the scrap tow. The top 10 WWII warship wrecks that I would like to see found are:

1. Indianapolis
2. Glorious
3. Juneau
4. Akagi
5. Barham
6. Kaga
7. Helena
8. Shinano
9. Hiei
10. Dorsetshire

I say, find the U-47, end the mystery.

[USS Sea Tiger]

She was salvaged, found not worth it to be repaired. While in tow back to the USA she took on water and sank.

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.

The pumping of the Arizona is not so simple as you might think, Her fuel is Bunker C, a thick tarry type fule that must be heated to about 120 degreesf to luquify enough to pump. If you were to heat up her tanks to that temp, the expansion would rupture her hull, and also, she is near collapse, heating her would casue the metal to expand and crack, thus possibly causing further pollution.

The DKM Adm Sheer still exists in part. She was partally salvaged on her Superstructure but most of her remains. It was filloed over after the war and is a car parking lot now in Kiel.

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

You should look up the wreck of the HMS Victoria of 1893, A vertical shipwreck,, really something to see!!! She nosedived into the mud, and stayed that way, now over 100 years.