Nilgiri
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https://gizmodo.com/famed-ww2-aircraft-carrier-torpedoed-in-1942-found-mile-1832589785
(Read article at your leisure, I'll quote some other stuff here instead)
All in all seems to be in great condition given the circumstances.
As a deckmate (in another forum) of mine said:
I am going to be very interested in the wreck survey - she took three bombs, two kamikaze, seven Japanese torpedoes, 9 US torpedoes (many of which were duds) and more than 400 5'/38 rounds. That was one tough ship.
More quotes from some of my deckmates there:
That's an International Harvester aircraft tug, is it not? It's in fairly decent condition for having been under water all this time.
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Just remember that of the seven Japanese torpedoes that hit, four were Long Lances. Those sent her down.
The DC lessons were well learned after losing her: no more fleet carriers were lost for the rest of the war, one CVL (Princeton) was sunk during Leyte Gulf, and the other carrier losses were CVEs: one to surface action (Gambier Bay at Samar), one to an I-boat's torpedoes (Liscome Bayoff Makin), one to a U-boat (Block Island-the only USN carrier lost in the Atlantic), and three to Kamikazes (St. Lo off Samar, Ommaney Bay in the Sulu Sea during the approach to Lingayen Gulf, and Bismarck Sea off Iwo Jima). Keep in mind that by 1942 standards, the damage to Franklin and Bunker Hill would've been considered fatal, and the ships abandoned and scuttled, but in 1945, both ships were saved and repaired, but neither returned to Fleet service (but would have had the war continued).
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The photo that gets me is the one of her bow with her port anchor chain still outstretched, reaching for Northampton.
What impresses me about the tractor isn't its condition but the fact that it's still there! Some sailor was told to make sure that thing was tied down so it wouldn't move no matter what happened and followed his orders to perfection.
From the photos released so far she looks to have landed hard and slid some distance, leaving her buried nearly to the hangar deck. There is one photo which appears to show a torpedo hit, perhaps one of the final shots delivered by Japanese destroyers, very high up on the hull. The stern broke off on the way down; from the measurements given for the two pieces of the wreck I suspect the hull failed at the end of the armored box, which combines with the opening for the after elevator just abaft the armored box to create a weak point in the structure. There was at least one torpedo hit just forward of this area which may have contributed to the loss of the stern; the location of the destroyer torpedo hits (both American and Japanese) is of course unknown.
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@Dante80 @Vergennes @Joe Shearer @jbgt90 @Desert Fox @GeraltofRivia @VCheng @TruthSeeker @KAL-EL @Hamartia Antidote @A.P. Richelieu @dexter @waz @Arsalan @The Sandman @gambit @Genesis @Vibrio @Deino @Oscar @Irfan Baloch @MilSpec @Indos @scorpionx @vostok @WAJsal
(Read article at your leisure, I'll quote some other stuff here instead)
All in all seems to be in great condition given the circumstances.
As a deckmate (in another forum) of mine said:
I am going to be very interested in the wreck survey - she took three bombs, two kamikaze, seven Japanese torpedoes, 9 US torpedoes (many of which were duds) and more than 400 5'/38 rounds. That was one tough ship.
More quotes from some of my deckmates there:
That's an International Harvester aircraft tug, is it not? It's in fairly decent condition for having been under water all this time.
========
Just remember that of the seven Japanese torpedoes that hit, four were Long Lances. Those sent her down.
The DC lessons were well learned after losing her: no more fleet carriers were lost for the rest of the war, one CVL (Princeton) was sunk during Leyte Gulf, and the other carrier losses were CVEs: one to surface action (Gambier Bay at Samar), one to an I-boat's torpedoes (Liscome Bayoff Makin), one to a U-boat (Block Island-the only USN carrier lost in the Atlantic), and three to Kamikazes (St. Lo off Samar, Ommaney Bay in the Sulu Sea during the approach to Lingayen Gulf, and Bismarck Sea off Iwo Jima). Keep in mind that by 1942 standards, the damage to Franklin and Bunker Hill would've been considered fatal, and the ships abandoned and scuttled, but in 1945, both ships were saved and repaired, but neither returned to Fleet service (but would have had the war continued).
==================
The photo that gets me is the one of her bow with her port anchor chain still outstretched, reaching for Northampton.
What impresses me about the tractor isn't its condition but the fact that it's still there! Some sailor was told to make sure that thing was tied down so it wouldn't move no matter what happened and followed his orders to perfection.
From the photos released so far she looks to have landed hard and slid some distance, leaving her buried nearly to the hangar deck. There is one photo which appears to show a torpedo hit, perhaps one of the final shots delivered by Japanese destroyers, very high up on the hull. The stern broke off on the way down; from the measurements given for the two pieces of the wreck I suspect the hull failed at the end of the armored box, which combines with the opening for the after elevator just abaft the armored box to create a weak point in the structure. There was at least one torpedo hit just forward of this area which may have contributed to the loss of the stern; the location of the destroyer torpedo hits (both American and Japanese) is of course unknown.
=============
@Dante80 @Vergennes @Joe Shearer @jbgt90 @Desert Fox @GeraltofRivia @VCheng @TruthSeeker @KAL-EL @Hamartia Antidote @A.P. Richelieu @dexter @waz @Arsalan @The Sandman @gambit @Genesis @Vibrio @Deino @Oscar @Irfan Baloch @MilSpec @Indos @scorpionx @vostok @WAJsal
