Latest news with #NautilusLive
CNN
09-07-2025
- General
- CNN
A torpedoed US Navy ship escaped the Pacific in reverse, using coconut logs. Its sunken bow has just been found
(CNN) – The bow of a US Navy cruiser damaged in a World War II battle in the Pacific has shone new light on one of the most remarkable stories in the service's history. More than 80 years ago, the crew of the USS New Orleans, having been hit by a Japanese torpedo and losing scores of sailors, performed hasty repairs with coconut logs, before an 1,800-mile voyage across the Pacific in reverse. The front of the ship, or the bow, had sunk to the sea floor. But over the weekend, the Nautilus Live expedition from the Ocean Exploration Trust located it in 675 meters (2,214 feet) of water in Iron Bottom Sound in the Solomon Islands. Using remotely operated underwater vehicles, scientists and historians observed 'details in the ship's structure, painting, and anchor to positively identify the wreckage as New Orleans,' the expedition's website said. On November 30, 1942, New Orleans was struck on its portside bow during the Battle of Tassafaronga, off Guadalcanal island, according to an official Navy report of the incident. The torpedo's explosion ignited ammunition in the New Orleans' forward ammunition magazine, severing the first 20% of the 588-foot warship and killing more than 180 of its 900 crew members, records state. The crew worked to close off bulkheads to prevent flooding in the rest of the ship, and it limped into the harbor on the island of Tulagi, where sailors went into the jungle to get repair supplies. 'Camouflaging their ship from air attack, the crew jury-rigged a bow of coconut logs,' a US Navy account states. With that makeshift bow, the ship steamed – in reverse – some 1,800 miles across the Pacific to Australia for sturdier repairs, according to an account from the National World War II Museum in Louisiana. Retired US Navy Capt. Carl Schuster described to CNN the remarkable skill involved in sailing a warship backwards for that extended distance. ''Difficult' does not adequately describe the challenge,' Schuster said. While a ship's bow is designed to cut through waves, the stern is not, meaning wave action lifts and drops the stern with each trough, he said. When the stern rises, rudders lose bite in the water, making steering more difficult, Schuster said. And losing the front portion of the ship changes the ship's center of maneuverability, or its 'pivot point,' he said. 'That affects how the ship responds to sea and wind effects and changes the ship's response to rudder and propellor actions,' he said. The New Orleans' officers would have had to learn – on the go – a whole new set of actions and commands to keep it stable and moving in the right direction, he said. The ingenuity and adaptiveness that saved the New Orleans at the Battle of Tassafaronga enabled it to be a force later in the war. After making it across the Pacific from Australia to the US naval yard at Puget Sound, Washington state – facing the right way this time – the New Orleans undertook permanent repairs. It later participated in actions across the Pacific, including the decisive battles of Saipan and Okinawa, which led to the US gaining airfields that enabled the final blows to be made on Imperial Japan. The ship was awarded 17 battle stars for its actions in the Pacific, tying it for the third most such decorations in the Pacific theater, according to the World War II Museum. The New Orleans' bow was found during the 21-day Maritime Archaeology of Guadalcanal expedition of Iron Bottom Sound by Nautilus Live, a cooperative effort among NOAA Ocean Exploration, the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute, the University of New Hampshire and the Naval History and Heritage Command. Iron Bottom Sound was called Savo Sound before World War II, but Allied sailors gave it its current moniker for the huge numbers of warships that sank in battle there. According to the expedition, five major naval battles were fought there between August and December 1942, resulting in the loss of more than 20,000 lives, 111 naval vessels and 1,450 planes on all sides. Before the expedition, 'fewer than 100 of these US, Japanese, Australian, and New Zealand military ships and planes have been located,' it says on its website. The expedition began on July 2 and continues until July 23. Its continuing searches are being live streamed at
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
A torpedoed US Navy ship escaped the Pacific in reverse, using coconut logs. Its sunken bow has just been found
(CNN) – The bow of a US Navy cruiser damaged in a World War II battle in the Pacific has shone new light on one of the most remarkable stories in the service's history. More than 80 years ago, the crew of the USS New Orleans, having been hit by a Japanese torpedo and losing scores of sailors, performed hasty repairs with coconut logs, before an 1,800-mile voyage across the Pacific in reverse. The front of the ship, or the bow, had sunk to the sea floor. But over the weekend, the Nautilus Live expedition from the Ocean Exploration Trust located it in 675 meters (2,214 feet) of water in Iron Bottom Sound in the Solomon Islands. Using remotely operated underwater vehicles, scientists and historians observed 'details in the ship's structure, painting, and anchor to positively identify the wreckage as New Orleans,' the expedition's website said. On November 30, 1942, New Orleans was struck on its portside bow during the Battle of Tassafaronga, off Guadalcanal island, according to an official Navy report of the incident. The torpedo's explosion ignited ammunition in the New Orleans' forward ammunition magazine, severing the first 20% of the 588-foot warship and killing more than 180 of its 900 crew members, records state. The crew worked to close off bulkheads to prevent flooding in the rest of the ship, and it limped into the harbor on the island of Tulagi, where sailors went into the jungle to get repair supplies. 'Camouflaging their ship from air attack, the crew jury-rigged a bow of coconut logs,' a US Navy account states. With that makeshift bow, the ship steamed – in reverse – some 1,800 miles across the Pacific to Australia for sturdier repairs, according to an account from the National World War II Museum in Louisiana. Retired US Navy Capt. Carl Schuster described to CNN the remarkable skill involved in sailing a warship backwards for that extended distance. ''Difficult' does not adequately describe the challenge,' Schuster said. While a ship's bow is designed to cut through waves, the stern is not, meaning wave action lifts and drops the stern with each trough, he said. When the stern rises, rudders lose bite in the water, making steering more difficult, Schuster said. And losing the front portion of the ship changes the ship's center of maneuverability, or its 'pivot point,' he said. 'That affects how the ship responds to sea and wind effects and changes the ship's response to rudder and propellor actions,' he said. The New Orleans' officers would have had to learn – on the go – a whole new set of actions and commands to keep it stable and moving in the right direction, he said. The ingenuity and adaptiveness that saved the New Orleans at the Battle of Tassafaronga enabled it to be a force later in the war. After making it across the Pacific from Australia to the US naval yard at Puget Sound, Washington state – facing the right way this time – the New Orleans undertook permanent repairs. It later participated in actions across the Pacific, including the decisive battles of Saipan and Okinawa, which led to the US gaining airfields that enabled the final blows to be made on Imperial Japan. The ship was awarded 17 battle stars for its actions in the Pacific, tying it for the third most such decorations in the Pacific theater, according to the World War II Museum. The New Orleans' bow was found during the 21-day Maritime Archaeology of Guadalcanal expedition of Iron Bottom Sound by Nautilus Live, a cooperative effort among NOAA Ocean Exploration, the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute, the University of New Hampshire and the Naval History and Heritage Command. Iron Bottom Sound was called Savo Sound before World War II, but Allied sailors gave it its current moniker for the huge numbers of warships that sank in battle there. According to the expedition, five major naval battles were fought there between August and December 1942, resulting in the loss of more than 20,000 lives, 111 naval vessels and 1,450 planes on all sides. Before the expedition, 'fewer than 100 of these US, Japanese, Australian, and New Zealand military ships and planes have been located,' it says on its website. The expedition began on July 2 and continues until July 23. Its continuing searches are being live streamed at
CBS News
08-07-2025
- Science
- CBS News
Severed bow of famed U.S. ship torpedoed in WWII found on Pacific seafloor
The severed bow of the famed American warship USS New Orleans has been found by researchers during seafloor mapping operations in the Pacific Ocean. The bow was discovered resting about 675 meters deep in the Solomon Islands' Iron Bottom Sound, the site of five major naval battles, the Ocean Exploration Trust said Tuesday in a statement. Scientific collaborators, including archaeologists and experts from all the former combatant nations, spent four hours imaging the site to assess whether the bow came from the embattled USS New Orleans. They found distinctive details in the ship's structure, painting and anchor, which allowed them to positively identify the bow. The bow wreckage now supports a biodiverse community of deep-sea corals, anemones, and basket stars, utilizing the hull as their habitat. Ocean Exploration Trust/ Nautilus Live, NOAA "This imagery was viewed in real-time by hundreds of experts around the world, who all worked together to make a positive identification of the findings," aid Ocean Exploration Trust's chief scientist Daniel Wagner. "The discovery highlights the power of having multiple scientists and technologies work together to achieve a common goal." From the control room of Exploration Vessel Nautilus, the Ocean Exploration Trust team of scientists, engineers, historians, educators, and students are exploring shipwrecks of the Iron Bottom Sound. Ocean Exploration Trust The first of seven New Orleans-class heavy cruisers built during the 1930s, the USS New Orleans saw some of the heaviest fighting during the Pacific war, beginning on Dec. 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor. The commanding officer wrote at the time that the crew helped thwart a dive-bombing attack by about 10 enemy planes, and "the action of the crew under fire was most commendable." The USS New Orleans then moved on to battle in various locations, including the Battle of Midway, before returning to the Solomons. USS New Orleans (CA-32), the flagship of the New Orleans class of heavy cruisers, was heavily damaged in the WWII Battle of Tassafarronga at Guadalcanal when hit by a Japanese torpedo, catastrophically detonating the forward magazines and tearing off nearly one-third of the ship, including the bow. U.S. National Archives USS New Orleans' bow hasn't been seen since November 1942, during the World War II Battle of Tassafaronga, offshore of Guadalcanal, when a Japanese torpedo slammed into the ship. It tore off nearly one-third of the ship, including the bow, and killed over 180 crew members. The crew managed to get the ship into a good enough condition to sail for Australia for repairs, according to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. On March 7, 1943, the USS New Orleans headed to Puget Sound Navy Yard, where a new bow was fitted and the battle damage repaired. "By all rights, this ship should have sunk, but due to the heroic damage control efforts of her crew, USS New Orleans became the most grievously damaged U.S. cruiser in WWII to actually survive," said Naval History and Heritage Command Director Samuel J. Cox, retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral, in a statement. "To find the bow of this ship is an opportunity to remember the sacrifice of this valiant crew, even on one of the worst nights in U.S. Navy history."
