Page 6 - AT

A6 U.S. NEWS
Monday 21 october 2019

Researchers find second warship from WWII Battle of Midway

By CALEB JONES
MIDWAY ATOLL, Northwest-
ern Hawaiian Islands (AP)
— A crew of deep-sea ex-
plorers and historians look-
ing for lost World War II war-
ships have found a second
Japanese aircraft carrier
that went down in the his-
toric Battle of Midway.
Vulcan Inc. director of un-
dersea operations Rob
Kraft said a review of so-
nar data captured Sunday
shows what could be either
the Japanese carrier Akagi
or the Soryu resting in near-
ly 18,000 feet (5,490 me-
ters) of water in the Pacific
Ocean more than 1,300
miles (2,090 kilometers)
northwest of Pearl Harbor.
The researchers used an
autonomous underwater
vehicle, or AUV, equipped
with sonar to find the ship.
The vehicle had been out
overnight collecting data, In this Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019, photo, Vulcan Inc. director of subsea operations of the Petrel, Rob Kraft looks at images of the
and the image of a warship Japanese aircraft carrier Kaga, off Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
appeared in the first set of Associated Press
readings Sunday morning. But when you see these ing debris and leaving an the U.S. in the Pacific dur- founder of Microsoft. For
To confirm exactly which wrecks on the bottom of impact crater that looks as ing WWII. The battle was years, the crew of the 250-
ship they've found the crew the ocean and everything, if an explosion occurred in fought between American foot (76-meter) Petrel has
will deploy the AUV for an- you kind of get a feel for the ocean. The front of the and Japanese aircraft car- worked with the U.S. Navy
other eight-hour mission what the real price is for vessel is buried in mud and riers and warplanes about and other officials around
where it will capture high- war," said Frank Thompson, sediment after nose-diving 200 miles (320 kilometers) the world to locate and
resolution sonar images of a historian with the Naval about 3 miles (4.8 kilome- off Midway Atoll, a former document sunken ships.
the site. History and Heritage Com- ters) to the bottom. military installation that the It has found more than 30
The initial readings were mand in Washington, D.C., The U.S. bombs that struck Japanese hoped to cap- vessels so far.
captures using lower reso- who is onboard the Pe- the Kaga caused a mas- ture in a surprise attack. Kraft says the crew's mission
lution sonar. The high-res- trel. "You see the damage sive fire that left it charred, The U.S., however, inter- started with Allen's desire
olution scans will allow the these things took, and it's but the ship stayed mostly cepted Japanese commu- to honor his father's military
crew to measure the ship humbling to watch some together. Its guns, some still nications about the strike service. Allen died last year.
and confirm its identity. of the video of these ves- intact, stick out the side. and were waiting when "It really extends beyond
The find comes on the sels because they're war The crew of the research they arrived. that at this time," Kraft said.
heels of the discovery of graves." vessel Petrel is hoping to More than 2,000 Japanese "We're honoring today's
another Japanese carrier, Sonar images of the Kaga find and survey all lost ships and 300 Americans died. service members, it's about
the Kaga, last week. show the bow of the heavy from the 1942 Battle of The expedition is an effort education and, you know,
"We read about the battles, carrier hit the seafloor at a Midway, which historians started by the late Paul bringing history back to life
we know what happened. high rate of speed, scatter- consider a pivotal fight for Allen, the billionaire co- for future generations."q