Exploring the wreck of a Japanese aircraft carrier that sank 81 years ago

Explorers aboard the E/V Nautilus complete the first deep-sea dive to revisit the wreck of the World War II-era Japanese Imperial Navy ship Akagi.

Photo of the Akagi shipwreck. Photo: NOAA — Photo of the Akagi shipwreck. Photo: *NOAA*

At a depth of 5.5 kilometers below the ocean's surface, a team of Japanese and American explorers conducted the first visual survey of the wreck since it sank to the ocean floor 81 years ago, according to IFL Science . At the time, the Akagi was considered the flagship of the Japanese navy. The ship was bombed by the US military and sank, greatly influencing the course of the Battle of Midway near the US Hawaiian Islands.

A team of deep-sea explorers and historians aboard the R/V Petrel first dived with an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) equipped with sonar in 2019. They then recorded sonar images that revealed the long-lost aircraft carrier Akagi at a depth of 5.5 kilometers (3.4 miles) in the Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Monument (PMNM), 2,092 kilometers (1,300 miles) northwest of Pearl Harbor. Nearly four years later, Nautilus researchers sent a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to the seabed. It was the first time humans had seen the wreck in real time since it sank in 1942.

The team will conduct a non-invasive dive in September 2023 to photograph the historically significant wreck, examine its condition, and honor those lost on both sides of the battle. Due to its remote location and extreme depth, surveying the Akagi, along with many other ships lost during the Battle of Midway, is a major challenge.

Lying beneath the dark, cold, high-pressure waters of the Pacific Ocean, the Akagi marks one of the world’s most isolated watery graves. Visible from the ROV camera are battle damage, including a section of the ship’s deck that was blown over by the pressure buildup from the explosion. The Akagi was one of four Japanese aircraft carriers sunk during the four-day Battle of Midway.

An Khang (According to IFL Science )

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