In October 1944, a landing force was assembled to land on Leyte, escorted by Halsey's 3rd fleet. Halsey was tricked into chasing a ghost Japanese formation, leaving the invasion force behind. At that time, under the command of Takeo Kurita, one of the largest battlefleets ever assembled appeared undetected and began to approach the mostly undefended landing force, near the island of Samar The tiny escort units (a few destroyers and escort carriers) threw themselves with such ferocity at the Japanese, that Kurita thought he had encountered the main American fleet and withdrew. An officer in one of these destroyers said "We are going to trick them into 40mm range" (these destroyers were facing 70,000 ton super-battleships with 18.1" guns). Not surprisingly, most of these destroyers were quickly blown to pieces. A few months ago, the wreck of one of these destroyers (the USS Johnston) was found at a depth of 21,000 feet.
That is probably very cold water. Amazing how the depth of salt water will preserve a ship but a car is rusted out in the northeast in a few years
There is very little exposure to oxygen in the ocean at that depth. It isn't even crusted over in barnacles or coral after that long.
...Titanic looked like that when first discovered, but now being dissolved by "new" rust-eating bacteria. Expected to be completely gone in another 15-20 years. All those visits since '85 couldn't possibly have had anything to do with accelerated destruction. Maybe the Johnston will fare better, since it's at almost twice the depth...
Looks like that process was well underway in 1985. You have to go to the Baltic and Arctic waters to find beautifully preserved wrecks.
Is it possible to have survivor's guilt with regard to those lost at sea during WW2 (allied & axis)? I think about thier bravery and sacrifice all the time. The commander of the Johnston sure stepped up and saved Halsey from looking worse than he already did.
I have been an obsessive aficionado of WWII US Navy history since long before I liked Buicks. The Battle of Samar is the highest example of US navy bravery under fire. Should anyone wish to read further, The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, by James D. Hornfischer, is the definitive, gut wrenching, story...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Edsall_(DD-219) Came across this "tin can" story regarding USS Edsall. Please scroll down to her service history, then down to her last engagement, survivors, and mass graves.
It's often said that during WWII the Japanese mistreated their POWs because they had surrendered and "had no honor". Cases like the Edsall's (and there are many similar ones) prove this is BS and that WWII Japan knew nothing about honor.
The imperial japanese were some of the sickest blood thirsty torturing not to mention canibal filth of WW2. Worse than the germans by far. What they did in China as well. Or anyware they went.
Yes, the Japanese in WWII were in some ways worse than the nazis. The victimism of modern Japan makes me sick. "We were innocently minding our own business when those evil Americans dropped two nukes on us. Let's pray for peace now". Here is a nice little story: You never hear modern Germans complain about what happened to them during the war.
I don't hold modern Germans responsible at all for what their parents/grandparents did, but how would you react if they treated their WWII history as the Japanese do theirs? I'm pretty sure their neighbors wouldn't be all that happy. And neither are the neighbors of the Japanese.
Really, they used technology (The train and the gas chamber) to conduct a mass extermination? They butchered millions of innocents because they didn't like there religion or their heritage? There are certainly great arguments to make about the Japanese brutality, but historically saying they were "worse" than the Germans, is bunk and deeply offensive.
Ask the Chinese (13 million dead), Burmese, Filipino, Thai, Indonesians... Or Western POWs about that. The Japanese went all Genghis Khan on their neighbors and now they present themselves as victims. There is an element of visibility: The people the nazis killed were related to us, and the murders happened in Europe, where you can now visit dozens of preserved nazi death camps. What the Japanese, Mao or Stalin did was... Out of sight, out of mind.