USS Johnston found

Discussion in 'The Bench' started by bw1339, Jul 31, 2021.

  1. bw1339

    bw1339 Well-Known Member

    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.

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  2. steve covington

    steve covington Well-Known Member

    That sure is VERY clear water for 21,000 feet. Just saying...
     
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  3. JESUPERCAT

    JESUPERCAT No Slow Boat

    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 :D
     
  4. bw1339

    bw1339 Well-Known Member

    I don't think much lives at such pressures and temperatures.
     
  5. knucklebusted

    knucklebusted Well-Known Member

    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.
     
    Bogus919 likes this.
  6. dynaflow

    dynaflow shiftless...

    ...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:rolleyes:. Maybe the Johnston will fare better, since it's at almost twice the depth...
     
  7. bw1339

    bw1339 Well-Known Member

    Looks like that process was well underway in 1985.

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    You have to go to the Baltic and Arctic waters to find beautifully preserved wrecks.

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  8. 2manybuicks

    2manybuicks Founders Club Member

    Deepest shipwreck ever located.
     
  9. Duane

    Duane Member

    The USS Johnston was part of the Taffy 3 group.
    Duane
     
  10. Brian Albrecht

    Brian Albrecht Classic Reflections

    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.
    evans-pr.jpg
     
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  11. Nicholas Sloop

    Nicholas Sloop '08 GS Nats BSA runner up

    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...
     
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  12. Brian Albrecht

    Brian Albrecht Classic Reflections

    Last edited: Dec 9, 2021
    bw1339 likes this.
  13. bw1339

    bw1339 Well-Known Member


    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.
     
    Brian Albrecht likes this.
  14. TAG

    TAG Well-Known Member

    Laconia incident.

    Remember, war never is one-sided black-and-white story.
     
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  15. HotRodRivi

    HotRodRivi Tomahawks sighted overseas

    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.
     
  16. bw1339

    bw1339 Well-Known Member

    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.
     
    BYoung likes this.
  17. John Codman

    John Codman Platinum Level Contributor

    Bear in mind that the youngest citizen of Japan who was alive during world war 2 is 76.
     
  18. bw1339

    bw1339 Well-Known Member

    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.
     
  19. Max Damage

    Max Damage I'm working on it!

    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.
     
  20. bw1339

    bw1339 Well-Known Member

    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.
     
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2021

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