Sunken aircraft carrier Hornet — best known for Doolittle Raid — located miles below the waves

The pictures are amazing, AA mounts and aircraft tractors are clearly visible after 77 years under water.

Amazing they found her. A little past the depth I'm comfortable diving too.

The condition of that wreck is much better than any WWII ship I have ever dived on.

Just reading of this as well.

Great historical find, and on the RV first dive mission as well.

Image of a B-25 launching from the USS Hornet (CV-8)






Wow.

That low oxygen level kept that wreck in amazing condition. The tractor used to tow planes that is still sitting on a deck looks like it could be refurbished in short order.

Wonderfully amazing.

That is cool!

Can't wait to see the documentary! Amazing amount of damage she took!

Thanks for sharing.

https://youtu.be/IrmJn6Oudos

It's amazing to me that the ship went down so gently as to not topple that tractor or even remove that coat from it's coat-hanger.

That is stunning.

Not only was the Doolittle Raid launched from that deck, but so was Torpedo Squadron 8 (wiped out with only one survivor) at Midway.

She was actually sunk by the Japanese. American destroyers were standing by to either salvage or sink her when a Japanese fleet appeared and chased them off. They torpedoed her.

Now, all they need to do is find the Japanese carriers from Midway (somebody found a piece of Kaga once, IIRC, but it would be great to find all four).

The irony is that this ship is better preserved than if it hadn't been sunk, because if it hadn't been sunk, it would have been decommissioned after the war and cut up for scrap.

She was practically brand new when she was sunk, 14-months old.

Laid Down: Sept 25, 1939
Commissioned Oct 20, 1941
Sunk: Jan 13, 1943

WOW! Great find!

RMD

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
The irony is that this ship is better preserved than if it hadn't been sunk, because if it hadn't been sunk, it would have been decommissioned after the war and cut up for scrap.

That's what happened to the Hornet's sister, Enterprise. Presidential Unit Citation, Navy Unit Commendation, 20 Battle Stars. The most decorated ship in the Navy. Scrapped in 1959.

quote:

Originally posted by Sgt Neutron:

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
The irony is that this ship is better preserved than if it hadn't been sunk, because if it hadn't been sunk, it would have been decommissioned after the war and cut up for scrap.

That's what happened to the Hornet's sister, Enterprise. Presidential Unit Citation, Navy Unit Commendation, 20 Battle Stars. The most decorated ship in the Navy. Scrapped in 1959.

Unfortunately, it takes an incredible amount of money to keep one of these ships floating and maintained. Plus there are very few places you could just dock a Navy ship and turn it into a museum.

My biggest gripe are the airplanes. You will never see F14's and newer in the hands of civilians, like you do with the T6 Texans, P51 mustangs and such from WW II. They are all scrapped.

^ Not knowing the costs involved, would it even be feasible for someone short of a Bill Gates to privately fly any modern era fighter craft because of fuel and maintenance costs?

I do remember seeing a former Marine pilot and real estate big wig owning & operating his own Harrier. Tomcat might be a bit spendy though..

quote:

Originally posted by wolfe 21:
^ Not knowing the costs involved, would it even be feasible for someone short of a Bill Gates to privately fly any modern era fighter craft because of fuel and maintenance costs?

I do remember seeing a former Marine pilot and real estate big wig owning & operating his own Harrier. Tomcat might be a bit spendy though..

They're expensive to operate, no doubt. But there are plenty of people that could afford to. There are a good number of people owning and operating retired Mig's that have similar operating costs.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by wolfe 21:
^ Not knowing the costs involved, would it even be feasible for someone short of a Bill Gates to privately fly any modern era fighter craft because of fuel and maintenance costs?

I do remember seeing a former Marine pilot and real estate big wig owning & operating his own Harrier. Tomcat might be a bit spendy though..

They're expensive to operate, no doubt. But there are plenty of people that could afford to. There are a good number of people owning and operating retired Mig's that have similar operating costs.

One of my Pilot buddies gave me an offer to fly with his friend that owned a Czech Trainer aircraft. He loved the fly the thing and offered to let me fly it with him as much as I wanted all I had to do was pay for the jet fuel. It burned 600 gallons an hour IIRC. At the time $900 an hour was just a bit more than I could afford.....


Pretty amazing find of the Hornet. The low-oxygen condition of the wreck is pretty incredible. Thanks to the OP for the Hornet Post. :-)

Hit the powerball and get a A-10 yeah that sounds epic!

quote:

Originally posted by cjevans:

What are those hoses for? Water cooling of the barrels?

“Paul Allen’s Petrel” was on the screen briefly.
Whatever else he did in life, finding the Indianapolis, and now his ship and crew finding the Hornet—those are wonderful things, and I hope he will always be remembered for using his riches to bring back history to us living.