Scuba News, Underwater Archeology, Wrecks

The wreck of the 1942 Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi has been found. - video

Listen to this article The crew of the research vessel RV “Petrel” has reported that the Japanese strike aircraft carrier IJN “Akagi” has been found and identified. The flagship of the 1st Air Fleet was sunk on 5 June 1942 during the invasion of Midway, which proved to be a turning point in the war

ByTomasz Andrukajtis

Published: October 21, 2019 - 15:18

Updated: July 22, 2023 - 18:43

The wreck of the 1942 Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi has been found. – video

Listen to this article

The crew of the research vessel RV “Petrel” has reported that the Japanese strike aircraft carrier IJN “Akagi” has been found and identified. The flagship of the 1st Air Fleet was sunk on 5 June 1942 during the invasion of Midway, which proved to be a turning point in the war fought in the Pacific.

IJN “Akagi” along with 3 other carriers (Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu) of the Imperial Japanese Navy, was caught in an ambush and sunk by US Navy units. The surprise of the enemy was made possible by American intelligence, which obtained vital information from Japanese communications. The Imperial Japanese Navy received a powerful blow that tipped the balance of victory in favour of the Americans.

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Last Friday, October 18, the crew of the RV “Petrel”, together with the US Navy, revealed that at a depth of 5,400 metres, they had managed to locate another Japanese ship sunk in this clash – the aircraft carrier IJN “Kaga”. With such an anchor point, locating more wrecks was only a matter of time.

“We read about the battles and we know what happened, but when we see the wrecks resting on the ocean floor, only then do we realise the cost of real war,” said Frank Thompson, a historian with The Naval History and Heritage Command in Washington.

IJN KagaAfterdocumenting more than 500 square nautical miles within the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, RV Petrel has discovered the IJN Kaga, a Japanese fleet carrier.

She was found 5,400 meters (more than 17,000 feet) below the surface. Kaga sits upright and is missing much of the flight deck. We’ll be posting more footage from the dive soon!

Posted by RV Petrel on Thursday, October 17, 2019

IJN “Akagi” was the only completed aircraft carrier resulting from the conversion of the hulls of two unfinished Amagi type cruisers of the line. The keel for the construction of the vessel was laid on 7 December 1920 and the launching took place on 22 April 1925. The ship measured 260.68 m in length and was 31.32 m wide. The maximum speed of the aircraft carrier was 31.2 knots and the range was 8200 Mm (at an economy speed of 16 knots).

The RV “Petrel” research team established by the late Paul Allen, billionaire and co-founder of Microsoft, is conducting an intensive search for wrecks of historic ships and creating detailed documentation of them. To date, researchers have managed to find and identify the wrecks of 31 ships.

Source: paulallen.com
Photo: RV “Petrel”

About author

Tomasz Andrukajtis

Editor-in-chief of the DIVERS24 portal and magazine. Responsible for obtaining, translating and developing content. He also supervises all publications. Achived his first diving certification – P1 CMAS, in 2000. Has a degree in journalism and social communication. In the diving industry since 2008.