The wreck of the 1943 cruiser USS "Helena" has been found. - video

Paul Allen and his team operating on the research vessel RV “Petrel” are not slowing down and are going from success to success. As part of their search for the wrecks of historically important vessels from the Second World War, this time they managed to locate the final resting place of the US Navy light cruiser USS “Helena”.

Scientists from Allen’s team have tracked down and identified the wreck of the USS “Helena” light cruiser, which was sunk on 6 July 1943, during battles fought in Kula Bay, near the Solomon Islands. They made their discovery from the research vessel RV “Petrel” in the last days of March.

-- Advertisement --

The wreck of the cruiser rests near the Solomon Islands coast, in a place called New Georgia Sound, at a depth of 860 metres.

[blockquote style=”2″]”Each of these vessels, is a testament to the bravery of the men who served and often died aboard them. These wrecks are a mass of stories affecting thousands of people, soldiers but also their families. It is very rewarding to be able to listen to these stories every time we discover a new wreck,” said Robert Kraft, who heads the work on RV “Petrel”.[/blockquote]

In this particular case, there is no shortage of stories and memories associated with the ship. In addition to much merit, 732 of the nearly 900 sailors serving on the ship survived the sinking. The rescue mission that took survivors out of the water took 10 days. The task was completed by the ships USS “Nicholas”, USS “Radford”, USS “Owin” and USS “Woodworth”.

The light cruiser of class St. Louis USS “Helena”, was ordered on February 13, 1929, in the New York Naval Shipyard. However, the keel for the construction of the ship was laid only on 9 December 1936, and the construction of the ship was finished on 27 August 1938. A little over a year later – on September 18, 1939 – the cruiser entered into service in the U.S. Navy.

The ship measured 185.52 metres long and 18.72 metres wide, with a maximum draught of 7.3 metres. The cruiser had a maximum speed of 32.5 knots. The crew of the ship consisted of 888 men. USS “Helena” was the first ship which received the Navy Unit Commendation decoration. The ship also received 7 battle stars (the highest rank) for service in World War II.

Source: paulallen.com, wikipedia.org

[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”31298″]