Wreck of 'unsinkable' battleship USS Nevada found

US media have reported that the wreck of the legendary battleship USS Nevada has been found. The ship, which became known as “unsinkable” after successfully taking part in two world wars, was located at a depth of almost 5km, 65 Mm southwest of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Thick wreck search scientists have recorded another success. They have managed to find the wreck of another historic and extremely important ship in US Navy history – the USS Nevada. The vessel not only famously fought on the fronts of both world conflicts, but also survived the Japanese attack on the Pearl Harbor base in 1941.

-- Advertisement --

The crew of the battleship not only defended itself against enemy aircraft, but at the same time conducted effective fire, downing several of them. Unfortunately, as a result of many wrong decisions and panic in the American chain of command, the USS Nevada also suffered a lot of damage, not only from Japanese aircraft.

After being refurbished, however, the battleship returned to service, taking an active part in the fight against the enemy until the end of World War II. The crew of the USS Nevada supported, among other things, the landing of Allied troops in Normandy, conducting fire on German positions with her powerful 14 and 5-inch guns in June 1944. The ship was then redeployed to the Pacific, where she supported the invasion of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

When World War II came to an end, the US Navy considered the ship too obsolete to continue serving in the US Navy. The battleship was used as a practice target during nuclear weapons tests in Bikini Atoll and the Marshall Islands in July 1946.

Damaged and irradiated, but still afloat, the battleship was finally withdrawn from service in August 1946. Two years later the Nevada was towed near Hawaii. According to Naval History & Heritage Command – NHHC, gunfire from other ships failed to sink the battleship and she was eventually sent to the bottom by hits from several torpedoes.

The US Navy knew roughly where the wreck rested, but the exact location of the ship was unknown. Now it has been determined by scientists from SEARCH Inc. of Texas, a company that maps the seabed and searches for historic American shipwrecks.

^{Source: news.usni.org}