Saw it on Steelnavy,thanks for posting,really cool stuff.I have a Ballard book on Midway,guess we will need a revision.

I'm looking forward to seeing the deck and plane pics if any aircraft survived the descent down. 

Mopar Madness

I'm looking forward to seeing the deck and plane pics if any aircraft survived the descent down. 

 

I imagine that the wooden decks and most of the air wings on board were destroyed in the ensuing fires and detonation of ordnance on the midday and afternoon of June 4th. But it would be fantastic if they did find any aircraft wrecks in the area on the sea floor.

Now if they find Hiryu... she looked in fairly decent condition when photographed before she sank, not having the fully fueled and armed full air wings on her decks when she was hit in the evening.

The 3rd will turn up soon.....all 3 went down in the same general area.  Hiryu might take a little longer to locate as she had moved some before being attacked.

Kind of fitting that they are located now with the new Midway movie coming out in a couple of weeks or so.

I feel another wreck build coming.

Well Akagi had the island on the port side, Soryu on the starboard side so that should help.

modelcrazy

I feel another wreck build coming.

 

Got your early planning done for the Japanese ship GB done I see...

LOL!

That's friggin' amazing! Still impresses me that people can find stuff like that in the great dark abyss that is the ocean floor. 

The second wreck has been identified as Akagi. 
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20191021_29/amp.html

GMorrison

Well Akagi had the island on the port side, Soryu on the starboard side so that should help.

 

Not to mention the stack arrangment, and Akagi being substantially larger than Soryu. Akagi was like Lexington or Saratoga in size, while Soryu was smaller like Wasp.

Tony, I’ve been thinking the same thing about the drawing image of Kaga in Shattered Sword. If you think of how badly damaged that Bunker Hill or Franklin were in 1945 when they were hit under similar conditions (armed & fueled squadrons of aircraft on deck), and were able to survive, I can only imagine what Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu look like.

I also seem to remember that we had the ability to drain the avaition fuel lines and flood with CO2 when we knew an attack was coming.  IIRC the IJN didn't have that ability then.

According to this article, the plan is to survey the entire Midway battle area and locate all of the sunken ships and downed aircraft. That is a massive area to cover...

https://news.usni.org/2019/10/18/video-wreck-discovered-of-wwii-japanese-carrier-key-to-pearl-harbor-attack

modelcrazy

I feel another wreck build coming.

 

Using your Akagi kit?  hee hee

scottrc

 

 

modelcrazy

I feel another wreck build coming.

 

 

 

 

Using your Akagi kit?  hee hee

 

My 1/350? No way! It'd be my 1/700 kit of either the Kaga or Akagi.

modelcrazy

 

 

scottrc

 

 

modelcrazy

I feel another wreck build coming.

 

 

 

 

Using your Akagi kit?  hee hee

 

 

 

 

My 1/350? No way! It'd be my 1/700 kit of either the Kaga or Akagi.

 

Yup, I was eluding to your 1/350 kit my friend. But a dio in 1/700 would be awsome. 

I read a USA today at lunch and the SONAR photos of the Akagi show that the hull could be in tact and a burned out shell.  That might make it easy for a diorama.  Its tough when the hull is in many pieces scattered over a few miles.

That had to be one well built ship.  

Akagi... 18,000 feet below the surface. 

Where did you get that picture Stick?

modelcrazy

Where did you get that picture Stick?

 

Thats on the BBC article

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50124313

i built the Akagi for a friend...I couild'nt afford it.  There's a lot of parts in that kit.  As I went along, I kept remembering that she was a converted battlecruiser that gained 10,000 tons in the process.  The way certaings were done and things added, I started to call it the IJN Afterthought.

She looks to have landed virtually verticle. Doesn't show much bottom disturbance other than a good size "splash" zone.

stikpusher

Akagi... 18,000 feet below the surface. 

 

 

18,000 feet!!!!  It's hard to fathom (pun not intended but appropiate) that kinda depth.  Think of an aircraft flying at 18,000 feet.  

This is really cool history here!

Very interesting considering the movie is just about to release and it looks like it will be a good one too.

Nothing of the flight deck left, some hanger spaces but it looks gutted. I wish I could see a closser picture.

All these discoveries lead to some solemn thoughts about the men of both sides who fought so valiantly on these long dead ships. To be trapped below decks on a burning World War II aircraft carrier is the most terrifying thing I can imagine; yet they held to their stations. To those who fell and to those who survived go the highest honors. As we near the anniversary of the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, yet another desperate moment in the desperate year of 1942; it strikes me that the war in the Pacific was fought by soldiers, sailors, airman and marines of great courage on both sides. Uncommon valor was indeed a common virtue. 

The commander of US naval forces in Japan wrote a nice sentiment after the discovery of the Kaga.

“On the occasion of the discovery of the Kaga, we send our thoughts and prayers to our trusted and valued friends in Japan. The terrible price of war in the Pacific was felt by all our navies. From that painful lesson, we have become the closest of allies and friends committed to maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Rear Adm. Brian Fort, commander of U.S. naval forces in Japan

modelcrazy

Nothing of the flight deck left, some hanger spaces but it looks gutted. I wish I could see a closser picture.

 

Yes, I am looking forward to seeing the close up photos like those that were taken of Lexington, Wasp, and Hornet. 

M4, the Akagi’s engineers story is tragic indeed. IIRC from reading, they were cut off from evacuating their positions by the flames fairly soon after the ship was hit, but they were able to provide power. In early to mid afternoon though the engines stopped, and it was surmised that they had died due to heat or suffocation. But later in the afternoon the engines started turning again for awhile. If you’ve ever read the account of the Hiryu engineers who were able to escape, it is not hard to surmise that the engineer crews of the other carriers lost had similar experiences, but did not survive to tell their tales.