The Shipwrecks of Operation Crossroads - A New Era Begins
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 มิ.ย. 2024
- Apologies for the delay. Those who don't check the community post, I am getting a wisdom tooth pulled soon. So, I had to focus on getting stuff done in advance, which delayed this. Still, here we are.
I am going to be covering the wrecks of Operation Crossroads in a three-part series. These atomic tests provide a wealth of shipwrecks to look at, and it really needs a lot of time. This video will look at the bigger ships, from Sakawa up to Saratoga.
The second part will, in turn, look at the smaller ships (submarines, destroyers). And then the third will look at Nevada and Independence, along with the ships we haven't found yet.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
02:40 - IJN Sakawa
05:11 - USS Arkansas
09:16 - IJN Nagato
12:36 - USS Saratoga
17:48 - USS Prinz Eugen
![โอ้มายก๊อด! ไม่ถึงชั่วโมงหมดเป็นแสน 😅 [cc] แดนแพทตี้ SS2 | EP.42 |](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/OH2ShXfO6tA/mqdefault.jpg)
I can’t speak for everyone but I wouldn’t mind a 30+ minute video at all
Same
Agreed.
Same I listen to this stuff while I drive the longer the better
Agreed
I knew the wrecks had been dived on occasionally but i had no idea that people would be mad enough to swim inside a 70 year old rusting tin can.
A upside-down one at that. Heads up the heavy stuff like turbines and boilers are at the bottom of the ship. Bolted and secured to the floor. Now the ships upside-down and all that heavy stuff is hanging by 80 year old rust above you.
Radioactive ones.....
@@BHuang92 They're not really radioactive. These early atomic bombs didn't have long-lived radiation, nor ionizing radiation that made other things radioactive. This is why both Hiroshima and Nagasaki were able to be rebuilt; background radiation levels returned to near-normal within 48 hours.
Warships are a bit different. The larger armored warships have a LOT more durability than a civilian ship and thus, even at that age, are very solid. As long as there's not significant obstructing debris, it's generally pretty safe as long as they're careful.
@@WardenWolf you want to swim under a upside-down triple expansion held to the now ceiling by 100 year old bolts that have been rusting in salt water for 80 years? That's the case with at least the Arkansas Ships aren't made to be upside-down. all that wate was made to be equally supported by water on all sides. Most ships will warp there hulls even with just a few months in a dry dock right side up! No one day the rust and gravity are going to pull the hull in on its self. It has to with that giant lump of iron that is its engines hanging like a chandelier from the floor of the engineering spaces. Look at the wreck of Jutland. The ones that settled up side down have all collapsed in on them selfs. It's the wate of all that engine and boilers. You will probably be fine but one day sooner than later crash its all coming in.
absolute shame CV-3 and Prinz Eugen when not saved for museum ships
The Sara could have been used to restore the USS Enterprise, CV-6, and allow her to become a museum ship rather than get chopped up in a damnable scrapping yard.
@@richardcline1337 they where very different class of ship CV-3 was Lexington class, CV-6 was a Yorktown - both should have been saved
@@volks-jager, I know. I was thinking of the damaged elevator from the Kamikaze attack and maybe some minor parts that would have saved the Navy money had they allowed her to be saved rather than chopping her up for scrap. I do agree that BOTH should have been saved. I'm not much of a fan of the Essex class carriers that came later.
@@richardcline1337 i agree i dont overly care for the Essexs especially the modernized versions with angled decks that actually got to be museums. - CV-3 and CV-6 where there the whole war ,not just at the end and truly desevred to be a saved.
Literally loaded with asbestos and all sorts of toxic beasties. Sara would be a very expensive to run museum. Would be cool to see in person though just to study the hull of the battlecruiser that almost was.
I'm glad that you included Prinz Eugen as the USS Prinz Eugen and not DKM
The Prinz got her shoutout. Im pleased. This man is a legend!
I will be looking forward to the next videos.
Good health to you sir!
And thank you for all your work!
There are a lot of "what ifs" about the fate of the Yamato had she not been sacrificed at Okinawa and instead survived the war. It's almost certain that the US Navy would've used her in Operation Crossroads and likely made her Ground Zero for the bomb blasts just to see what would happen. There are so many great ships that could've been made into museums, but right after WW2 these vessels were considered disposable junk by the US Navy.
Yamato and Musashi were doomed even if they'd survived, because us keeping such iconic ships as war trophies or on active duty would have permanently soured US-Japan relations. But, as you said about older ships, they were considered expendable, largely because we'd constructed better ships in standardized classes during the war, which were far more capable and more easily maintained due to not being unique or worn out. The Essexes gave very long and valuable service. It's a crying shame we didn't preserve any of the Standard battleships, though.
@@WardenWolfI’m especially upset that we didn’t save Washington. Part of me wonders if she could have been preserved if Admiral Lee hadn’t died almost immediately after the end of the war.
@@WardenWolf Yamato and Musashi were NOT iconic at the time of their sinking, due to the secrecy surrounding them. Their iconic status was a postwar invention, and it’s only from the end of the 40s onwards that Yamato begins showing up in media at all, including Japanese media (because most Japanese civilians didn’t know or care about her until after she had already been sunk).
They could thus have been used without raising much political implications (they were still pretty damn modern, able to keep up with the NorCals and SoDaks, and some of their systems could have been replaced with American equivalents) if not for two big issues: the lack of American 18.1” shells, and the whole issue of the entire battleship concept being obsolete even before they (or the American fast battleships) hit water.
The ACTUAL iconic Japanese battleship was Nagato, which was a big part of why she was used for Crossroads.
6:37 James Delgado, in his book titled “In Search of Famous Shipwrecks”, best describes Arkansas’ fate, at least in my opinion. And twice, at that. Quote: “The upward blast crushed, capsized, and sank the battleship Arkansas in less than a second.” “The force of the blast flipped and smashed Arkansas, then hammered her down with such violence that she is nearly one with the bottom of the lagoon.” Two pieces of evidence why nuclear power should *never* be taken lightly.
The Baker test was miscalculated due to some unknown at the time, physics. The blast was around 2 times the yield predicted.
Good luck with the wisdom tooth. Make sure to have someone to drive you home. Don't use the dentist office on the Saratoga 😅. Great video!
Remember to ask for Percocet. It's the happiest of the Opioids. Note: I am not advocating the abuse of drugs. That said, I have had my wisdom teeth out (and several root canals). It hurts like hell for quite a while and Percocet works better, at least on me, of any other pain killer. It also makes you much happier. It still hurts, but you don't mind it nearly as much. Make sure they don't give you any refills, because it will ruin your life in a very short long run.
That one picture of Saratoga is nightmare fuel
For the fear and hunger funs, if uss Saratoga looks familiar that my be because that shipwreck is the inspiration behind the design of the God of the depths.
Love the shipwreck videos, keep ‘em coming
Great post, very interested to see the most recent degradation of USS Saratoga. There's a great book called "Ghost Fleet", about diving the Bikini ships, with some great photos from inside Saratoga's hangar deck.
No ship deserves this fate. I would have loved to see Saratoga or Prinz Eugen preserved, no matter how unlikely it was.
Prinz Eugen being preserved would be awesome. Too bad they did think much of the historical value of these ships back then.
@@randompillow5146 yep, at least one of Gneisenau's original 11 inch turrets is still around
Prinz Eugen is accessible to practically no one other than US military personnel and their families due to its location at Kwajalein. The last I heard there was a blanket ban on penetration dives on her too. A great shame.
@@martinjf467 I wouldn't be surprised if the interiors are off limits. Who knows what's still in there.
@@josephastier7421 aye. It’s interesting to note, there’s video about on the net shot in parts of the interior of the Eugen BUT I half remember mention of an incident quite a while ago which lead to the penetration ban. Dunno… I’m getting senile now so I forget my name some days 😂
Call me mad, carzy or plain out stupid. These wrecks where best dives of my lifetime. Nothing is better then the hanger deck of the Saratoga with everything still in it. I whish I could go back there someday.
Many thatnks to the then (2004) Bikini dive crew. Greetings to everybody else that actually has been there.
my grandfather was an AA gunner on the arkansas. when he passed away the navy said he was the last living crew member
Well done. The Hipper Class were notorious for their engine problems. 👍🏻🏴🇬🇧🇺🇸
Biggest problem with Prinz Eugen in particular was that the US Navy throw out all German engineers after the trip to the US.
And then they managed to kill most boilers in no time flat.
They weren't that bad on reliability, they were just hard to manage.
Where as US ships had boilers that were "relatively" easy to operate and maintain by standard crew, the German ships needed way better trained personal because they were much more complicated to operate.
I hope you can still go into depth about the Lexington Wasp Hornet and Ark Royal some day!
Interesting video! Thanks! IMO doing it with multiple videos is a good idea.
Great video.
I have absolutely no problem with a longer video, as long as it's well done.
Good series
Incredible
Please do longer videos! There is no rush.
Interesting 👍
My great uncle was a petty officer first class by 1945. He was part of the crew that sailed nagoto to bikini. He didn't talk alot about the war but did tell me that was a miserable trip on that ship. And the guys sailing back the cruiser had it even worse conditions. He passed away in late 1990s. Wish I would have asked more questions back then.
Hello. Back in 2003 I met a man named Jim Oswein who no doubt knew your great uncle. Jim was also a CPO in the Navy, and was tasked with getting Nagato's engines running after the war. He told me the ship was a mess, and still had the remains of many IJN sailors on board when we took it over.
He wrote a book, "Sailorboy" which he gave me a personal copy. It's a great read if you get the chance.
Cheers!
How could one of the inside pics of Eugen be real or of that ship if its upside down yet the coffee pot is right side up on a shelf?
If a blast would be powerful enough to lift a BB right into the air. It would just blast it into pieces. I think it more rolled her right over and shattered basically everything that kept the water out.
You'd be surprised at how insanely durable a battleship can be, especially those older ships which were designed before the all or nothing armor scheme. That older feature actually made them more survivable against this kind of thing. Also the fact that the pressure was applied to the entire hull, not just a small area as in a torpedo.
Yes please
Have they ever found IJN Yudachi wreck?
I rather wonder if wrecks like this are mapped in some way. It would make some sense considering these vessels could still be radioactive.
So USS Pennslyvania has not been located then?
I want to see a real time animation of the Baker test like Titanic or Britannic.
I love the Prinz Eugen, like it got nuked two time before it sank
How much radiation is still around these wrecks?
Are any servicemen from Operation Crossroads still living?
Man most of these ships the ones that have their guns still attacked and pointing somewhere be like even in death I serve
THIS IS CRAZY AWESOME!!!!
What about the radiation I know it’s been years but I would think it is still there
It is my understanding the water is very close to "normal". The soil on Bikini itself is still hot enough to bit allow anyone to live on the island. All food grown in the soil is still very hot.
On Prinz Eugen, I don't think the Kreigsmarine could have asked for a better P.O.W.
what about the aeroplane videos? havent seen them in a while :(
Doing research for a P-39 video. It takes time, though.
@@skyneahistory2306 Awesome! Can't wait
I actually prefer long form videos, more time equals more details.
But that's just me.
The us really destroyed some of it's war prizes
No island and their inhabitants deserved this fate.
I feel like praying to this thing like it’s a god…
In the depths
A god of the depths maybe?
It's interesting that one German ship is in the Pacific after WW2 was over even though no German ship was in the Pacific during WW2
Prinze Eugene was towed to KWA as war reparation; Broke loose n ran aground,turned turtle with fantasy out of the water as I used to work there,I recovered some items from the ship
Several German warships served in the Pacific during the war.
@@oriontaylor Yeah i was gonna say they had their surface commerce raiders that ran around attacking small resource stations and one of em even killed a Aussie Cruiser in an ambush.
What of New York and Pennsylvania..
Chunky is fine
I wanna see Pennsylvania
Am I the only one who wants a modern Prince Eugen in us service just because.
6:05 we will never know the truth of that dark spot: I like to believe it's Arkansas, touching the sky with her bow before meeting SpongeBob and Patrick in Bikini Bottom
Prinz Eugen German built ship.
9:40 Yikes
DIE AUSGEWOGENE ERNÄHRUNG
My father has a carbon-tet fire extinguisher from Prinz Eugen, well before it was claimed a restricted area in Kwajalein, when it was recovered there was no regard to radiation and it was found by free diving and apparently a dangerous one. But my father has a fire extinguisher from the Prinze. And no, not for sale, and yes, there's a very small Geiger response, about the same of "Fiesta ware"
Can we see the wreck of your wisdom tooth ?
i wish they kept at least one Japanese battleship as a museum. they really were stupid back in the day
The Japanese still have a Yamato Museum with a huge model of the ship. They also have an 18.1" gun outside. It is VERY popular.
@@ahseaton8353 Isn't it a 16.1 inch gun from the Nagato?
The most badass warship of the Kriegsmarine.
Wonder when china is going to steal these wrecks?