I watched a live dive on two Japanese mini submarines earlier this week. The first sub was sunk by the USS
Ward prior to the attack. This was the first time the public was able to view live underwater exploration of the submarines in real time. The video of the dive is below. It is interesting.
The sunken submarine sits at the bottom of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, filled with silt and pierced by a 4-inch American round. Two Japanese sailors are still inside. The public
has never seen it.
Until now, only a handful of explorers and scientists have seen these relics of the war in the deep sea, but thanks to technology, anyone and everyone can now explore the submarines that represent the beginning of the war in the Pacific, through the video.
NOAA explains that, on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, U.S. naval vessels and aircraft on patrol outside Pearl Harbor saw a partially submerged submarine attempting to enter the harbor, but alerts were not immediately sent out. Some 90 minutes before Pearl Harbor was bombed by Japanese aircraft the USS Ward fired on the mini sub and sank it, marking the first U.S. shots fired in World War II.
The second submarine disappeared on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, but was discovered in shallow waters in 1951 and raised by the U.S. Navy. The sub was then taken out to sea and dumped in deeper water, before its rediscovery by the University of Hawai’i’s Undersea Research Laboratory in 1992. The last time the wreck was visited by the university’s submersibles was in 2013.
It is an interesting bit of history.
http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/news/nov16/noaa-to-dive-on-japanese-mini-subs-near-pearl-harbor.html
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...atch-live-dive-sunken-japanese-subs/95079660/
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016...-to-japanese-mini-subs-near-pearl-harbor.html