Sunken US World War II Aircraft Carrier Found Intact with Radioactive Materials After Over 6 Decades (Photo : REUTERS/San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park)
Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have confirmed that a United States Navy light aircraft carrier, which was used in the Second World War, has been found quite intact undersea off the coast of Northern California.
The USS Independence (CVL-22), which was scuttled off the San Francisco coast in 1951, was found by researchers at the NOAA using an underwater drone called 'Echo Ranger.' The video recorded by the drone reportedly showed the ship resting upright about 30 miles off the coast.
According to CBS, the military had kept the location of the sunken ship a secret. The discovery of the USS Independence is part of a two-year long project to locate and study up to 300 sunken ships in about 3,300 square miles of water around the Gulf of the Farollones National Marine Sanctuary.
Researchers found the USS Independence about 2,600 feet deep slightly tipped towards its starboard side, SF Gate reported. Besides some holes on its flight deck, the ship is said to appear intact. At least one aircraft was found on the ship's hangar.
The USS Independence was built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation in the early 1940s. By 1943, there is evidence that the ship, which was on the Pacific Ocean, had been used to deploy planes for World War II attacks.
The USS Independence was used by the US military until the end of the Second World War. It was later used as a target for two nuclear bomb tests at Bikini Atoll. Although it was damaged by its exposure to these explosions, the ship did not sink. It was reportedly decommissioned and taken first to Pearl Harbor and then to San Francisco for tests.
James Delgado, the chief scientist of the Independence mission, has revealed that the decision to scuttle the USS Independence resulted from fears that it would sink due to deterioration. Reports indicate that about 55-gallons of radioactive waste was found in the USS Independence.
There have been health concerns that radioactive materials could seep out of the ship and destroy the ecosystem of the Farollones Sanctuary. But experts say there are very little chances of this outcome due to the depth that the ship lies buried and how far from the coast it is located. Delgado, who has noted that there are no plans of entering the USS Independence, said the submarine used to examine it showed no signs of radioactive exposure.
