USS Lexington found...

[North Shore]

http://nationalpost.com/news/world/wrec ... discovered

BANGKOK — A piece of prized Second World War U.S. naval history, the wreckage of the aircraft carrier USS Lexington, which was sunk by the Japanese in a crucial sea battle, has been discovered by an expedition funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

The expedition team announced that the wreckage of the Lexington, crippled by the enemy and then scuttled on May 8, 1942, in the Battle of the Coral Sea, was found Sunday on the seabed in waters 3,000 metres deep, more than 800 kilometres off Australia’s east coast.
etc...

[Chris M]

Very cool. That evacuation picture is nuts... 2800 people going into the water. Wonder how many the sharks took.

[Antique Pilot]

There were several Douglas Devastator TBD aircraft on the Lexington. I am not too familiar with the aircraft but they were apparently obsolete early on in WW2. Paul Allen does not have a Devastator in his collection. But 12,000’ down would make it a tough salvage.

AP

[Antique Pilot]

There were several Douglas Devastator TBD aircraft on the Lexington. I am not too familiar with the aircraft but they were apparently obsolete early on in WW2. Paul Allen does not have a Devastator in his collection. But 12,000’ down would make it a tough salvage.

AP

Sorry, 3000 meters not 12,000 feet.

AP

[North Shore]

At that depth, the extra 2100' is a moot point, I think..

I wonder if they're going to publish the lat/long? I had read somewhere that there were several WW2 shipwrecks that have gone missing over the last ~ 10 years, as the steel is very valuable. It hasn't been contaminated with radioactivity, so it's useful to build some scientific instruments.

[Chris M]

I'm okay with the location remaining a secret. Shipwrecks are grave sites and should be treated with respect.

[PilotDAR]

Hmmm, I wonder if they looked to the left if they would see the missing Malaysian jet too?

[North Shore]

I'm okay with the location remaining a secret. Shipwrecks are grave sites and should be treated with respect.

Oh, yes. Me, too.

She's not a gravesite, though, as everyone was evacuated prior to her being scuttled.

[Zaibatsu]

Is there really that much demand for low background steel?

I remember hearing that all of the platinum ever mined could fit in a two story house, yet it’s in every car that made in the last 40 years.

There are many far more accessible shipwrecks to plunder.

[7ECA]

The USS Lexington (CV-2) is considered a war grave by the US Government, as she went down with more than 200 of her crew who died during the Battle of the Coral Sea.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-43296489

And yes, there is a demand for steel: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38010130

So far in the Java Sea, the HNLMS De Ruyter, HNLMS Java and HNLMS Kortenaer have disappeared entirely from the seabed, along with the HMS Exeter and HMS Encounter. The HMS Electra has been partially stripped by illegal scrap metal scavengers (as of November 2016). Mind you, odds are the HMS Electra is no longer, if they started scavenging the wreck for metal once they would have finished the job...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-in ... shipwrecks

It would appear that the HMS Prince of Wales (having famously survived the May 1941 Battle of the Denmark Strait, in which she faced the German battleship Bismarck) and the HMS Repulse have also been partially scavenged.

[plhought]

Look how preserved those aircraft look in the picture. Being able to still see the paint and markings so clearly. Definitely an impressive discovery.

[Chris M]

Speaking of Paul Allen's collection, EAA just posted a video of it on their site:

http://www.eaavideo.org/detail/videos/m ... te-toy-box