We have no idea. posted by cenoxo at 4:53 PM on August 22, 2005
From the FPP
Although the Navy mounted an extraordinary effort to save USS Saratoga (CV-3), the warship was too contaminated to conduct extensive damage control procedures and she eventually sank. One of the legends of the Pacific war, her loss was keenly felt by the officers and men of Operation Crossroads.
Gosh, we really didn't want to lose this legendary ship of WWII. So, we parked it next to a nuclear bomb. I, for one, can't think of any reason why that might not have worked. posted by eriko at 9:15 PM on August 22, 2005
The first thing you see as you swim down the huge elevator shaft and enter the hangar deck is a rack of 500lb aerial bombs. There is some dispute as to whether these are live or not but we didn't touch them just in case! Looking up at the ceiling you notice that the light fittings are still intact. A little further in we came across 4 airplanes stowed, wings folded, on the hangar's starboard side. The first three are 'Helldiver' single engine aircraft and the fourth an 'Avenger' torpedo bomber. Every instrument remains mounted in the instrument panels except the clocks which were taken out because they were too attractive an item and might have been stolen! Next we come across Mark 13 torpedoes, many tumbled and loose on the deck. Weighing a ton each it was weapons like this that were responsible for the sinking of the Japanese battleship Yamato.
The USS Saratoga is the largest divable shipwreck in the world. She is a mammoth of a wreck and is bigger than the Titanic at 880 ft+ long with a 106 ft beam, displacing 39,000 tons.
The bigger they are, the harder they fall. posted by cenoxo at 10:28 PM on August 22, 2005
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posted by poppo at 9:30 AM on August 22, 2005