Wreck of the USS Indianapolis discovered

[MacLeod]

The wreck of the USS Indianapolis has been disocvered 72 years after it's sinking on its return journey from delivering parts for the Atomic bomb.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40991326

 

[publiusr]

Paul Allen made the discovery. I wonder what Ballard will do.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

It's considered a war grave, isn't it? Poking around in it might be considered disrespectful of the 880 crew who lost their lives.

 

[cosmic mouse]

some might find this disrespectful... I say it gave the true story more exposure to a larger audience:

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[Markonian]

War memorial - underwater? Wouldn't make sense to put up a pillar/statue somewhere and salvage the heck out the wreck?

I see such pillars in loads of British towns.

 

[Scout101]

Salvage for what? Aside from curiosities/momentos, what of value is down there that has to be retrieved? It's pretty common to declare those sorts of sites as gravesites and leave everything as is. Respect for the dead and whatnot. Maybe they would take an anchor or ship's bell for a state-side memorial, but pretty much just leave it as a tomb.

 

[auntiehill]

It's a mass grave. I'm thinking they will most likely let it be--as they should.

 

[marillion]

Plus, it's 18,000 feet down...

The difference between this and say, the Arizona, is that that most of the crew did not go down with the ship.. In fact, a majority of them survived the sinking... Sadly, most who died, did so days after. That being said, because of what they had to endure, this should definitely be considered a grave site/memorial and be off-limits to scavengers. Technically, also, wouldn't it still be the property of the United States Government?

 

[Scout101]

Not sure how that works. I'd have thought salvage laws apply in international waters, and it belongs to the finder at this point. Maybe there's wiggle room for military hardware? There's also been cases where you find a treasure ship and somehow Spain (or whomever) still ends up getting the claim, although you get a cut of the treasure or whatever. Might depend on how easy it is to prove the original owner, whether they still exist, and how much they care to fight you for it...

 

[marillion]

I looked it up on wiki... Salvaging a foreign naval vessel is against maritime law... But yeah.. There has to be all kinds of wiggle room.. But again, in the case of the Indianapolis, I can't imagine there is anything of true salvage value aboard and at 18,000 feet, the cost to retrieve it would outweigh any reward, I should think.