81 years after the sinking, the first images of the Japanese aircraft carrier have been released Akagi. Discovered on October 20, 2019, by research vessel Petrel who found the wreck of the Akagi at 5.346 m depth at Midway Atoll. Only recently have the submarines of EV Nautilus they filmed the remains of the Imperial Navy ship. The emblems of Imperial Japan mark the rusty hull, the anti-aircraft guns are still pointed upwards and the signs of US bombs remain visible.
L'Akagi it was a squad aircraft carrier belonging to the Imperial Japanese Navy, the only unit of its class and named after the volcano of the same name which rises in the Kantō region.
Designed as a battle cruiser, once the Washington Treaty on the reduction of naval armaments came into force, it was finished as an aircraft carrier capable of carrying an embarked flock of 61 aircraft including fighters, Mitsubishi B2M torpedo bombers and bombers. She originally had 3 decks arranged "in steps", she did not have islands even on the upper flight deck, and the 2 lower decks did not require elevators. It had anti-ship armament consisting of 10 203mm guns, made up of 2 twin towers in the bow sector and 6 single pieces (3 on each side) at the stern, as well as 6 twin anti-aircraft guns (3 on each side) and other minor armament.
Between 1935 and 1938 theAkagi it underwent a series of modernizations, starting with the elimination of the flight decks and bow guns, to form a single large rectangular flight deck equipped with a small island on the left side and a third elevator. A single smokestack was also built on the starboard side, oriented outwards and downwards, to prevent smoke from invading the flight deck. Protagonist with the other aircraft carriers of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Between 4 and 7 June 1942, a major air-naval battle between the Japanese and American fleets was fought at the Midway Atoll located west of the Hawaiian Islands which would mark the turning point in the progress of the war in the Pacific.
The clash, conducted mainly by the embarked air fleets, saw American success with the sinking of 4 aircraft carriers, a cruiser, 248 planes destroyed and 3057 deaths on the Japanese side, against an aircraft carrier, a destroyer, 147 planes destroyed and 307 deaths on the American.
A flight of Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers belonging to the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise they hit theAkagi at the central elevator, setting fire to the hangar and part of the aircraft ready for take-off on the flight deck, loaded with fuel and weapons; a series of violent explosions occurred which made it extremely difficult to control the fires.
On the morning of June 5, when it became clear that the aircraft carrier was no longer saveable, the Japanese destroyers rescued the last crew members still on board and finished theAkagi with some torpedoes.
La Research Vessel Petrel is an exceptional vessel created specifically to explore underwater ecosystems and search for historically significant shipwrecks. For this purpose it uses two underwater robots, an AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle) and an ROV (remotely operated vehicle), capable of working at very high depths. The crew, led by Rob Kraft, director of submarine operations for Vulcan Inc., the company that manages the ship, collaborates with the United States Navy and international authorities in the search for famous missing ships, particularly from the Second World War . During his research Kraft has so far identified 31 wrecks, including those of aircraft carriers Hornet, Wasp e Lexington and the famous heavy cruiser Indianapolis.
Photo: web
