you're looking at history. The USS Independence aircraft carrier
Human Eyes haven't seen this sunken ship which fought ferocious
battles in the Pacific Theater in 65 years. But
now, thanks to the wonders of remotely operated vehicles
, it's finally coming into view. USS Independence has
had a rough go of it. The Navy nuked
it twice in the infamous bomb tests in the Bikini
Atoll. Mm. Eventually, the independence grew to
leaky. So the navy toted off the coast and
sink it. You might be wondering why on earth
the Navy wouldn't remove and re use these guns before
nuking and sinking the carrier. Well, the whole
point of nuking the ship was to see how the
blast would affect things like weapons. Guns were the
only thing that may be left behind. These are
the remnants of a hellcat fighter plane, and this
is known as a Christmas tree. It was actually
a sensor for the nuclear blast. See these holes
they used to have foil inside, which will rupture
on impact, letting scientists measure the extreme pressure of
the explosions. But not all is death and destruction
. Life is flourishing here like giant sponges, for
instance, even though the radio activity has probably faded
away. Expeditions like these help scientists figure out what
kind of life takes hold on shipwrecks. And by
comparing this deal of the independence and that of ships
sunk at Bikini Atoll, researchers can determine how water
and radiation affect corrosion. That's based on observations at
the moment, but later expeditions could gather the carriers
medal for analysis. So rest, well, old
independent. You done good. Mhm, not a 00:01:53.819 --> problem.