Sea Technology

MAY 2016

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www.sea-technology.com May 2016 / st 27 I n June 2015, NOAA's Offce of National Marine Sanc- tuaries (ONMS), in collaboration with the University of Hawaii (UH) Marine Option Program, conducted the frst systematic archaeological survey of a sunken Catalina PBY-5 that was one of America's frst casualties of World War II. The Navy seaplane is resting on the bottom of Kaneohe Bay, within the 500-yd. seaward buffer zone of Marine Corps Base Hawaii. The base's Environmental Di- vision generously hosted the collaborative research proj- ect. I was the principal in- vestigator and instructor for the survey on behalf of NO- AA's ONMS, which serves as trustee for a network of underwater parks encom- passing more than 170,000 sq. mi. of marine and Great Lakes waters. Through active research, management and public engagement, national marine sanctuaries sustain healthy environments that are the foundation for thriv- ing communities and stable economies. The plane, which rests in three large pieces at a depth of 30 ft., is protected by the Sunken Military Craft Act of 2004, which prohibits unau- thorized disturbance of mili- tary vessels or planes owned by the U.S. government, as well as foreign sunken military craft that lie within U.S. waters. Marine Corps Base Hawaii has one of the very special historic properties of World War II. The PBY-5 we surveyed there, known by few and seen by even fewer, possesses the same type of signifcance as the USS Arizona and USS Utah; they are all direct casualties of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Minutes before the attack, Japanese Imperial Navy air- craft bombed the nearby U.S. Naval Air Station on the east coast of Oahu. Twenty-seven Catalina PBY "fying boats" on the ground or moored on Kaneohe Bay were destroyed, and six others were damaged. The strike on the seaplane base was a signifcant loss for the U.S. military, as these long-range patrol bombers could have followed the Japanese planes back to their carriers. In 1994, Kaneohe Bay's murky waters thwart- ed a University of Hawaii dive team's attempt to photo- graph the wreck of a Catalina PBY-5. A second effort in 2008 by a local sport diving group, Hawaii Underwater Explorers, also had limited success. From June 8 to 19, 2015, with better visibility and im- proved camera equipment, a team of students from the University of Hawaii Marine Option Program returned to the wreck, sitting 30 ft. underwater. Diving the relatively shallow bay in standard open-circuit scuba gear, they suc- cessfully conducted a detailed archaeological survey, pro- ducing a plan view map of all major features and artifacts. This latest effort also produced the frst systematic photo and video documentation of the entire site. Underwater Survey of Historic US Navy Seaplane Details Revealed of Catalina PBY-5 Lost in Pearl Harbor Attack By Dr. Hans Van Tilburg (Left) Divers taking measurements for the site plan. (Right) A diver examines the gunner's forward turret on a PBY-5 Catalina resting on its right side. (Photo Credit: UH Marine Option Program) (Photo Credit: UH Marine Option Program)

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