History in the sand

 

link: - Spitfire P9374  In September 1980 the wreckage of a Spitfire aircraft emerged from the sands of Calais beach. It had crash-landed during the Second World War. Initially, the identity of the aircraft remained a mystery but following its recovery by the manager of the nearby Hoverport in January 1981, the Spitfire was identified as P9374, an early Mk 1 version of Supermarine’s finest creation. Further research established the detail of the build history of that aircraft, of its engine and of the story behind its arrival on a French beach and the background of its pilot.   source : www.christie.com

Dive discovers missing aircraft hangar of sunken WW II-era Japanese submarine

 

The dramatic discovery of a lost World War II-era Imperial Japanese Navy mega-submarine by a University of Hawaii and U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) team in December 2013 inspired a new search by NHK, the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation, to find key missing pieces of the battleship. The recent survey, the first to return to I-400 submarine since its discovery, successfully located, mapped and captured on video for the first time not only the submarine's hangar and conning tower (navigation platform), and the submarine's bell. More at: http://www.hawaii.edu/news/2015/04/28/dive-discovers-missing-aircraft-hangar-of-sunken-wwii-era-japanese-submarine/ Credit: University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL). The dramatic discovery of a lost World War II-era Imperial Japanese Navy mega-submarine by a University of Hawai'i and U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) team in December 2013 inspired a new search by NHK, the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation, to find key missing pieces of the battleship. The recent survey, the first to return to I-400 submarine since its discovery, successfully located, mapped, and captured on video for the first time not only the submarine's hangar and conning tower (navigation platform), but an unexpected and significant new discovery -- the submarine's bell. Torn from the submarine by the explosive forces that broke apart and sank I-400, the bell lies close to the conning tower on the seafloor. The massive aircraft hangar, large enough to launch three float-plane bombers, was the defining feature of the I-400. After the end of the war, the I-400 was deliberately sunk at sea outside of Pearl Harbor to keep its technological innovations safe from the Soviet Union. "We didn't have detailed enough bottom mapping data to help locate the hangar, conning tower, and other signature features missing from the wreck of the I-400," said Terry Kerby, operations director and chief submarine pilot of the Hawai'i Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL). "With only one dive day to try to find anything, we knew there was a strong chance we might spend the dive looking at the barren sandy bottom." Kerby continued: "We made a lucky guess where to start when we approached the main hull of the I-400 from the northwest. Our guess started to pay off when the giant hangar door came into view, followed by the conning tower and hangar. Many items were amazingly intact for something that had ripped out of the hull of a sinking 400-foot-long submarine." Video of initial sighting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmjmPHNYXO8 Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

What?! 65,000 tonnes of Nazi chemical weapons were dumped in the Baltic Sea 70 years ago

 

 

A ticking time-bomb?

After the hateful, murderous regime of the Nazis was defeated about 70 years ago thanks to the sacrifices of millions of people, the allied victors did something rather strange. Based on decisions made at the Potsdam Conference in 1945 where Stalin, Churchill, and Truman met, Britain and the Soviet Union dumped about 65,000 tonnes of Nazi chemical weapons into the rather shallow waters of the Baltic Sea (average depth, 55 meters/180 feet).

Apple Maps/Screen capture

The problem is that artillery shells and metal drums corrode over time... Nobody is quite sure what state the chemical weapons are in, but scientists have called it a "ticking time-bomb" and recent research has raised the alarm:

Recent research by Poland’s Military University of Technology has found traces of mustard gas on the sea bed just a few hundred metres off the Polish coast, in the Gulf of Gdansk. This indicates corrosion of the metal, and that poisonous chemicals are now leaking into the water and could be absorbed by fish, entering the food chain. Scientists are concerned, but not just because containers are leaking. There should be no chemical weapons in the Gulf of Gdansk as this was not a dumping zone. Stanislaw Popiel, from the team of the military university, which carried out the research, said that it was hard to say where the contamination came from. (source)

We're not even sure where they all are

One thing making this situation more complicated is that the Soviets apparently didn't give much of a hoot back then, and didn't always dump the chemical weapons where they were supposed to be. A tendency to throw them overboard as soon as they were out of sight of the coast was reported... This means there could be leaky chemical weapons in unknown spot, possible near the coast or fishing zones. Jacek Beldowski, from the Polish Institute of Oceanography, has also found an "increase in fish with illnesses and genetic defects in the areas of the known dumping zones; evidence that some of the containers are indeed leaking."

Some Baltic states have been looking into removing some of the chemical weapons from the bottom of the sea, but even that would be hard - just finding them - and dangerous, as rusty drums could break apart when moved.

U.S. navy/Public Domain

But disposing of chemical weapons at sea isn't just something that happened decades ago. A few weeks ago, chemical weapons were in the news again when it was announced that Syrian chemical weapons would be destroyed in the Mediterranean. Thankfully this time they won't just be dumped overboard; rather, they will be destroyed on board of a US ship (pictured above) that is fitted with special equipment (two Field Deployable Hydrolysis Systems) designed for that. It's certainly dangerous and not ideal, but so would bringing the chemicals to another country, or trying to do the job inside Syria, where attacks and sabotage are very likely... The deadline for the decommissioning and destruction of the Syrian weapons is June 30. Let's hope all goes well.

Via The Economist, HN, Washington Post