A team of researchers has uncovered a historic bow that was detached from a World War II U.S. Navy ship during a notable battle that happened nearly 83 years ago.
The missing bow — which was separated from the USS New Orleans during the Battle of Tassafaronga in November 1942 — was located about 2,200 feet deep in the Solomon Islands’ Iron Bottom Sound, as reported by a news release from the Ocean Exploration Trust.
More than 180 crew members died in the explosion, the Ocean Exploration Trust noted.
Three crew members sacrificed their lives while attempting to save the USS New Orleans, which was being flooded and had lost its bow; they were later honored with posthumous Navy Crosses for their bravery. The Navy ship was moved back to the nearby Tulagi Harbor, where the crew employed coconut logs to stabilize it enough to sail back to the U.S. for permanent repairs, according to the Ocean Exploration Trust.
USS New Orleans was heavily damaged in the WWII Battle of Tassafarronga at Guadalcanal when hit by a Japanese torpedo. (US National Archives)
“By all rights, this ship should have sunk, but due to the heroic damage control efforts of her crew, USS New Orleans became the most grievously damaged US cruiser in WWII to actually survive,” Naval History and Heritage Command Director Samuel J. Cox, a retired Navy Rear Admiral, said in a statement.
Last year, the wreckage of the USS Edsall, an American warship that was sunk during a battle with Japanese forces in World War II, was discovered more than 80 years after it was lost at the bottom of the sea.
