My post-retirement interest in WWII Navy vessels has triggered a lot of research on my part...I'm fascinated now by the recent findings of combat ships lost at sea and considered gone forever...In recent years, mainly through the efforts of the late Paul Allen, and his funding of his research ship, the RV Petrel, a lot of hitherto "lost" history can now be documented...The pictures of the USS Lexington (CV-2) at the bottom of the Coral Sea, and the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) particularly amazed me because of the preserved condition of both after so many decades underwater...Neither one will ever rust away to oblivion because at their depths of 2 and 3.4 miles respectively, oxygen doesn't even exist except in microbial amounts...Some of the photos I saw depicted aircraft and equipment lashed to the decks as if they had sunk just yesterday...
Since my news amalgamator knows what I like to read, this article from a source not on my A-list for reading came up today...It's a very long read about another rich guy (although not in Paul Allen's wealth category) who has a passion for exploring the depths of the oceans...His goal is to collect samples from the lowest point of the deepest trenches in five oceans...And he wants to do it himself in a submersible...The depth at which the Indianapolis rests would be child's play to him as he has already descended to twice that depth alone in a pressure vessel which he pilots down and back to the surface...
The submersible itself never even finished proper sea trials before he made his first solo descent...What I don't understand is how he ever got back to the surface carrying the weight of the pair of balls he must be packing...:jawdrop:...Ben
