Breaking | First Pictures Of USS Strong Surface After It Sank A Year Into Service
R/V Petrel / Facebook (background)/ U.S. Navy / Public Domain (foreground)
In early February, R/V Petrel, a deepwater exploration vessel operated by late Paul Allen’s company Vulcan Inc., located yet another ship which sank during World War II. This time, they found USS Strong.
The company just posted footage and pictures of the find, something we’ve placed for you below. Coming on the heels of the famed USS Hornet which was found days earlier, we can now get a look at another historical vessel that was lost in the depths of time.
USS Strong
USS Strong was a Fletcher-class destroyer built in 1941 and commissioned on August 7th, 1942. 367 ft long with a displacement of 2,050 tons, she had a crew of 287 sailors who eventually made their way to Guadalcanal in the South Pacific.
On the morning of July 5th, 1942, less than a year into her service, USS Strong was taking part in a shelling operation when she was struck in the port side by a Japanese submarine from 11 nautical miles away. 47 men perished that day while the remaining 241 were picked up by a nearby ship.
Here are the latest pictures released by R/V Petrel’s Facebook page:
“While doing a test dive with the AUV in Kula Gulf, Solomon Islands we found a very distinctive debris field and deployed the ROV.” – R/V Petrel / Facebook
“Closing in on the debris field, this photo is from the ROV sonar. Unfortunately, our debris field was a lot of 55-gallon drums so we deployed the AUV on a full mission and found the Strong.” – R/V Petrel / Facebook
“This is the bow of the Strong. The anchor shank and some chain are visible.” – R/V Petrel / Facebook
“The number one 5″ gun.” – R/V Petrel / Facebook
“Another one of the forward 5″ guns.” – R/V Petrel / Facebook
“The bridge and base for the 5″ gun director/range finder is laying on its starboard side.” – R/V Petrel / Facebook
“The boiler of USS Strong.”
“Port side propeller.” – R/V Petrel / Facebook
“The remains of one of the 21″ torpedo launchers. Strong had 2 launchers.” – R/V Petrel / Facebook
“The protective shield for one of the 21″ torpedo launchers.” – R/V Petrel / Facebook
“The remains of one of the 21″ torpedos.” – R/V Petrel / Facebook
The company also released the footage below of the first videos of USS Strong as their vessel approached. You can see it below.
