Researchers explore sunken ship rumored to have barrels of atomic waste

Researchers using an unmanned underwater vehicle are exploring the USS Independence, a World War-II era aircraft carrier that was deliberately sunk sixty-five years ago off the coast of California.

A team of researchers aboard the Nautilus Live expedition, which is exploring the ocean floor with an operated vehicle called Hercules, are livestreaming footage of the ship from 2,600 feet below the surface.

The USS Independence was stationed in the western Pacific during World War II, and was later one of more than 90 vessels in a fleet used for atomic bomb tests in Bikini Atoll in 1946, according to a statement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

James P. Delgado, Director of NOAA’s Maritime Heritage, is onboard the ship, and said researchers were blown away by how much the USS Independence looked like photos taken years before it was scuttled, or sunk in Jan. 26, 1951.

“There has been some change as a result of her sinking, and sitting down there for 65 years, but all of the damage documented in photos from the atomic blast on July 1, 1946, is there; you can see it,” Delgado said.

Last year, NOAA mapped the wreckage using sonar.  Delgado said the image showed what appeared to be an aircraft in carrier’s hangar bay, but noted that no records indicated a plane had been left on the ship, and it was hard to confirm if the shape was actually a plane.

On Monday evening, the remotely operated vehicle confirmed that a plane was indeed left on the ship.

“It was amazing to see because it’s a plane that should not be there,” Delgado said. “You could still see the prominent star and stripe, the national insignia of a late war airplane.”

Delgado said rumors have perpetuated that the USS Independence was sunk with barrels of atomic waste on board, but said they had not seen anything to indicate that happened.

Samples are being taken from the ships side to determine whether there has been any transmission of radio nucleates from the vessel to the plant life.

The team is livestreaming their dive until around 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday and will return to the dive site on the 25th to continue mapping the vessel, according to Delgado.

You can watch live or archival footage here. 

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