Modern Mysteries
June 26, 2022 | 1 comment
The USS Samuel B Roberts photographed a few weeks before it was sunk. Image Credit: US Navy
Deep sea explorers have identified the final resting place of the USS Samuel B Roberts which sank back in 1944.
The ship, which went down during the Battle off Samar, was found around 23,000ft beneath the waves by adventurer Victor Vescovo using his own deep-sea submersible – the Limiting Factor.
The vessel and its crew were famed for their heroic last stand against the Japanese.
89 crew members died when the ship went down while another 120 managed to survive for 50 hours on life rafts while they waited for rescue to arrive.
“We like to say that steel doesn’t lie and that the wrecks of these vessels are the last witnesses to the battles that they fought,” Vescovo told BBC News.
Images of the shipwreck captured by the submersible show large holes where the hull had been hit by enemy fire as well as evidence of a very large explosion in the stern quarter of the ship.
“The Sammy B engaged the Japanese heavy cruisers at point blank range and fired so rapidly it exhausted its ammunition; it was down to shooting smoke shells and illumination rounds just to try to set fires on the Japanese ships, and it kept firing,” said Vescovo.
“It was just an extraordinary act of heroism.”
Source: BBC News | Comments (1)
