The First Glimpse of a Sunken WWII Aircraft Carrier

(smooth electronic music)

[Narrator] You're looking at history,

the USS Independence aircraft carrier.

Human eyes haven't seen this sunken ship,

which fought ferocious battles in the Pacific Theater,

in 65 years.

But now, thanks to the wonders

of remotely-operated vehicles,

it's finally coming into view.

The USS Independence has had a rough go of it.

The Navy nuked it, twice,

in the infamous bomb tests in the Bikini Atoll.

Eventually, the Independence grew too leaky,

so the Navy towed it off a coast and sank it.

You might be wondering why on Earth

the Navy wouldn't remove and reuse these guns

before nuking and sinking the carrier.

Well, the whole point of nuking the ship

was to see how the blast would affect things like weapons.

Guns weren't the only thing the Navy left behind.

These are the remnants of a Hellcat fighter plane.

And this is known as a Christmas tree.

It was actually a sensor for the nuclear blast.

See these holes?

They used to have foil inside,

which would rupture on impact,

letting scientists measure the extreme pressure

of the explosions.

But not all is death and destruction.

Life is flourishing here,

like giant sponges, for instance.

Even though the radioactivity has probably faded away,

expeditions like these help scientists

figure out what kind of life takes hold on shipwrecks.

And by comparing the steel of the Independence

and that of ships sunk at Bikini Atoll,

researchers can determine how water

and radiation affect corrosion.

That's based on observations at the moment,

but later expeditions could gather

the carrier's metal for analysis.

So rest well, old Independence.

You done good.