wasn’t Kaga thoroughly trashed and burned? That image looks like an intact vessel.
Looking at the bottom left corner of that picture seems to indicate that the picture itself is from 1940 or 1941, so they’re likely comparing “before” pics to what they’ve discovered.
I think you are right/ that might be “original” whereas the one on the bottom has many bomb hits. It was scuttled by the Japanese DDs, but bombers from the Enterprise savaged it.
I thought the KAGA was found in 1999 or so
The IJN carriers at Midway were sunk by as little as a single 1,000-lb aerial bomb. It was the internal secondary explosions that did them in.
Interestingly the USN learned a major lesson from the loss of the USS Lexington at Coral Sea — once you fly off your main strike, you flood your fuel lines with inert, non-flammable gas and return any unloaded ordnance to the armored magazines. The law of averages says that you’ll sustain a hit or 2. But USN damage control and defensive preparations were key to making US carriers much more difficult to sink. (notice I didn’t say, knock out of action).
Sure hope there aren’t any Jap sailors still hiding out down there on the Kaga.
*ping*
The flight and hangar decks on Kaga became infernos of avgas fires and exploding bombs. The Japanese pulled survivors off of Kaga and then scuttled it with torpedoes.
The flight deck was apparently destroyed by fire and explosion so what we are seeing in the pics is a mostly intact hanger deck and hull.
I don’t understand the lure of finding ships miles deep in the sea. The cost is monumental and when you get there all you have is a picture of a wreck.
I know we raid tombs in the name of archeology and discovering secrets of ancient peoples. (Whatever is found, if we don’t understand it or cant read the strange maarkingsm it is usually labeled as religious rites
But a battleship picture from two miles deep holds my attention for a few seconds, less time than it takes to type this rant. Why not just do a computer creation and I’ll be just as satisfied.
Pox is correct, the upper photograph of an intact Kaga is a file photograph they are using to compare to what they are seeing through the cameras.
In the video is a few seconds of film that shows the Kaga sitting upright on the ocean floor, but with its flight deck completely gone. She was head by at least 4 bombs from SBD Dauntless dive bomber which set the deck and planes on it and in the hanger under it on fire.
The Japanese kept referring to attacking "AF" and there was some disagreement among the American codebreakers as to it's identity.
Someone got the brainstorm to have Midway transmit an uncoded message that it's desalinization plant had broken down.
Soon there was a Japanese message saying that "AF's" desalinization plant was out of order.
Gotta love it. Crafty Americans.
“Shattered Sword” contains a sketch of the Kaga after it was bombed. From the island almost all the way back to the stern, everything above the hull was just gone.