Divers identify sunken vessel as World War II wreck of USS Houston where 700 troops perished

·Associated Press ^ | August 18, 2014 | ·Associated Press

[WhiskeyX]

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii – Navy divers from the U.S. and Indonesia confirmed that a sunken vessel in the Java Sea is the World War II wreck of the USS Houston, a cruiser sunk by the Japanese that serves as the final resting place for about 700 sailors and Marines, officials announced Monday.

The Japanese sank the Houston during the Battle of Sunda Strait on Feb. 28, 1942. The ship carried 1,068 crewmen, but only 291 sailors and Marines survived both the attack and being prisoners of war.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

found that hull rivets, a metal plate and unexploded ordnance were removed from the ship

Who the hell would go the trouble of doing that?

[Drew68]

It's been a popular dive site and the U.S. Navy has just now figured out it's the USS Houston?

[knarf]

souvenir hunters, I guess.

I admit .. it would be fascinating to dive an old WW2 wreck ... and I'd have a hard time with my heart and spirit about disturbing a grave ... my curiosity is that great.

Fortunately, I'm no diver.

We dig up King Tut's tomb .....

[BobL]

“Who the hell would go the trouble of doing that?”

Agree...kind of creepy.

[knarf]

PS ... I’d probably succUmb to the rapture of the deep because I couldn’t pull myself away from The TITNIC

[knarf]

TITNIC ?

more coffee ... TITANIC

[Conspiracy Guy]

I like TITNIC better.

[Dundee]

Next to the USS Houston is the Australian ship HMAS Perth.

[CrazyIvan]

Wasn’t this the cruiser that FDR spent so much time on?

[bert]

I think it was the cruiser Atlanta

[WhiskeyX]

Yes, there is a book about it: FDR’s Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of her Survivors.

[quilterdebbie]

Right, Ship of Ghosts. Good book.

[centurion316]

Roosevelt did indeed send considerable time aboard Houston, including a cruise to the Caribbean and Portland, Oregon. But, he is more frequently associated with Indianapolis.

The 700 “troops” in the title would be offended if they were not called sailors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Houston_%28CA-30%29

[Sooth2222]

Resting off the west coast of Java, Indonesia, the ship, which remains sovereign property of the United States, is a popular recreational dive site, the Navy said.

It took them more than 70 years to figure it out? Makes about as much sense as most gov't statements, I guess.

[CrazyIvan]

Thanks for jogging my memory. I read the book several years ago.

[GreyFriar]

Drew,

From my memories of reading about the Battle of the Java Sea, there was no exact location recorded for where the USS Houston sank, just ‘off the coast....’ With the number of ships sunk or alleged to have been sunk in the general area, the Houston’s wreck could have been one of several. Remember that these are pleasure divers. They are looking for something to dive on and swim around and perhaps get some “easy souvenir’s aka loot.” Few are interested in actually identifying the wreck.

This ship is a war grave and thus should be left in peace. And as another person said in a different thread “Thank heaven that Iron Bottom Sound in the Solomon Islands is too deep for divers.”

[BenLurkin]

Anybody who removed unexploded ordnance is just plain nuts, IMO.

[wbarmy]

Actually, there is a long history of individual divers removing the brass rounds of the shells, cleaning them of all the powder and primer, then having a local craftsman decorate them for a going away present for a senior officer of NCO. There are quite a lot of these shells in quite a lot of houses around the country, not to include all the ones hanging around the Pentagon. I actually have a 40mm shell from my time in Sarajevo, fired in the heat of battle, rounded up by local craftsmen, then sold back to us.

[bravo whiskey]

I have a pair of shilelagh missile brass end caps i use for planters.