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Musashi Wreck Found?

Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 5:43 am
by jazsa80
Anybody makin sense of the the talk that the Musashi has been found and some Swedish company wants to raise parts of it? Its getting around forums etc. It seems like someones has made it up and everybody is running with it.

I didnt even know they knew where the wreck was, lttlle own preparing to survey it. Seems widely agreed the US navy knows its position but who knows.

Thoughts? Know anything? Do tell!

Re: Musashi Wreck Found?

Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 8:56 am
by RF
I haven't heard anything about this, but bearing in mind the size of the ship and the increased search technologies and capabilities now available it is only a matter of time before most of the remaining wrecks are found.

A real challenge would be to find the wreck of hilfskreuzer Michel - at the bottom of the Mariana Trench and possibly one of the deepest wrecks there is.

Re: Musashi Wreck Found?

Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:35 pm
by jazsa80
The bottom of the trench? Thats over 10ks deep in places. Wonder what the level of preservation would be. One would think that Musashi would look alot like Bismarck due to them being around the same depth (?-Ithink).

Be good if they could bring a turret up from the Musashi and calculate how many rounds she fired. Wonder if thats possible.

I googled 'Raise the Musashi', thats how i found all this Jibba Jabba.

Really, if they found the Biggest battleship ever built (I'm sure Musashi was a bit heavier) you would think it wouold make the paper.

Re: Musashi Wreck Found?

Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 2:15 pm
by RF
At the bottom of the trench the water pressure would be terrific.

Re: Musashi Wreck Found?

Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 3:09 pm
by Bgile
From combinedfleet.com and the TROM for Musashi:

"Sunk: At 1936, MUSASHI capsizes to port and sinks by the bow in 4,430 feet of water in the Visayan Sea at 13-07N, 122-32E. Two explosions are heard."

Re: Musashi Wreck Found?

Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2009 5:09 am
by jazsa80
Bgile wrote:From combinedfleet.com and the TROM for Musashi:

"Sunk: At 1936, MUSASHI capsizes to port and sinks by the bow in 4,430 feet of water in the Visayan Sea at 13-07N, 122-32E. Two explosions are heard."
Ive read that too. I would like everybody to know that I am in complete denial about those 'explosions'. They were merely the dishes falling out of the Galley cupboards.

(If she did go bang twice then it wont be a Musashi wreck they find but bits of a Musashi wreck all over the sea bed)

Re: Musashi Wreck Found?

Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:51 am
by RF
Could the exposions merely be violent discharges of air from the hull of the ship rather than detonations of ordnance? In which case the ship wouldn't break up?

Re: Musashi Wreck Found?

Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:20 am
by BlackBirdZGTR
If they were to raise the Musashi would it not be a better idea to just build a 1:1 Yamato battleship replica with the money? :think:

I am willing to bet plenty of naval enthusiasts would love to go see that. :think:

Re: Musashi Wreck Found?

Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:30 am
by Jack B.
If anyone has not seen what can happen to a capsizing warship, have a look at this.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 8653689943

When the Barham first explodes a rather large chunk goes flying off to the right. Watch the video and stop it from time to time. It is amazing that anyone survived.

Re: Musashi Wreck Found?

Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:19 am
by RF
This is the first time I have seen the full length of these shots, and yes, you are right in your comments.

Re: Musashi Wreck Found?

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:52 am
by Legend
That footage is amazing! What vessel was that taken from? Also, I suspect if she re-flipped before hitting bottom her superstructure and topside impliments would be in quite good condition, for it is evident her boilers blew literally sky high the moment the funnels went under and the cold seawater poured into her heaters... There were obvious chunks of hull and engineering machines flying in all the debris cloud...

Re: Musashi Wreck Found?

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:16 am
by RF
With an explosion like that I would wonder if much would have remained of the superstructure and keel.

Re: Musashi Wreck Found?

Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 1:02 am
by Legend
The superstructure would amlost* intact if she hit the bottom upright... for the explosion was mostly directed upward off the metallic ship and water. The keel is a different story though... for the boilers blew straight through the bottom hull, completely anniahalating the underside. This is only what I guess, for I have never seen pictures of the wreck**.


*Besides the piched part from the initial split, she arched her back like an old black cat when she flipped.

**I am assuming the wreck has been found right? I mean, there was footage of the event... (More info would be nice of this topic too now that I think about it. Why are we hypothesizing on the ship's condition when we should know where she is? Didn't Ballard or someone go check her out on their explorations?)

Re: Musashi Wreck Found?

Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 5:39 am
by jazsa80
Boiler Explosion? I would think that the Magazine went. There is no way that steam alone could rip apart a battleship hull like that. There was apparently AA amunition stored in spaces along side the main magazine that caused the bang. Boilers do go boom in a big way, but not like that.

Re: Musashi Wreck Found?

Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 2:29 pm
by RF
Probably both, but the main force of an explosion like that would be the main ammo magazine. The boilers going up acting as the trigger?