The depths of the ocean hide, according to many experts, more secrets than the confines of the galaxy. And while we don’t seem to pay much attention to what’s in the water, great discoveries are often made. Recently, a team of autonomous robots has surprised those responsible by discovering a large ship that sank a whopping 78 years ago.
On the occasion of the celebration of Memorial Day in the United States, this important discovery that touches the citizens of the country very closely has been revealed. Because the ship that the robots have found is a destroyer that was sunk in World War II. Since then, she had remained lost like many other ships that sank in the conflict. Now technology has brought it back.
next generation robots
Many times there is talk of robots that could take jobs in daily tasks, but where attention must be paid, when talking about robotics, is on a different front. Because this technology is capable of carrying out jobs that, for people, would be practically impossible. In this case, submersible autonomous robots have been used They can explore the depths and provide images and information about the exact location of the sunken wreck being searched for.
These robots can operate in extremely complex conditions, when the immersion of people, even with the necessary equipment, would be very unsuccessful. The robots that they have used in the expedition, led by Tim Taylor and Christine Dennison, are of their own production and have been using them for years in all kinds of ocean exploration missions. Technology has improved over the years until, as they themselves have recognized, it is capable of providing them with results that, in another era, would have been unthinkable for a team as small as theirs.
the discovered ship
This is the USS Mannert L. Abele, one of the destroyers that was sunk by the Japanese army in the terrible conflict that led to World War II. The end of this boat occurred on April 12, 1945 in the battle of Okinawa, in which the Japanese were already using their kamikaze strategy. As the analysis of the ship has shown, several Japanese planes hit the ship until one of them hit the hull directly, which led to her sinking. There were 84 people inside the destroyer whose families were hoping that sooner or later the wreckage would be found.
It has not been easy. One of the problems mentioned by the Ocean Outreach team, which collaborates with Taylor and Dennison, has been the difficult position in which the sinking occurred. In the Pacific Ocean, sunk at a depth of more than 1,370 meters and with an extremely long distance from the first point of coastline, the situation of the ship was in danger. In addition, it is a place that has a lot of volcanic activity and all this, over the decades, has caused a movement that has made it even more difficult to find the remains of the boat.
When the robots gave them the first details about the location of the destroyer, the team in charge of the project quickly contacted the United States marine authorities to get permission to make the recovery. The weather was getting worse and they knew that they were working against the clock. But in the end, with the help of the robots and the hands of the experts who were on the crew, the project was brought to fruition.
Now the families will be able to rest a little easier as the ship has been recovered and the file on the sinking of the Abele has been closed. But there are still many other sunken ships, not only those that disappeared as a result of a war, so these autonomous robots will continue to explore the oceans. Its creators say that they are not treasure hunters, but that they want to help bring justice to those who lost their lives at sea.
