Dive Site - USS Saratoga (CV-3)
| Dive Site - USS Saratoga (CV-3) | |||
| Dive Location: | City / Island: | ||
| USS Saratoga (CV-3) | Bikini Atoll | ||
| Country: | Rating: | Max. Depth: | Difficulty: |
| Marshall Islands |  |
50 m | Advanced Open Water plus Deep |
| Aquatic Name: | Water: | Altitude: | |
| - | Salt | 0 m | |
| GPS Latitude: | GPS Longitude: | GPS Datum: | |
| 11° 35.195′ N 11.586583° N 11° 35′ 11.7″ N |
165° 30.515′ E 165.508583° E 165° 30′ 30.9″ E |
Google Map | WGS84 |
| 13 dives at this location: | |||
| 362 | 363 | 365 | 366 | 371 | 375 | 376 | 411 | 413 | 415 | 420 | 421 | 423 | |||
| Map: | |||
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| Comments: | |||
| The USS Saratoga (CV-3) was a Lexington-class aircraft carrier built for the U.S. Navy during the 1920s. She is a large steel-hulled vessel with a waterline length of 253 metres (830 feet), a flight deck length of 270 metres (888 feet), a beam of 33 metres (108 feet), and an official weight of 37,000 standard tons. Designed to carry 78 aircraft of various types, including 36 bombers, Saratoga was at one time the most powerful ship and the largest aircraft carrier in the world. She is BIGGER than the Titanic and the SS President Coolidge! She was the training ground for the most famous naval fliers of the war and the home for as many as 100,000 Navy men. Her crews gave her many affectionate nicknames, including "Lucky Sara", "Saracobra", "Grand Old Lady", or just plain "Sara". During World War II, "Sara" survived two torpedo attacks and five kamikazes. In February 1945, Saratoga carried night fighters during the Iwo Jima invasion and raids on the Japanese home islands. After the war, in 1945, she transported more than 29,000 service members back home to the United States. She held the record for the number of aircraft landed on a carrier, 89,195 in 17 years. In 1946, she was brought in for target duty at Bikini Atoll. In preparation for the "Test Able" atomic blast, Navy Hellcat fighters were strapped to the carrier's flight deck. "Sara" survived the "Test Able" atomic blast on 1 July 1946 with only minor damage, notably the burning of the teak on her flight deck. Saratoga was severely damaged by the 23-kiloton "Test Baker" atomic blast, which was detonated 27 metres (90 feet) underwater just 320 metres (350 yards) from the carrier on 25 July 1946. The first big wave from the blast hit her broadside, lifted her 13 metres (43 feet), and pushed her back 730 metres (800 yards). As the Saratoga fell into the trough created by this massive wave, she was struck by the second wave crest and the thousands of tons of water falling from the blast column, which caused her flight deck to collapse. When survey teams reentered Bikini Lagoon, they saw that the Saratoga's stern was low in the water and that she had begun to list to starboard. She started to sink fast in the late afternoon. By 3:45 p.m., one corner of her flight deck was awash. All 40,000 hands of the Operation Crossroads fleet were called on deck to witness the final moments. At 4:00 p.m., her bow reared high, and the stern sank. The Sara slipped below the water's surface at 4:10 p.m. "Hail and farewell!" came across loudspeakers as thousands of sailors watched on, many weeping openly. The best of the three "dive-able" aircraft carriers in the world and the undisputed queen of Bikini Lagoon, the Saratoga lies upright in 50 metres of water. The superstructure is at 18 metres, the flight deck at 28 metres, and the aeroplane hangars at 39 metres. Four Navy planes sit ghostlike on her hangar deck -- three Helldivers and an Avenger torpedo bomber -- with 250-kilogram (550-pound) bombs stacked on nearby racks. As this dive wreck offers the shallowest dives in Bikini Lagoon, we often dive on her in the afternoon as the second dive of the day. There is so much to explore, especially on wreck penetration dives, that you could keep diving on "Sara" for years and still keep finding something new. GPS: 11° 35.195' N, 165° 30.515' E See also: USS Saratoga (CV-3) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Saratoga_(CV-3) Operation Crossroads - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Crossroads |
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