Dive Site - USS Arkansas (BB-33)
| Dive Site - USS Arkansas (BB-33) | |||
| Dive Location: | City / Island: | ||
| USS Arkansas (BB-33) | Bikini Atoll | ||
| Country: | Rating: | Max. Depth: | Difficulty: |
| Marshall Islands |  |
54 m | Advanced Open Water plus Deep |
| Aquatic Name: | Water: | Altitude: | |
| - | Salt | 0 m | |
| GPS Latitude: | GPS Longitude: | GPS Datum: | |
| 11° 36.559′ N 11.609317° N 11° 36′ 33.54″ N |
165° 29.342′ E 165.489033° E 165° 29′ 20.52″ E |
Google Map | WGS84 |
| 2 dives at this location: | |||
| 370 | 412 | |||
| Map: | |||
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| The oldest ship in Bikini Lagoon and the oldest active battleship in the Navy in 1946 was the USS Arkansas (BB-33), commissioned in September 1912. Noted for the size of its main battery of twelve 12-inch guns in six twin gun turrets and 12-inch thick armour, this US battleship lies bottom side up and listing to starboard in 54 metres of water. The riveted steel vessel is 171 metres long and weighs 23,066 standard tons. The USS Arkansas served in World War I and during World War II, escorting convoys in the Atlantic and bombarding shore targets at Omaha Beach on D-Day during the invasions of Normandy in Europe, as well as at Iwo Jima and Okinawa in the Pacific. Arkansas survived the "Test Able" air atomic blast on 1 July 1946, but fires burned briefly, and she was heavily damaged with blackened paint and topside structures twisted and distorted to the point of uselessness. She sustained spectacular damage, and the Army equipment that had been on her deck was, for the most part, a complete wreck. Smokestacks had crumpled like paper, lubricants were burned out, and masts, radio antennae, and radar domes were snapped off or in complete tatters. The battleship Arkansas was positioned 205 metres (225 yards) from the centre of the 23-kiloton "Test Baker" underwater atomic blast on 25 July 1946. The column of rising water lifted her, and Arkansas sank within seconds. Many observers reported that the Arkansas was heaved upwards on one end like a toy boat and then disappeared in the rising water spout, but later studies of photographs discounted this. The first thing you notice as you drop down to the bottom of the USS Arkansas's hull (at the top!) is the terrible damage inflicted on her by the "Test Baker" blast. Her hull is crushed like a concertina, massive waves of buckled hull plates folded in on the more rigid structure of the girders within. There is a huge gash where the nuclear blast pierced three layers of 12-inch armour. All testaments to the mind-boggling forces unleashed by the atomic bombs! GPS: 11° 36.559' N, 165° 29.342' E See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Arkansas_(BB-33) |
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