Odd war relic found on wreck of famous battleship USS Nevada off Hawaii, image shows

By Mark Price

War relics come in all shapes and sizes, but something unexpected — a single shoe — has been found on the sunken USS Nevada, which served in both World War I and World War II. The sight clearly surprised researchers with NOAA Ocean Exploration, who visited the shipwreck March 24 as part of an ongoing expedition off Hawaii. The USS Nevada did not have a crew aboard when it was intentionally bombarded for target practice after WWII. “Is that a boot? Zoom in on that boot?” one NOAA researcher is heard saying in a live feed of the dive. This boot was found on the shipwreck of the USS Nevada, 65 nautical miles off Hawaii. How it got there may forever remain a mystery. NOAA Ocean Exploration video screengrab “So someone just left their boot on there, onboard, I guess?” another scientist responded. The boot was spotted, like a needle in a haystack, on a pile of chains located near the bow of the 27,500-ton battleship, officials said. Closer inspection revealed the shoe was deteriorating, but still had laced strings. How it got there will likely remain a mystery. It could be assumed a crew member misplaced it on the ship and NOAA found it 80 or so years later. The discovery is all the more surprising given the U.S.S. Nevada was decommissioned and uncrewed when towed 65 nautical miles southeast of Pearl Harbor and intentionally sunk in 1948. “The boot … speaks to USS Nevada’s ready status when it was sunk — but the boot is not considered human remains,” NOAA Ocean Exploration told McClatchy News. “Some ordnance and equipment was removed (from the ship) but most of the sailor-experience items like bunk mattresses, sinks, paint cans, filing cabinets, and even spare equipment like the boot remained on board.” A box springs from a mattress can be seen atop wreckage in the upper right of this photo taken on the USS Nevada. The ship was used for target practice with much of its furnishings still aboard, historians say. NOAA Ocean Exploration image In addition to the boot, researchers found mattresses and a sink, providing “evidence of the human experience of (around) 864 sailors who ate, slept, and completed their service off Nevada through incredible and noteworthy moments of history.” USS Nevada is famous for being “the only battleship able to get underway during the 7 December 1941 Pearl Harbor Raid,” Naval History and Heritage Command says. Japanese aircraft targeted the Nevada as she fled the harbor, and the ship later had to be beached when “one torpedo and several bomb hits” left it near sinking, historians say. “Vigorous salvage work and temporary repairs enabled her to steam to the U.S. west coast in April 1942. She spent the rest of the year receiving permanent repairs and improvements,” the command reports. “Nevada returned to combat during the Attu landings in May 1943.” Once the war ended, the ragged ship “was assigned to serve as a target during the July 1946 atomic bomb tests at Bikini, in the Marshall Islands,” historians say. “That experience left her damaged and radioactive, and she was formally decommissioned in August 1946. After two years of inactivity, USS Nevada was towed to sea off the Hawaiian islands and sunk by gunfire and torpedoes,” the command reports. The shipwreck was rediscovered in 2020, sitting in 15,400 feet of water, Marine Technology News reports. NOAA’s visit marks “the first telepresence-enabled exploration of USS Nevada,” with a goal of filling “gaps in our archaeological and biological understanding of the wreck site.” Among the details observed are buckling sheets of metal, which may have been caused by the atomic bomb blast, scientists say.

source : miamiherald