USS Hornet wreck located on the sea floor
February 17, 2019
Historic Find of an Historic Carrier! SOURCE
The vessel played an important role during World War II. Image Credit: US Navy
The final resting place of the World War II-era aircraft carrier has been discovered off the Solomon Islands.
Commissioned in 1941, the USS Hornet of the United States Navy was involved in the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo as well as the Battle of Midway before being irreparably damaged by Japanese torpedoes and dive-bombers during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in 1943.She was ultimately abandoned by US forces and later sunk by Japanese destroyers.
Now, 76 years after she disappeared beneath the waves, the research vessel Petrel - which famously located the USS Indianapolis back in 2017 - has reported that it has discovered the wreck of the USS Hornet on the sea floor off the Solomon Islands.
"We had the Hornet on our list of WWII warships that we wanted to locate because of its place in history," said Robert Kraft of Vulcan - the firm responsible for locating the vessels.
Some footage from the expedition, as well as images of the wreck, can be viewed in the video below.