You can join live tonight, August 10 beginning around 5PM, on our Expedition Portal as NOAA Ocean Exploration and Research searches for the WWII Japanese destroyer Hayate, sunk at the Battle of Wake Island on Dec 11, 1941. Struck by a shell from U.S. Marine coastal defense guns, Hayate was the first ship sunk by American forces in the Pacific war. The search for the shipwreck is part  a three-year campaign with NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, to explore the waters of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monuments. The ship is currently conducting scientific baseline characterization of cultural and natural resources in the Wake Atoll unit of the monument. A mapping cruise earlier this year discovered several objects in the vicinity of where Hayate sank. NOAA will use the ROV on Okeanos Explorer to identify the targets and if they find it, to document the shipwreck. Portal viewers can watch as it happens through the remote telepresence capability of Okeanos.

Born July 24, 1897, today marks the 119th anniversary of the birth of Amelia Earhart. She and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared without a trace on her attempt at an around the world flight on July 2, 1937, just short of her 40th birthday. So what’s all the fuss? There is something about Amelia – her beauty, daring, and drive; her compassion, wisdom, and independence; and the sad, tragic end of her young life – that make her the classic heroine. A life of service in the public eye, a world traveler who called kings and presidents friends, a touch of passion with a famous partner, and a death shrouded in mystery, Earhart lived a remarkable life in fascinating times. There is Amelia appeal for everyone. – Excerpt from The Deep Sea Quest for Amelia Earhart

In 1999, then Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jay L. Johnson announced that June 4 would become as significant as October 13 — the Navy’s birthday. “Twice a year, we will pause as a Navy to reflect upon our proud heritage and to build in all hands a renewed awareness of our tradition and history,” Johnson said. This year’s Battle of Midway Celebration Dinner was held at the Army-Navy Club in Arlington, VA, and I was honored to be the keynote speaker. In attendance were several veterans of the battle, representing the air, sea, and undersea forces that secured victory at the turning point of the war in the Pacific. My address focused on the role of the submarine Nautilus in the battle. Along with James Delgado, NOAA Director of Maritime Heritage, I was very pleased to receive a commemorative silver coin from the International Midway Memorial Foundation. Other sponsors included the Naval Historical Foundation, the Navy League, the Naval Submarine League, and the Naval Institute.

“The credit belongs to the man … who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place will never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”–Theodore Roosevelt

Critical to the American victory at the Battle of Midway, fought 74 years ago today, were the heroic actions of the submarine USS Nautilus, as chronicled in my book The Search for the Japanese Fleet. The commander of the famous submarine was Lt. Cdr. William H. Brockman, Jr.

William Brockman was born November 18, 1904, in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Class of 1927. During the Battle of Midway, Brockman led Nautilus and the attack on the Japanese fleet from his position in the conning tower as the approach officer. His leadership, competence, and aggressiveness in the face of the enemy were recognized with the award of the Navy Cross, the highest honor the Navy can bestow, topped only by the Medal of Honor (awarded by the President in the name of Congress). The citation reads:

“The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Commander William Herman Brockman, Jr., United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commanding Officer of USS Nautilus (SS-168), in the Battle of Midway. On 4 June 1942, Lieutenant Commander Brockman aggressively developed a contact with major enemy forces and doggedly pushed home a torpedo attack on a screened aircraft carrier against determined and repeated enemy counter measures by gunfire barrage, depth charging and bombing from the air. The attack culminated successfully and Lieutenant Commander Brockman is credited with closing and sinking of a 10,000 ton enemy aircraft carrier. His skill, determination, courage and fortitude were in keeping with the highest traditions of the Naval Service.”

He won two more Navy Crosses and a Silver Star for further exploits as commander of Nautilus, including sinking of enemy ships, transporting of troops, and evacuation of civilians from enemy occupied territory. William Brockman departed on eternal patrol from Boca Raton, Florida, January 2, 1979, at the age of seventy-four.

The tragic loss of Egypt Air Flight 804 and the sixty-six lives on board poses yet another challenge for aircraft investigators and deep-sea recovery teams. Like the Air France Flight 447 accident and the Malaysian Airlines MH-370 disappearance, the aircraft went down over ocean, coordinates only approximately known. The flight recorders for Flight 447 were found two years later at over 13,000 foot depth by a team led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. No trace of MH-370 has been found despite dogged efforts. The disappearance of Flight 804 is reminiscent of the mysterious case of the Israeli submarine INS Dakar, which vanished in almost exactly the same spot in the Mediterranean in 1968. Though the two events are certainly coincidental, there are similarities. The location, in a deep-sea site known as the Herodotus Basin, is the deepest part of the Mediterranean at 10,000 feet. Sixty-nine sailors were lost on Dakar, and their fate could not be determined until the wreckage was found. A single piece of wreckage washed ashore, but swirling, hard to predict winds and currents made it impossible to calculate from where the piece had originated with any accuracy. In the case of Dakar, over thirty years passed before its discovery by Nauticos in 1999, revealing that its demise was the result of a tragic accident. It is certainly hoped that the families of Egypt Air Flight 804 will soon learn what happened to their loved ones, but experience suggests that they may have to wait for some time.

I recently had the pleasure and privilege of scuba diving with Phil Renaud (Director of the Living Oceans Foundation) and other friends off the island of Grenada in the southern Caribbean. Besides being an avid diver, Phil has a great underwater camera, and knows how to use it! Below is a short (3 minute) video typical of what you can see if you venture below the surface. We dove on a small shipwreck and enjoyed closeup views of corals & critters, including a number of large sea horses. In the end, we gathered for a group photo among the Circle of Children, part of the Grenada Underwater Sculpture Park, the world’s first underwater sculpture gallery.

Phil leads the Living Oceans Foundation in the one of the largest coral reef studies in history. Called the Global Reef Expedition, it will circumnavigate the globe surveying some of the most remote reefs on the planet. It will take five years to complete the field research alone.

The Okeanos Explorer is currently operating near an undersea feature called Pioneer Tablemount, southeast of Midway Atoll, 1,000 miles from Honolulu. This largely unexplored pinnacle rises from the seafloor over 5,000 meters deep to nearly the surface. A spectacular ROV dive is currently taking place this afternoon of March 4th, revealing incredible sea life such as the transparent sea cucumber at left. These creatures are usually seen on the bottom, but this one was found free swimming, its undulating body moving it steadily by, at a depth of over 1,000 meters. Viscera can be seen inside its clear outer body.

Unfortunately, gusting winds and high seas have forced cancellation of several ROV dives over the last few days, and postponed our planned weekend operations on the Battle of Midway site. We are holding out hope that the weather will abate and dives can take place early next week, though the forecast is not promising.

The image at right, from Natural Earth, gives an idea what we’re up against. With the view centered roughly over our operations area, this snapshot from March 1 shows a couple of major storm systems passing through the region. History shows a 20% chance of seas exceeding twelve feet during the winter months in this part of the world, and we are definitely falling within that unlucky circumstance.

Regardless of the weather, the mapping team has been extremely productive during the last couple of days and filled in some important gaps around Pioneer Bank. These efforts included the mapping of a completely new seamount to the west of Pioneer Bank Ridge.

Please check out our Expedition Portal to see live imagery, replays of earlier dives, and other information about this important and exciting NOAA expedition.