Last week in Indianapolis, the survivors of the USS INDIANAPOLIS sinking held their annual reunion. The INDY was sunk on July 30th, 1945 after delivering the parts to the bombs that would decimate Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Most everyone is familiar with the immense human tragedy following the sinking, but for those who are not: http://www.ussindianapolis.org/

Those of you who follow my blog (9/10/2017) also know that Paul Allen’s research vessel RV PETREL located the wreck of the INDY last summer on August 19th of 2017. Paul Mayer, a member of the PETREL crew and a wonderful new friend was invited to give a presentation to the group on the methods used to locate the wreck. Greg and I first met Paul in May when we drove to Chattanooga for a face to face chat. He and his beautiful wife Rosie drove up from Tennessee to Indianapolis, and on the way back stopped by our home in Lexington to visit and have lunch. Very convenient being right off I-75 on their way home, and it was great to see them again. Paul showed me the photos Rosie had taken of him on stage and sharing handshakes and photo ops with all the folks who congratulated him on the find and on the amazing presentation. We talked about his visit with the group and of course Greg and I both peppered him with more questions about the PETREL and the work ahead for the rest of 2018. Lunch was at a quaint little place down the road, Windy Corner Market. They had to get back on the road soon after, as Paul had a 6:00 am flight on Monday morning headed to Okinawa to meet up with the ship. They have work in the area over the next few weeks, then hopefully some more time stateside. Winter will be the time for heading back to the South Pacific.

Once Paul gets situated on PETREL, I hope to have him send me a few of the shots from his event with the INDY group to share. He was very touched by the response from the men and their families, and by the sharing of their personal stories. Soon, I hope there will be more Facebook posts from PETREL about their adventures to share with you, and I will keep everyone posted on when they head back toward the Solomons. Their mission is to locate two aircraft carriers lost in WW2, and then hope to fit another sweep of the Kula Gulf in hitting the areas they missed before. It would be nice to lay the nearly completed plaque in the 75th year of the sinking, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. In the meantime, there are plenty of other stories to investigate.

I hope to have the plaque soon and will share photos of the completed project. Very excited!
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Tammi

The last part of 2017 and early 2018 were especially productive for the crew aboard the RV PETREL. Paul Allen's folks found an astounding number of shipwrecks in the South Pacific. Among those was the USS WARD DD-139. WARD was a Wickes class destroyer patrolling Pearl Harbor the morning of the attack and the first to fire on a Japanese midget submarine. The article below is Part 1 from the Tin Can Sailor's latest publication. Part 2 of the story will come in the next issue. 

The spelling of PETREL is incorrect and will be changed in the next issue, but the story of how WARD was lost later in the war is compelling. Also included on the last page of the article is the quarterly missive of Executive Director Terry Miller with a plea for new membership in the Tin Can Sailor/DesVets organization. It comes with many perks including the quarterly publication with news and stories from men and women who have served on destroyers and advantageous discounts when you visit ship museums. Please consider supporting this organization.

​Tammi

An additional article from Paul Allen on the find: ​www.paulallen.com/rv-petrel-explores-wreck-of-uss-ward/

At a little after 9:00 am this morning EST, it will be after midnight of July 5th (GMT + 11) in the Solomon Islands. 75 years ago at this time, the STRONG was hit by a Japanese long lance torpedo and lost to history. We are still working on finding her and giving her men, those lost and those saved, their place in history. Have a happy, safe and memorable 4th of July!

​Tammi

My friend Andy Hoder (thanks Andy!) recently sent me an article about the locating and repatriating of an American from southern California who was lost during the Korean War. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) located the family through DNA samples submitted by close relatives and were able to return the remains to the family for a proper burial. This article stuck with me, and because we have men missing from the loss of the STRONG, I thought it would be wise to share this information with the families, as submission of your DNA is free. I emailed my contact at the National World War II Museum Jason Dawsey, who works with the DPAA through the museum. Jason provided more information and below is his response to my questions about how many men remain missing and those in possession of the DPAA that are unidentified to date from the WW2 and other war eras:

“Some answers/links with information for your questions. There are just under 73,000 Americans still unrecovered from WWII. 48,000 in Asia-Pacific and 21,000 in Europe-Mediterranean (the other 4000 or so are scattered including those killed in submarine attacks in American waters).  DPAA, formed in early 2015, was part of a merger of JPAC with the Defense Prisoner of War Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) and the Life Sciences Equipment Laboratory (LSEL). It is assigned by Congress to identify the remains of 200 service members a year. Including those from WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, there are about 83,000 unrecovered American service members.
I’m going to provide you two links. One is to a piece by my colleague, Clarise Soper, and I wrote about our participation in Family Member Updates (FMU).  I should note that, since we wrote this, DPAA has added another FMU—to be held on Nov. 17 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
 The other link is a post from April of this year from DPAA’s website concerning their operations. If you scroll down, it says quite a bit about what they have in mind for the Pacific.  They will have another update next month dealing with their operations in the second quarter, and, hopefully, more information about upcoming operations. If I hear anymore about what they are planning for the South Pacific, I will let you know. DPAA does work with the VA and with the American Battle Monuments Commission to examine unidentified remains that were buried in American cemeteries, either in the States or abroad.” 

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/accounting-unrecovered-service-members-2018-dpaa-and-families-gather
 http://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Recent-News-Stories/Article/1498195/dpaa-2nd-quarter-2018-update/

 I’m attaching a JPEG from the article with information on submitting your DNA. I know many of you have a man missing from the loss of the STRONG, and on the chance that they actually get to search for them in the central Solomons some day (or have been found but are unidentified) it would be good to have your DNA on record. Some of you may also have a man or woman missing from the Korean War, Viet Nam or other conflict overseas. If your DNA is on record the identification process is easier. Not fast mind you, but easier. It’s easy to contact the personnel at the DPAA from this page. There are also some frequently asked questions with answers here at this link: http://www.dpaa.mil/Contact/Contact-Us/

If any of you have submitted your DNA and have not been contacted, it wouldn’t hurt to send an email and bring this to their attention. Their caseload is vast, but never hurts to try. Let me know if any of you have some success with this.  

​Tammi

The US version of The Shipwreck Hunter by David Mearns is out! The book was released June 4th and can be bought on any of the major book selling websites such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Borders. Check your local stores to see if they are carrying the book, and that includes any naval or maritime museum stores. Let me know what you find and once you read the book I'd love to have feedback to share with David. David's life and work have truly been extraordinary and challenging. He's a true pro at what he does and has an astounding 89% success rate in his finds. There's mystery, intrigue and real triumph in these stories, not to mention real connections to the people - the men, women and families of the lost are close to his heart. 

​Enjoy the read!

Due to the conversations had with Paul Mayer, crew member of the RV PETREL, I felt the need to get a memorial plaque in the works. Earlier this week, thanks to the early donations by Bill Gustavson and David Hermsen I had the down payment for the plaque. Hallmark Trophys in Lexington is handling the order, and it should take 6-8 weeks. Others have come forward to contribute and I am so very grateful for their support! Once all the donations are in I will list the donors here on the blog page. In addition if I should get anything over the amount to purchase the plaque I plan to donate that money to the scholarship fund of the USS STRONG DD467/758 Association. 

Now, having the plaque made does not guarantee that the ship being found this year is a given. It just means I will be prepared should I get that call. It might be several weeks, or several months and that's if they are allowed to go looking for it again. My hope is they will, and we'll be ready to follow through with laying the plaque. 

If you would like to donate toward the final cost, a total of $1200.00 ($900.00 remains), message me through the contact form on the website. Below is the front design of the plaque, and a list of the 46 lost which will be engraved on the back.

​Tammi

A few weeks ago I told you all about conversations and emails I’ve been sharing with Paul Mayer, a member of the crew of the RV PETREL, one of the ships in Vulcan Inc.’s fleet of research vessels owned by Paul Allen. Allen is a co-founder of Microsoft with Bill Gates, and owner of the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trailblazers. He’s also a very philanthropic soul, his Vulcan Inc. group is involved in the arts, education, conservation and much more. I welcome you to check out their website to see just how busy this organization has become: www.vulcan.com

So, in order to better educate myself and be able to ask questions that emails just can’t begin to handle, I asked Paul if it would be possible to meet when he was back stateside. As it happens, he lives just 4 short hours from me outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee. We made plans for that to happen on May 7th. I got reservations at a hotel and we were on our way.
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First of all, I had planned on this being a more business-like meeting. We had a couple of very informal and very friendly Skype conversations and I had a very good feeling about this person and that we would get along just fine. Turns out Paul must have felt the same, as we were graciously invited to his home. After dropping our stuff off at the hotel and freshening up a bit, I programmed my phone in Google Maps with their address and we hit the road again. About 25 minutes later, we pulled up to his home and were greeted not only by Paul, but his two pet goats, Bert and Ernie. Shortly after we met the dogs: Walter, an elderly blind Dachsund, Roger a very sweet and much younger Dachsund and my new best friend, and the lovely white mixed breed Bella. Paul took us on a tour of his home, lovingly redone with his handiwork. A little background here. Paul is a man of many talents. He’s a diver, submarine and ROV pilot, a master carpenter, a professional photographer, saws and mills his own wood, he rebuilt much of their home – A Renaissance man, you get the picture. So his personal touch with woodcraft is all through the house. Next, we got a tour of his property including the mobile sawmill and his large and enviable wood shop. After that, we sat down and got to the business of ship talk.

I had many questions about the attempt to locate STRONG and why they were not successful. On his wide screen TV, Paul displayed the data they collected and we discussed scenarios and what could have been missed. Greg and I peppered him with questions about the equipment used, the methodology of deploying the free swimming AUV verses sonar with a tow cable, the types of ROV used and it’s speed and capabilities – anything we could think of. He also pulled up and shared information on their finding of the USS INDIANAPOLIS in 2017 and explained how that ship was located. To say I was in awe of the accomplishments of this team of very technical people would be an understatement. Just in the past year they have located the INDY, LEXINGTON, HELENA, JUNEAU, the WARD and others. To see all that they’ve accomplished check out: www.paulallen.com or visit the Facebook page for RV PETREL. Sitting in his kitchen/living room and having access to someone in his position to me is phenomenal. He was very laid back and easy going, eager to answer questions and to ask a few of his own. I couldn’t have been happier.

Until his wife Rosie came home, and we were all happier. Rosie is just like Paul, welcoming, sweet and was very engaged in the conversation. We had agreed to meet for supper and followed them to a lovely restaurant on the Tennessee River called the Boathouse. Over about the next 3 hours we continued to talk, share information and just get to know one another. I can say that Greg and I have a couple of new friends in Tennessee, and am so proud to have met them both. So what came out of this meeting? A lot, I think. I found Paul to be very open and engaging. From this I also anticipate that the crew of PETREL does not like loose ends – that if they get the opportunity to head back to the Kula Gulf this year, that they will scan the areas they missed before and sniff out the location of STRONG. The interest is there, the capability of the ship and the technical crew is certainly bona fide. it’s a matter of people a bit higher up the chain agreeing that the loose end needs to be tied up.
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In the meantime I’ll be working on ordering the plaque, just in case. It could be within the next few weeks, or few months. I want to be prepared.

Paul will return to the ship in a few weeks and they will continue to work in the South Pacific. There are a couple of other vessels they intend to focus on, and if they get the opportunity they will make STRONG a priority and not a side job. The visit with him solidified his commitment, and by extension the commitment of the PETREL crew. Patience is certainly a virtue, and I’m not giving up on the success of this venture.

Tammi

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Click on the images to read the article. Another great one!

I had hoped by this time to have some amazing news to share with you and am happy that I've now been given permission to share what I have. As life happens, there have been a couple of curve balls thrown and things didn’t work out the way I’d hoped – yet. Even with curve balls, sometimes the guy gets on base. I feel like we're halfway between third and Home. There is an upside to the story and real reason to hope for the happy ending. Let me explain.

A few weeks ago I told you all that David Mearns had introduced me to Paul Mayer, a crew member of the RV PETREL, one of the ships owned by Paul Allen and Vulcan Inc. PETREL has recently been in the news for discovering the USS INDIANAPOLIS, the USS LEXINGTON and most recently the USS JUNEAU. They have been in Papua New Guinea, the Coral Sea and the Solomon Islands. Paul notified me recently that they would be headed toward the Kula Gulf with two targets in mind – USS HELENA and USS STRONG. If there was time, he might even go for the trifecta and try to find the IJN NIIZUKI, the Japanese vessel that threw the torpedo taking down STRONG. Needless to say I was over the moon with excitement about this. These folks have a tremendous history of finding these WW2 wrecks, reporting them in a respectful manner and honoring the families. To finally see the light of day cast on STRONG was very emotional for me, as it would give us as a group the chance to properly memorialize the site in the future. For obvious reasons I had to keep this confidential. No need to excite the families until I had good news, and no desire to disappoint them if things didn’t work out.

So for the first curve ball. The crew hit the Kula Gulf back in 2012 with data provided by David Mearns and did a preliminary sweep, which did not reveal a viable target. When they pulled into the gulf in mid-March, they were informed that they now needed permits to do any type of survey. This was new as of April 2017 for anyone doing any type of survey work, archaeological or otherwise in the Solomon Islands. The problem was that the surveys are only reviewed 4 times a year and the next date for review wasn’t until April 30th. This falls several days after the ship is due back in port for resupply and for the crew to get a break. Paul assured me that they might have a way around the red tape and to keep my fingers crossed. He would keep me informed. It was during this waiting time that they discovered the wreck of USS JUNEAU, which was a bonus for the families and for the memory of the five Sullivan brothers. If you follow them on Facebook (RV PETREL), there are some amazing images and video. You can Google the story to see several versions of the history for this ill fated ship, or also go to www.paulallen.com. ;

Then, I got the news I’d been anticipating. The permits had been approved and they were headed back to the Kula Gulf. Per orders from the boss, they first had to attempt to locate HELENA. Once this was accomplished, they could move on STRONG. Luckily, they located HELENA quickly as they already had a good read on her possible location. Paul emailed me again with news that they were headed to the Kula Gulf, would be there in a couple of hours and he would send me timely updates for when they arrived, when they put the AUV named Remus into the water, how long the survey would take and everything connected. It was a sleepless night for sure. Next curveball, the data Remus pulled in did not show a viable target, just as before in the survey from 2015. Next step was to use the multi-beam echo sounder (MBES), which is affixed to the ship. The MBES sends out a swath of signals bouncing off the sea floor and any objects or geological features present, sending back a 3D image. To see how this works, check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fAAxEIFeLU

Unfortunately for us, the MBES also did not produce any viable targets. I was a bit crushed to get the news, but then so was Paul in the delivery. These guys have invested their time, energy and at great cost so the not finding it was a blow to them as well. I can never adequately thank them for their efforts on our behalf. There’s not enough bottles of wine or boxes of Buffalo Trace bourbon balls in the world for that. So, the disappointment set in pretty hard for me and for them.

Next question was, if the ship wasn’t in the areas defined by the Navy reports and witness accounts, where is it? The upside of this effort was the data gathered showing where the ship was not. Paul has indicated to me that they are also not giving up. He cannot at this time guarantee a time period when they will be back in the area to further pursue this, but is willing to continue the working relationship, sharing of information and even to meeting in person when he’s back stateside. He lives just a state away from me and a short drive down I-75, so we plan to make that happen. This indicates to me that this is not over by a long shot. We just have to keep batting until we make it to home plate.

Another option however, is another group that’s expressed an interest in locating the wreck and field testing some new equipment on the wreck site. This seems to be a very definite thing that’s in the planning stages and something I can’t discuss further at this point. Paul Mayer is friends with a person involved in this effort and they have been sharing information. If it turns out that these folks get back to the Kula Gulf before PETREL has a chance to, then I will make the effort to get in touch with them and see that the STRONG families are informed. I prefer that PETREL be the ones, as they have worked so closely with David Mearns in this effort. David also worked with this other group, but not on the same level. It remains to be seen what happens. David’s book The Shipwreck Hunter will be released in the US soon. In the book he lists the top 5 ships he would like to see found, and this past year two of them have been located. He’s moving STRONG to the top of his list and will cover that in any publicity for the book. This is a good thing and could push for further surveys.

So it’s a not so good news, good news situation – not bad. Just have to wait a bit longer for the main event. It will be worth it.

-Tammi
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