Monday, October 7, 2024

DD 224 -USS STEWART: ADDENDUM

 7 October 2024: It is very rare that we do this here at Maritime Maunder, but it has come to our attention that yesterday's post on the USS Stewart was a trifle obscure in explaining how the United States destroyer came to be in Japanese hands in WWII. Following should explain it more clearly -- from the GreekReporter:

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The USS Stewart’s journey began as an American destroyer, labeled DD-224, sent to Borneo in late 1941, just before the US officially entered World War II.

During the first months of the Pacific War, it operated alongside other US warships, providing escort duties. However, its fate changed in February 1942 during the Battle of Badung Strait near Bali when Japanese warships caused severe damage.

The damaged Stewart managed to make it to Surabaya, a port on the island of Java. However, with Japanese forces advancing, the crew decided to scuttle the ship, sinking it on purpose by using explosives.

 The Strange Odyssey of USS Stewart ...

A year later, the Japanese salvaged the destroyer, putting it back to use as a patrol boat for the Imperial Navy until the war ended in 1945.

After Japan’s surrender on September 2, 1945, the ship returned to US control. The US Navy briefly recommissioned it as DD-224, but it was in poor condition by that time. In May 1946, the vessel was officially decommissioned and then used for target practice.

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We hope this will clear up any confusion as to what happened and how the ship came to be part of the Imperial Japanese Navy. 

And to you folks in Southwest Florida: hang tough and stay safe! You're in our prayers!

        Until next time,

                                              Fair Winds,

                                                      Old Salt

 

 

Sunday, October 6, 2024

USS STEWART DD 224

 6 September 2024: Fall (Autumn) is in the air and the nights - at least - are getting cooler. Not necessarily a bad thing. What is a bad thing though, are the storms that roll through at this time of year and this year is no exception. Hurricanes are queuing up to whack the southeastern United States - some have already done so with disastrous results - and another is in line for making a landfall in the coming week. Let's keep those folks already affected and those about to be in our thoughts and prayers.... it's likely to get real ugly.

Today's post caught us quite by surprise as we had no idea that a United States ship had been captured by an enemy force since the U.S. Frigate Chesapeake  was captured by the British frigate HMS Shannon off Boston MA on 1 June, 1813 (War of 1812). This courtesy of the Daily Mail.

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'Ghost Ship of the Pacific' is found on California ocean bed 82 years after becoming only American vessel to be captured by Japanese in WW2

The wreck of the 'Ghost Ship of the Pacific' has been found on the California ocean bed, eight decades after its historic role in World War II

Found almost 3,500 feet beneath the water's surface, the wreck of the 'Ghost Ship of the Pacific' was discovered through powerful robotic sonar technology after 82 years. 

 Found almost 3,500 feet beneath the water's surface, the wreck of the 'Ghost Ship of the Pacific' was discovered through powerful robotic sonar technology after 82 years

The 314-foot-long ship was identified to be the only US Navy Destroyer that was captured by Japanese forces during World War II, known as the DD-224 or USS Stewart. Another set of drones managed to capture images of the wreck days later, finding it sitting upright and 'almost perfectly intact', reported the New York Times

The level of preservation is 'exceptional' for a ship of its age, according to superintendent of the Cordell Bank and Greater Farallones national submarine sanctuaries. 

'[This] makes it potentially one of the best-preserved examples of a US Navy 'four-piper' destroyer known to exist,' she continued. 

 The wreck of the DD-224 was said to be found in almost perfect condition, potentially making it one of the first of its kind to be so well preserved

The drones used to locate the historic shipwreck have become a valuable asset fo researching the history of our oceans. 

The 314-foot-long ship was identified to be the only US Navy Destroyer that was captured by Japanese forces during World War II

In 2018, Ocean Infinity developed and deployed the largest fleet of marine robotics to collect subsea data

'Using the latest remote and robotic technology, we provide scientists and research institutions with vast quantities of data to help them make important decisions and to aid their understanding of the changing ocean landscape,' wrote Ocean Infinity. 

The company also helped find the wreck of the USS Nevada in 2020, which escaped Battleship Row at Pearl Harbor in 1941 and was one of the US Navy's longest-serving battleships. 

The drones, orange and torpedo-shaped, serve to collect high resolution data using sonars that create high-resolution maps of the seafloor. The same technology is used for projects such as wind farms, oil rigs or laying undersea cable and pipelines. 

Senior Vice President, Jim Delgado, of SEARCH Inc, the leading global organization in maritime archaeology, told the New York Times: 'We're in the midst of, I think, a radical change in Ocean discovery. 

Delgado was part of the search for the DD-224 for a decade as the director of maritime heritage for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees more then 620,000 square miles of underwater parks in the US. 

The company's research to understand and predict changes in weather, climate and oceans and coasts is part of their effort to educate as well as conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources.

Russ Matthews, president of the nonprofit Air/Sea Heritage Foundation and a member of the discovery team, told the New York Times: 'The whole history of that ship was actually exceptionally well documented. The only piece of that story we didn't have is, what does it look like today?'

Matthews and Sherell, the director of maritime operations at Ocean Infinity, collaborated to test the biggest autonomous drones to locate the DD-224. 

Sherrell said that mapping a region of 37 square nautical miles, which was the search area for the DD-224, typically takes weeks but with the drones the ship was spotted within hours. 

Now, the data gathered by Ocean Infinity makes up the best map of that portion of the Cordell Bank sanctuary. 

The Stewart received two battle stars for her service in WWII. She began when she joined the Destroyer Squadron, Atlantic, in 1921 where she was sent to the Philippines for a 23-year mission. 

 In October 1945, the Stewart was recommissioned by the US Navy and nicknamed 'RAMP-224' before her engines gave out and she was sunk off San Francisco

As war broke out in 1937 between Japan and China, Stewart was stationed along Chinese ports before World War II led her back to the Philippines. 

She was lead ship of the second group against Japanese forces and came under several vicious night-time attacks. 

 

Stewart sustained damage to her torpedo racks and galley, as well as a shot below the waterline that flooded the engine room with two feet of water.

Despite being able to continue operating, she was severely damaged and wasn't supported well enough on the Surabaya floating drydock she was docked at during repairs. As the dock rose, she fell onto her side in 12 feet of water that caused further damage to the hull and propeller shafts. 

A Japanese bomb caused even more damage before the ship's port was eventually evacuated. 

Later in the war, reports of an American warship operating in enemy waters came through after Japanese forces had repaired the Stewart in 1943 until arriving in Kure in 1944. 

In April 1945, she was bombed and damaged by US forces and was eventually found again in August of the same year. 

In October 1945, the ship was recommissioned by the US Navy at Kure and nicknamed 'RAMP-224' for 'Recovered Allied Military Personnel' before her engines gave out near Guam.

She was decommissioned in May 1946 and sunk off San Francisco as a target for aircraft after two hours 

 of gunfire.

 After sustaining large amounts of damage, the Stewart was docked in a floating drydock where she overturned into the water and was repaired by Japanese forces and was being used in enemy waters

Dr. Delgado said: 'This ship, in its own way, basically was humanized by the Navy. People pour so much into ships - and we have since the beginning of time. They represent us.'

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Certainly a surprise for us and perhaps for many of our American readers. Maybe we all learned something!

Until next time,

                                            Fair Winds,

                                                    Old Salt 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, September 28, 2024

BAYESIAN INTRIGUE

 

28 SEPTEMBER 2024: Summer is officially in our wake now and for many, the long wait for the re-launching of our boats begins. Hurricane season is in full swing along the East Coast of the US and true to form, the storms keep rolling through leaving devastation behind - at least along the Gulf Coast and in southern East Coast states.

And speaking of bad weather, about a month ago, recently minted billionaire, Mike Lynch's, beautiful sailing yacht Bayesian, sank in a freak storm off the coast of Italy. The following is from CNN:                     

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The Saga of a Tech Exec’s Sunken Yacht Just Got a Lot More Interesting 

Super-encrypted hard drives, water tight safes, and classified documents have entered the picture.

A little over a month ago, the 184-foot yacht belonging to tech millionaire Mike Lynch abruptly sank. The boat had been anchored off the coast of Sicily, where it had been parked for a night of partying, when an unexpected “freak storm” came up in the waters nearby. Within 16 minutes, the vessel went down. Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter, his lawyer, and several others, all drowned as a result.

The tragic incident immediately inspired suspicion due to the bizarre timing of the yacht’s sinking. Lynch and his fellow travelers had been aboard the boat to celebrate Lynch’s recent legal victory: the tech executive had recently been found not guilty in a decade-spanning fraud case that involved a multi-billion dollar deal to sell his software company to Hewlett-Packard in 2011. After years of fighting accusations of fraud related to the deal, a U.S. court had—only two months before the tragic boating incident—acquitted the tech executive of all charges related to the case.

Now, in a twist that is sure to rankle conspiracy theorists, CNN reports that the yacht, known as the Bayesian, may contain watertight safes that hold “super-encrypted hard drives.” Lynch apparently did not trust cloud services and, as a result, took encrypted drives with him whenever he went sailing. Those drives, in turn, may “contain highly sensitive data tied to a number of Western intelligence services,” the outlet reports, citing four sources familiar with the local police investigation.

To bolster this argument, CNN stresses Lynch’s high-level government connections, noting that he was “associated with British, American and other intelligence services through his various companies” (Lynch was involved with the cybersecurity industry, which often works hand in glove with government agencies), and in the past, he served as an advisor to multiple British prime ministers, including David Cameron and Theresa May.

Authorities are now trying to seize and protect the sunken hard-drives. CNN reports that police are stepping up security and underwater surveillance around the sunken vessel, apparently fearing that it might be targeted by foreign governments (Russia and China are both mentioned).

It’s an exceedingly weird twist to a story that has already had plenty of weird twists. Case in point: Stephen Chamberlain, Lynch’s business partner (and the co-defendant in the recently concluded legal proceedings), died the same day that Lynch’s boat sunk. Chamberlain had been struck by a car while jogging on August 17th and succumbed to his injuries two days later. While this may sound like something straight out of Michael Clayton, it may also just be a coincidence. The apparent driver of the vehicle that hit Chamberlin is described as having been a 49-year-old woman who “remained at the scene” after police arrived.

Lynch’s software company, Autonomy, was acquired by Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion in 2011. When the deal went through, Lynch was serving as Autonomy’s CEO. Shortly after the deal went through, however, Lynch left the company, and the company’s operations quickly unraveled. He was subsequently accused of inflating the value of Autonomy in the period before it was sold to Hewlett-Packard. Lynch denied these charges and maintained that HP bungled the operations of the company after it was purchased. After years spent in courts fighting the charges, an American court ultimately agreed with Lynch’s story.

Lynch’s attorney, Chris Morvillo, who helped him win the case against HP—also died, along with his wife, when the Bayesian sank. The couple had been celebrating the legal victory alongside Lynch.

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We think it likely that more will surface (sorry!) from the salvage efforts of this beautiful yacht and perhaps the mystery will be unraveled! So more to come!

 

Until Next time,  

                                         Fair Winds,

                                                    Old Salt