Wreckage of WWII aircraft carrier USS Hornet discovered in expedition

only on CBS this morning we traveled with researchers on an extraordinary mission to find a piece of American military history lost deep in the South Pacific yesterday we showed you how the team went looking for the wreck of the USS Hornet the Japanese sank the aircraft carrier in October of 1942 as Mark Phillips reported from somewhere east of the solomon islands the researchers discovered a big potential clue today he reveals what they found good morning from the good ship petrol a boat filled with high technology and cautious hope they have found something down there the question is is that what they're looking for the research vessel petrol is perched on a spot in the South Pacific Ocean that was anything but peaceful 77 years ago then it was the scene of a major battle between the u.s. and the Imperial Japanese Navy's the battle raged without Blenheim the morning for the US aircraft carrier Hornets it would be her lies about enemy planes scored several hits on the Hornet when they left we were dead in the water Richard in the watsky 95 now was an 18 year old gunner on the Hornet they use armor-piercing bombs now when they come down you hear them going through the decks plink plink plink plink and then when they explode with 140 of her crew already dead the order was given to abandoned ship the Hornet went to the bottom a bottom three and a half miles down which the crew of the petrol has been scanning with the deep-sea sonar drone up on the top left what does that look like the drone has brought back an image of something down there that's about the right size and about the right place you can play hard together you say that's it all right you know I'm tired of eating straw hats still it's a tempting target for mission chief Rob Kraft let's go have a look ROV ROV remotely operated vehicle latches open a deep-sea sub lowered on a cable it's full of cameras that send back live pictures that bridge gonna give me a 50 meter movie West place and in the couple of hours it takes to go down more than 17,000 feet there can be plenty to see the shock you're gonna make sharks are easy but what's that and way down where the Sun never reaches what's that but more to the point it's a really strange signature what's that oh yeah oh wow oh yeah it could be her lots of ships went down around here come on a ship it is a ship they ship and it's big and if you see a deck you know it's a carrier and if it's a carrier it can only be the Hornet it can only be the Hornet but what you need is positive identification the Hornets naval designation was cv8 yo there's a there it is there it is where we got it and there it was this is everything this is Hornet this is Hornet this is Hornet well done you got it in one you know one er huh we set up a video link from the petrel to richard nawat ski in california I can tell you now that the petrol the ship that we're on which has been looking for the Hornet has in fact found it well we could even show him the gun he was on during the attack let's see this is right at the stern of the Hornet where you were stationed correct right if that's the furthest 1/2 that but well that was my gun looking at that now does it seem like a familiar place yes it does I used to stand on the right side of that gun and that's where my equipment was Wow well 77 years later there is you down to my locker there's 40 bucks in it you can have it Richard no Watsky has enjoyed a long life since that day seeing the Hornet again and the evidence of the men who served a jacket hung on a hatch somebody's washed kit complete with toothbrush naturally made him reflect on those who hadn't been as lucky oh yeah yeah that's true there were a lot of young guys no I I know I've been a very fortunate man the actual fact that you can find these ships as mind-boggling to me I want to thank you for honoring me with this way but it's the crew of the petrol and us who are honored to find the Hornet and the final resting place of so many of her brave crew so another wreck another war grave is discovered its exact location kept secret to protect it but the memory now has a place and the loss a memorial it's fascinating to see that minute right now the work that goes into it

Channel: CBS Mornings

Views: 3,346,855

Keywords: video, cbs, news, CBS News, CBS this Morning, WWII wreckage, aircraft carrier, USS Hornet, U.S.

Id: IrmJn6Oudos

Length: 5min 35sec (335 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 12 2019