Making the Call: Identifying U.S. Navy Wrecks from Third-Party Data

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

With widening access to remote sensing technology, more people are dedicating their efforts to locating lost ships and aircraft, many of which are U.S. Navy sites. Discoveries of suspected Navy ships by such independent operators are reported to NHHC, often accompanied by sidescan sonar images, video, or video stills. The Underwater Archaeology Branch is tasked with reviewing such data and confirming the proposed identification. Official positive identification is important, as it confirms the wreck as a sunken military craft, conferring legal protections and informing heritage management strategies. Several recent examples, including S-5, Robalo, Johnston, and Juneau, will be used to demonstrate the range of data quality, coverage, and site preservation encountered, and outline the steps UAB takes before making the official determination. Additional insights about the site gained during this process can contribute both to the historian’s knowledge of the past and the naval engineer’s understanding of future ship designs.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SHA 2022 General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology