Underwater Forensic Archaeological Excavation of an Aircraft Wreck Site using Saturation Diving Capabilities

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "A Decade of DPAA: Challenges and Opportunities to the Accounting Mission", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In 2023, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), with the support of the U.S. Navy's Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV) and working in conjunction with the Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU), embarked on the underwater excavation of a WWII U.S. heavy bomber wreck site in the Bismarck Sea, in Madang Province, Independent State of Papua New Guinea, using saturation diving capabilities. This activity was conducted in coordination with the National Museum and Art Gallery of Papua New Guinea (NMAG) and the PNG Defence Force (PNGDF). This mission was the culmination of multiple years of planning efforts (following the site's discovery by DPAA Partner organization Project Recover), and its undertaking presented a number of unique challenges. This presentation will provide an overview of the activity, discuss some of the challenges (and successes), and explore particularly notable aspects of the operation. It will also examine the potential for future such applications.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• A Decade of DPAA: Challenges and Opportunities to the Accounting Mission   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow