NEW
YORK, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Veteran Ocean
explorer/CEO of Tiburon Subsea, Tim
Taylor and his "Lost 52 Project" team have discovered 84
lost US sailors and the WWII Sumner Class Destroyer "USS Mannert L.
Abele (DD-733)" destroyed by Super rocket powered kamikazes in
Japanese waters. The accomplishment has just recently been
authenticated by the US Navy.
This discovery is very personal to Mr. Taylor. His father served
in the Navy as part of the lead invasion force in the battle of
Okinawa and he witnessed the
Kamikaze firsthand when one plowed into his ship the USS
Telfair.
My father came close to the same fate of the crew of the Abele
just days earlier." This was a very emotive discovery for me.
Connecting me to my father" states Taylor. "
April 12th, 1945, the
same day Franklin Roosevelt passed,
the Abele was attacked and lost off Okinawa in 3 Minutes. Survivors witnessing the
sinking thought the destroyer was split into two pieces like the
Titanic. The exploration team findings show that the Kamikazes did
destroy the keel and the ship folded as she sank to the bottom in
1380 meters (4500 feet) of water in a heavily volcanically active
area off Okinawa.
The USS Abele was serving as a radar ship positioned 90 miles
offshore between Okinawa and
mainland Japan as part of
Operation Iceberg. Over 50,000 American casualties, including
12,500 soldiers and sailors were killed, and the greatest number of
combat fatigue cases recorded of any single American battle in
history.
Positioned as an early warning scout for incoming Japanese ships
and aircraft, the USS Mannert Abele was the first successful attack
and sinking by Japan's new Super
suicide weapon the Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka or "cherry blossom". Ohka
was a purpose-built, rocket-powered human-guided kamikaze attack
aircraft deployed at the end of the war. It had an extremely
short range and was carried into action by Mitsubishi G4M2e Model
24J "Betty" bomber. The pilot would release from the bomber and
glide towards the target and when close enough fire the three
solid-fuel rockets, one at a time or in unison, and fly the missile
towards his target with devastating results.
The USS Mannert L. Abele was named after commander of the US
Submarine Grunion. The Grunion was lost with all hands in a
battel offshore the Aleutian Island Kiska in Alaska in 1942. Initially discovered by his
sons in 2006, the Grunion's bow was discovered by the Lost 52
Project in 2018 and expansive 4D imaging was collected by Mr.
Taylor and his team. It was the first US ship to be lost to a
deadly new weapon born out of Japan's desperation.
The battle of Okinawa the
savagery was overshadowed by the death of Franklin Roosevelt on April 12th, and Germany's surrender on May 8th, 1945. Only 5 weeks
after "Operation Iceberg" was declared accomplished the atomic
bombs were dropped on Japan.
"Lost 52 Project" has been recognized by JAMSTEC (Japan Agency
for Marine-Earth Science and Technology) as the first and most
comprehensive offshore underwater archaeological expedition in
Japanese waters. Tiburon Subsea, Inc specializes in building
autonomous systems to empower discovery, ocean data collection and
conservation.
Media Contact
Chris Dennison
357670@email4pr.com
917.423.1369
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SOURCE Lost 52 Project