| Midway:
Ship
Identification |
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Description
of Wreckage
An annotated photomosaic of the wreckage is shown below. The wreckage
is a portion of a ship’s bulkhead, to which are attached
two round platforms of similar size. The piece has ended up in
an inverted position on the seabed floor, so that the viewer is
looking at the underside of the structures themselves (almost
as if one were standing at the edge of the ship outside the lower
hanger deck and looking up at the gun galleries from beneath).
The artifact has been severely distorted, the piece having been
bent near the center of the bulkhead and rotated around its vertical
axis by about 75 degrees, thus forming a concave shape that is
more pronounced the further down towards the platforms one goes.
This has resulted in the two main platforms (which are 25mm gun
tubs) partially facing each other, when on the original ship they
would have been side by side and separated by some 10 feet. Points
of interest include:
1.
25mm gun tub.
2. 25mm gun tub.
3. Landing light array.
4. Landing light.
5. Hinge structure for landing light arm.
6. Gallery structure with support structures.
7. Gallery structure with support structures.
8. Rivet holes in lower edge of bulkhead (the
size of the rivet holes is distorted due to their proximity
to the camera).
9. Observation platform (?) with perforated drain
holes.
10. Lower edge of bulkhead. Note the apparently very
clean line of separation.Support structures on the underside
of the tubs and galleries are indicated with an “S”. |
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A second mosaic partially shows the “backside” of the
artifact, which would at one time have been on the interior of the
ship.
1.
Lower edge of bulkhead. Objects towards the upper right are
“outside” the ship; objects to the lower left are
“inside” the hanger deck.
2. Observation platform (?).
3. 25mm antiaircraft gun tub.
4. Stairway. |
These two mosaics comprise the primary photographic evidence that
will be used throughout the remainder of the analysis to identify
the ship.
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Basic
Nature of the Wreckage
The first question a dispassionate observer might ask upon seeing
photographs of the wreckage is, “How do you know that this artifact
is from a Japanese warship?” Put simply, WWII-era Japanese naval
architecture had a style, and the wreckage clearly evokes that style.
The usage of radial support buttresses around a central inclined column
to support the platforms, the riveted hull structure, the weight-saving
perforations found in what looks to be an observation platform beneath
the tubs, the characteristic shape of the landing light array; all
are sound primary evidence that this artifact did not originate from
an fishing boat, or a contemporary oil tanker. As a result, we felt
confident in proceeding to an identification of the ship itself.
Figure 10: Upward-looking shot of 1:100 model of Zuikaku, showing
typical Japanese aircraft carrier gun platform support structures.
(Scanned from Gakken Pacific War Series, Volume #13.) |
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