Maritime Archaeology of Guadalcanal: Iron Bottom Sound

Spotted! E/V Nautilus sailing past Savo Island. 

While exploring the HMAS Canberra with ROV Hercules, the Corps of Exploration was able to find the original plaque placed on the wreck by Dr. Ballard and his team in their 1992 expedition to the Iron Bottom Sound. While the plaque was difficult to read with our ROV cameras, we did get a stunning view of this brass engine order telegraph showing the direction of the ship's propulsion at the time of sinking. The HMAS Canberra was a 187-meter-long County-class heavy cruiser and one of the four Allied heavy cruisers lost during the Battle of Savo Island on August 9, 1942. Canberra remains the largest ship the Royal Australian Navy has ever lost in combat. 

Our Corps of Exploration was lucky enough to explore the 106-meter-long Benson-class destroyer USS Laffey. The ship sank on November 12, 1942, after sustaining a torpedo strike during the First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. Our team collected high-quality images and video of the wreck, including of the ship’s torpedo tubes and the ruins of the deck. A highlight of the dive was identifying the Laffey’s builder’s plaque showing the ship’s name and builder information.

🚨 New wreck alert! We're proud to share the first photos of the newly discovered bow blown off the World War II heavy cruiser USS New Orleans. 
 

Eighty years after World War II, the NA173 expedition brings together archaeological experts from all combatant nations — the United States, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand— as well as interdisciplinary experts worldwide through the Scientist Ashore program. In locating and exploring these historically significant sites, this expedition aims to honor those lost and keep alive the memory of sacrifices made during the Battles of Guadalcanal, as well as highlight the significance of this unique place globally. 
 

During our exploration of the Iron Bottom Sound, the team is using the University of New Hampshire's uncrewed surface vessel, USV DriX, to create a high-resolution map of the entire basin (~3,500 km²) and identify potential exploration sites. DriX is a 7.7-meter-long vessel outfitted with an EM712 multibeam sonar capable of mapping the seafloor and topside sensors to support piloting from both a shoreside control center and team members on E/V Nautilus.