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U-166 Project Field Updates
Thursday, October 9, 2003
At 6 a.m. on Thursday the video
survey across the site was completed and the ROV was brought back to the
surface. We successfully collected 63 lines of video
survey data in 33 hours, and recorded 286 artifacts. Most of the artifacts
are located closer to the bow section of the wreck site, trailing
off in a southerly direction. As expected, most of the material we
identified consisted of twisted and warped metal debris. We also found
copper tubing, metal deck grating, and 6 metal cylinders rising out
of the seafloor. In addition, we also noted an abundance of crustaceans
crawling around the wreck site.
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| Close-up
views of (left) the 20mm anti-aircraft gun on the conning tower, and
(right) the 3.7cm gun on the aft deck of U-166. Both weapons, like the
rest of the boat, are now covered with marine life. |
Today we will be joined by the R/V Rig
Supporter, an offshore survey vessel
which operates here in the Gulf of Mexico, which is leased to C&C
Technologies. The Rig Supporter has brought with it the Hugin
3000 Autonomous
Underwater Vehicle (AUV) which will
conduct a tight grid remote sensing
survey of both the U-166 and Robert E. Lee shipwreck sites.
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Retrieval
of the Hugin 3000 AUV. Image courtesty C&C Technologies. |
After the survey is complete, a wreath laying
ceremony, led by C. J. Christ, will be
conducted to honor those who lost their lives on July 30,
1942. Joining us for the ceremony will be Dr.
Annalies
Corbin
(Executive Director of the PAST
Foundation and Assistant Professor of
Maritime History and Nautical
Archaeology at East Carolina
University),
Roger Hooper of Go Gulf magazine, Marty Morgan of the National
D-Day Museum, and representatives from the U.S.
Navy, the National
Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), the U.S. Minerals
Management Service
and C&C Technologies.
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