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 USS Aaron Ward DM34  |
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karlos
Dive-Oz Supporter
North Sydney
Australia
482 Posts |
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Michael McFadyen
600+ Posts
Sydney
Australia
1077 Posts |
 Posted - 30 November 2005 : 9:37:34 PM
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Karlos and others, if you look at my web site www.michaelmcfadyenscuba.info/articles/aaronwrd.htm, you will see a full history of the boat, how it sank, a full description of the wreck as it is now and a photo of it a couple of years ago.
Lesley, I heard you were over there. Great dives again I assume!?
Michael McFadyen
There is no such thing as a bad dive, just some that are better than others. |
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Lesley
Dive-Oz Supporter
The Shire
Australia
1253 Posts |
Posted - 30 November 2005 : 10:00:26 PM
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Sorry Karlos, I've been watching this great interactive "Angry Ant" movie on the other channel.
It was only a flying 5 day visit to Ghizo and Tulaghi, with a really good bunch. 5 dives at each place. Only one on the Ward. Peter Fear (Scuba Doctor) had never had a dive on her, so we had a drop into the bridge, then mozied up past the forward guns, around the bow, which was pretty murky, back down the starboard side past the bridge, stack, searchlight, torpedo tubes, round under the stern and back up the other side. A nice leisurely 21 minutes gave us plenty of time. It got clearer and clearer the further you went back. Both guns behind the bridge are down now, the port one came down in February after an earth tremor, according to Neil. She blew Peter away, and given he's just come back from Bikiki, it tells you how good a dive this is. This is my favourite wreck, and after 2 years, I thought the addiction was under control. One dive and it's all undone 
It gave me a chance to catch up with Franck Boulay, who looks much more at home in Tulagi than he did in Sydney, and to deliver a dozen boxes of donated medical supplies to Honiara and Tulagi Hospitals, who were of great assistance to us in May 2003. Pity Solomon Airlines couldn't see their way clear to come to the party - they charged me $400Aus to get it there. 
Back to the real world (sigh)
A closed mouth gathers no foot. |
Edited by - Lesley on 30 November 2005 10:55:47 PM |
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Wix
30+ Posts
One Tree Hill
Australia
149 Posts |
Posted - 30 November 2005 : 10:02:21 PM
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Hi karlos,
First off DD-483 is the Aaron Ward you should be looking at, there were three of them. I assume your interested in the the one in the Solomon Islands.
Secondly as a dive it's fantastic. I did it three years ago. It was on my first rusty relic dive trip and diving the Ward rates as the most memorable dives I've done, and that includes a recent trip to Truk. There is just something about the way it is sitting there, up-right, on the bottom with the gun turrets frozen in place with the guns raised etc. It is easy to imagine the crew had trying to defend their ship in it's final battle. It sure makes for a more sobering dive than a sterile purpose sunk artifical reef.
Deep, Dark and Dodgy! |
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SCUTTLE
Scuttlebutt Dive Charters
JAN JUC
Australia
518 Posts |
Posted - 30 November 2005 : 10:48:45 PM
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Its a great wreck dive, far better than the two similar destroyers I dived over in Bikini this year. I would have to say it is my favourite to dive each year in the Solomons when the conditions really turn on.  Current can be very strong making hard work of it at times is the down side.
Going back again in June to see how she is still standing up to the passage of time. Every year is different as she slowly decays  |
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Stan Bugg
Dive-Oz Supporter 2008
Melbourne
Australia
634 Posts |
Posted - 01 December 2005 : 10:03:40 AM
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At the risk of seeming pedantic, make sure you have the right Aaron Ward. The one sunk near Tulagi is DD483, a Benson class destroyer. The DD anotation indicates destroyer in US navy.
DM 34 was a a converted Sumner closs destroyer/minelayer, laid down in dec 43, after DD 483 had been sunk. They had so many destroyers at the time, that many new ones were converted to this role.
Other differences from the photos:
DD483 had single 5 inch guns. DM34 had twin guns.
DM34 was severely damaged, but survived the war, to be scrapped in 1947.
From M.J. Whitely. Destroyers of World War 2.
Regards,
Stan |
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RMB
New To Forums
Brisbane
Australia
15 Posts |
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Jason M
Mk15 RB Pilot
Sydney
Australia
1771 Posts |
Posted - 01 December 2005 : 12:05:00 PM
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Karl, I'll bring the video down to the shop and you can see for yourself.
Oh yeah, that's the first video ever shot of the Ward, that I did in '95 shortly after she was found.
Jason M.
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karlos
Dive-Oz Supporter
North Sydney
Australia
482 Posts |
Posted - 01 December 2005 : 12:08:21 PM
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quote:
...I'll bring the video down to the shop
Cool - are you coming to Lino's on Saturday...??
Nec Aspera Terrent |
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Jason M
Mk15 RB Pilot
Sydney
Australia
1771 Posts |
Posted - 01 December 2005 : 12:13:35 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by karlos
Cool - are you coming to Lino's on Saturday...??
Nope unfortunately not.
Jason M.
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Steve
Meg Pilot / Dive-Oz Supporter
Perth
Australia
2259 Posts |
Posted - 01 December 2005 : 2:56:31 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Jason M
Karl, I'll bring the video down to the shop and you can see for yourself.
Oh yeah, that's the first video ever shot of the Ward, that I did in '95 shortly after she was found.
Jason M.
When do you think she was first dived Jas?
Divers have to be safe when they go under the water. Two divers can't go down alone, so they have to go down on each other. (Becky age 8) |
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ozmerlin
Dive-Oz Supporter
Adelaide
Australia
160 Posts |
Posted - 01 December 2005 : 3:45:47 PM
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I know the guy who was the fifth to dive her, he used to live in the Solomons and he knows who were the 4 before him.
Regards
Robin
If your not living life on the edge.... you're taking up too much space |
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Jason M
Mk15 RB Pilot
Sydney
Australia
1771 Posts |
Posted - 01 December 2005 : 4:52:00 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Steve
When do you think she was first dived Jas?
IIRC it was early '95. An Aussie guy named Martin used to run the fishery over on Tulaghi, and his chief mechanic Selwyn was a Kiwi. They were keen wreck divers, and had a factory, boats, and slaves at their disposal. The two of them, and another Honiara based Aussie and a Kiwi found her. We were lucky enough (Chris Vautin, Dino Nicolau, and myself) to be over there wreck hunting for a month with Darren who used to run Dive Solomons, and Frank the Frenchman, who was kind of doing who knows what. Darren was friends with Martin, and succeeded in getting us all an invite to dive with them as Darren was hanging out to dive her too. So, we went and dived her, and had a BBQ etc at Martin's place up on the hill overlooking the harbour. A great view, at many nice things.
Jason M.
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Steve
Meg Pilot / Dive-Oz Supporter
Perth
Australia
2259 Posts |
Posted - 01 December 2005 : 5:53:32 PM
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Thanks,
the only reason I ask is that when I was on exchange with the USN I saw photo's of divers who were in the Solomon Is on a good will visit clearing a channel. There were comments with the photos that claimed the divers had along with being great blokes for helping out the islanders had located the USS Aaron Ward and dived her. At a guess this would have occured in the early eighties.
I will try to find someone who may be able to fill in the gaps of my bad memory.
Divers have to be safe when they go under the water. Two divers can't go down alone, so they have to go down on each other. (Becky age 8) |
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Jason M
Mk15 RB Pilot
Sydney
Australia
1771 Posts |
Posted - 01 December 2005 : 6:13:01 PM
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That'd be interesting to hear Steve.
Jason M.
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Michael McFadyen
600+ Posts
Sydney
Australia
1077 Posts |
Posted - 01 December 2005 : 6:29:48 PM
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Jason, what you have written about who found the wreck is not correct. The wreck may have be found by Bob Ballard in 1991 and/or 1992 when he was there looking for HMAS Canberra and some US and Japanese ships. From my article on the USS Aaron Ward mentioned above (www.michaelmcfadyenscuba.info/articles/aaronwrd.htm):
"On 4 September 1994, Ian Gardner came over from Honiara in his 16 foot boat. He wanted to dive the wreck of the USS Kanawha, a US oil tanker sunk the same day as the Moa and the Aaron Ward... After lunch, Brian [Bailey] moved the yacht [Wyuna] to the north-western side of Bungana Island where they intended to do a second dive. ...Ewan [M. Stevenson] "lectured" Ian on the Aaron Ward and where he thought the wreck would be found. Ian was convinced, they set off in Ian's boat towards where Ewan "knew" the wreck would be found. ....They moved further out to 230 to 240 feet (69 to 72 metres) and decided to follow this depth.
"What's that?" Ian suddenly exclaimed. The depth sounder showed a sudden rise in depth from 200 to 160 feet. It was less than 20 minutes from the time they had started searching for the wreck. They turned around and ran over the object and this time it only rose a little off the bottom. Was this a coral reef? It looked like one. Another run over the object this time was the same as the first. This looked like a wreck, not a reef."
Thus the wreck was probably found by Ian Gardner and Ewan M. Stevenson.
"On 25 September 1994, a few weeks after Ewan [M. Stevenson] had gone to the Western Solomons, Ian [Gardner] and Brian [Bailey] went over to the Floridas.
Brian and Ian descended through the dirty water (only 7 to 9 metres visibility) and found the anchor just hooked into the bow. They made their way towards the stern, taking the anchor with them. They dived the wreck again the same day, with visibility now about 15 metres."
Therefore the first people to dive the wreck were probably Ian Gardner and Brian Bailey. At least two other groups later dived the Aaron Ward and also thought that they were the first to dive the wreck. In March 1995 a person called Evan apparently found it and did a bounce dive on it. He later dived the wreck with Rick Belmare. They believed that they were the first to dive the USS Aaron Ward.
Another person who worked for Bob Ballard back in 1991/2 arrived back in the Solomons in late 1994. He became the skipper of the new dive charter boat, Solomon Sea owned by Fred Douglas. They also apparently found the wreck in 1995, perhaps after being shown it by Evan.
Hope this clears it up.
Michael McFadyen
There is no such thing as a bad dive, just some that are better than others. |
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Jason M
Mk15 RB Pilot
Sydney
Australia
1771 Posts |
Posted - 01 December 2005 : 7:12:38 PM
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Actually Michael, it does no clearing up at all!
What I wrote is what I can remember from the time, and is probably wrong. I'm pretty sure Ian Gardner was one of the guys we went out with. He and the other guy with him didn't dive that day, they stayed on one of the boats. There was quite a crowd that day, as they said it was the first time they'd taken strangers (Chris, Dino, Frank, and I) to the wreck. There was Frank's ally boat, Martin's dive boat from the fishery, and a big Bertram which belonged to one of the Aussies.
If Ballard found it in 91/92, why has there been no footage of it, and no mention of it in his books other than the wartime accounts? He went to great pains to film the Barton, Monssen, and Laffey, even though they were very similar ships, and in much deeper water.
Jason M.
P.S. You probably remember Chris and Dino from our Canterbury Hotel days!
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AengusM
UW Photo Moderator / Dive-Oz Supporter
Afghanistan
1121 Posts |
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karlos
Dive-Oz Supporter
North Sydney
Australia
482 Posts |
Posted - 01 December 2005 : 7:56:40 PM
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very nice Aengus - what housing did you use for your CP5000 - I also own the CP5000 - Richard Sawkins lent me his Sea&Sea housing on the last South China Sea trip and I was impressed - only the 60m depth rating hampered me taking her any deeping...
Nec Aspera Terrent |
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Michael McFadyen
600+ Posts
Sydney
Australia
1077 Posts |
Posted - 01 December 2005 : 7:56:55 PM
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Jason, I remember them and I remember when you went over there. It sounds like the Kiwi you mentioned was Ewan M. Stevenson and Ian Gardner the Aussie based in Honiara.
I suspect that the reason Ballard does not mention the Ward is that he was after the deeper wrecks, especially HMAS Canberra, USS Quincy, USS Astoria and USS Vincennes which were lost on the first night of the Battle of Guadalcanal. These were far more "commercial" than the shallower USS Aaron Ward. I have also been told that they used finding the Ward as practice for the deeper wrecks.
As I think I may have told you, we were in Honiara when they found the Canberra and Ballard's team showed people from our dive group the footage before anyone else in the World had seen it.
Probably (definitely) the best single wreck dive I have done is my first dive on the USS Aaron Ward. Even today I sometimes look at the video I took and marvel at the intactness of the wreck.
Michael McFadyen
There is no such thing as a bad dive, just some that are better than others. |
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Bern
150+ Posts
Lane Cove
Australia
177 Posts |
Posted - 01 December 2005 : 8:23:42 PM
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Hi Aengus, great pics. I am particularly interested in "Out of the Haze 2". Was that the "Seaplane" dive in about 20-30m offshore from the Japanese Seaplane base? The piece of gear on the fuselage being inspected by the diver, was that the gun camera? If it is the same seaplane I dived some years back, then there would have b een a wheelbarrow, shovels and various implements, inside rear of the fuselage - just wondering if the stuff was still there - quite surprised to see the guncamera still in place after all these years, complete with optics etc.
cheers
bern |
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USS Aaron Ward DM34 |
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