Navy Technology to Help NOAA Find Sunken History
U.S. Navy mine-hunting technology has a potential dual use to help NOAA find historic shipwrecks by allowing maritime archaeologists to “see” below the seafloor. With greater resolutions and access to deeper depths, maritime archaeologists can better understand submerged cultural and historic resources without disturbing those sites.
This technology will be put through its paces at AUVfest 2008 from May 12 – 23 in Narragansett Bay, R.I. Hosted by the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport, R.I., Navy technical teams will deploy AUVs, or autonomous undersea vehicles, equipped with advanced mine hunting sensors. Teams will demonstrate several mine countermeasure mission objectives, including broad area searching and mapping capabilities, confined area searching capabilities, and buried mine hunting.
A team of maritime archaeologists from NOAA, including representatives from other federal and state agencies, and universities will employ this advanced technology to survey four shipwrecks, including HMS Cerberus, a 28-gun British frigate intentionally sunk along with other ships in 1778 to avoid capture by an approaching French fleet.
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This technology will be put through its paces at AUVfest 2008 from May 12 – 23 in Narragansett Bay, R.I. Hosted by the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport, R.I., Navy technical teams will deploy AUVs, or autonomous undersea vehicles, equipped with advanced mine hunting sensors. Teams will demonstrate several mine countermeasure mission objectives, including broad area searching and mapping capabilities, confined area searching capabilities, and buried mine hunting.
A team of maritime archaeologists from NOAA, including representatives from other federal and state agencies, and universities will employ this advanced technology to survey four shipwrecks, including HMS Cerberus, a 28-gun British frigate intentionally sunk along with other ships in 1778 to avoid capture by an approaching French fleet.