WWII Shipwrecks 'Vanish' After Plundering by Illegal Scavengers
By Tom Metcalfe, Live Science Contributor | November 22, 2016 10:37am ET
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WWII Shipwrecks 'Vanish' After Plundering by Illegal Scavengers
A 3D sonar scan of the remains of British warship HMS Electra, one of several war wrecks in the Java Sea thought to have been plundered by metal scavenging operators.
Credit: nswwrecks.info
Illegal salvagers have plundered at least six World War II shipwrecks near Indonesia for scrap metal, including the wreck of an American submarine that has now "completely vanished," according to investigators.
The damaged wrecks include three Dutch and two British warships sunk by Japanese forces after the Battle of the Java Sea in February 1942, and the American submarine USS Perch, which sank in the Java Sea in March 1942 after being damaged in an attack on Japanese destroyers.
http://www.livescience.com/56965-wwii-shipwrecks-vanish-after-illegal-plundering.html
