From the creation of ocean vessels and weaponry to spacefaring habitations, humans are dependent on our creations for transport and defense - but have you ever wondered what happens to our machinery when it outlives its usefulness? Let's take a look at...
- Mallows Bay
- Point Nemo - The Spacecraft Cemetery
- The Runit Dome
- Bikini Atoll
- The Skeleton Coast
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| An ocean grave? (nadkol19) |
Mallows Bay
Situated in the Potomac river of the USA, Mallows Bay plays host to around 200 shipwrecks. Many of the ships date back to WWI, when the Wilson administration pushed rapid ship building to make ready for naval war. Most were intended to be cargo steamships, but difficulties in production, material sourcing and personnel meant that only 76 of the 734 ordered ships were suitable for cargo shipping and none ever actually set foot in the ports of Europe. The ships were sold off to a scrapping firm in an attempt to recoup some of the costs.Western Marine & Salvage Company were only interested in the metal that could be extracted from the hulks, leaving them with a large number of wooden hulls to dispose of. They began salvaging then burning the hulls in Mallows Bay, but a drop in scrap value led to them simply abandoning them instead.
In the 1960's a company named Idamont, Incorporated bought the area and petitioned for the removal of the hulks, only to be revealed as a puppet of the Potomac Electric Power Company who wanted to build a power plant nearby. This prompted the House Committee on Government Operations to declare the removal unnecessary and allow Mallows Bay to become a hotspot for wildlife. It would eventually be declared a national marine sanctuary.
Point Nemo - The Spacecraft Cemetery
An isolated part of the Pacific Ocean around 2688km from the nearest landmass, this section of ocean is designated as the final resting place of spacecraft and stations.Used as a target point for re-entry, Point Nemo shares the dubious twin distinctions of being far from human life and ecologically unremarkable. These traits make it the ideal impact point for wreckage burning through the atmosphere after outliving their usefulness in orbit.
Somewhere between 250 and 300 spacecraft comprise the contents of this watery grave, including the Russian MIR space lab. The International Space Station will likely join it in 2024.
Aside from the dangers of braining someone with a space station, space debris often contains toxic material from fuel, heavy metals and a decent amount of radiation. Dropping it off in the middle of the ocean is about the best we can do with the objects already sent to space, but modern spacecraft are being designed for destruction, intended to melt and burn up completely during re-entry.
The Runit Dome
Located in the Marshal Islands of the Pacific, this dome of weathered concrete looks like it escaped from the set of a sci-fi movie. The truth is far more sinister - the dome was constructed in 1979 to house radioactive soil and waste from the USA's Cold War nuclear testing.The structure holds around 111,000 cubic yards of radioactive material, primarily soil scraped from the islands after the degree of contamination 12 years of nuclear research became apparent. Since congress refused to fund a full decontamination and international treaties prevented dumping the waste in the ocean, the USA military simply dumped everything into an unlined crater and built a concrete dome over the top.
Of course, this is not a good solution. The dome is currently showing signs of cracking, and radioactive material has seeped from beneath the dome to contaminate the area around it. Though the natives have no words to describe radioactive contamination, they are well aware that the area is poison. The USA government probably knew that this would be a problem - a deal made with the local islanders displaced by the testing offered them some free association rights (pseudo-citizenship with the USA) and some monetary aid. Part of the contract including waving any claims "past, present and future" relating to the nuclear testing.
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| An event that "killed" ships... (WikiImages) |
Bikini Atoll
After the power of the atomic bomb was revealed, the US military wanted to determine if their ships could survive atomic warfare.The device named Helen of Bikini was suspended 90ft below the surface of the water of a lagoon in the Marshal Islands, with a mixed fleet of old ships arrayed above it - this was intended to give a range of data on what types ships would survive, and how close they could be.
When the detonation occurred, it formed a huge bubble of superheated gas that blasted a 30ft deep crater into the seafloor and launched a column of radioactive water 5,000ft into the air. The LSM-60 was the ship responsible for suspending the bomb, and only fragments of it were found post-blast. A number of others (including battleships, an oil barge and 3 submarines) sunk, but many others remained afloat - but saturated with lethal levels of radioactivity.
It seems that the underwater detonation had prevented the radioactive contamination from spreading out, with contaminated water falling back down onto the ships and into the lagoon. None of the ships could be realistically decontaminated.
The wreck of the U.S.S. Independence was recently rediscovered near the Farallon Islands off the coast of Northern California using a remote submarine. Having survived WWII this aircraft carrier was used as a target for two atomic bomb tests, being scuttled afterwards. Though the ship was heavily irradiated (even being used to study decontamination by the military) it survived the blasts and was stored in a San Francisco shipyard until being scuttled. Fortunately the wreckage poses little threat, as water offers a good defense against radioactivity.
The Skeleton Coast
Located on the coast of Namibia, this stretch of beach is dotted with both the skeletons of whales and the wrecks of ships.The Skeleton Coast comprises of a desert landscape adjacent to the chilled sea fed by the Benguela Current of the Atlantic Ocean. The current leads to unpredictable and rough sailing, often complicated by a blanket of thick fog. The remains of stranded whales can be found along the seashore and local Ovahimba use the bones to construct huts.
With chilled seawater on one side and hostile desert to the other, sailors who initially survived shipwrecks on this coast were almost certainly doomed regardless, perishing of thirst long before they could find safety.
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