A Swastika, 60 Years Submerged, Still Inflames Debate

I can certainly agree with both of your posts. That is why I am sort of torn.

I'm torn also, but I view the Arizona in a different light. The Arizona lies so close to the surface that there are still several structures that are exposed to air (barely). This allowed the Arizona Memorial to be built above her, allowing hundreds of thousands to come pay their respects to the ship and its brave crew every year. Personally, removing pieces and parts of a ship for the express purpose of souvenier hunting, to me, is looting a grave. Bringing pieces of a ship back up for historical research, display in a museum, or physically raising the entire ship again and restoring her as a floating museum is, to me, NOT an act of looting or sacrilege. This, as Sys pointed out, is a way to keep the memory of the ship and the crew that went to rest with her, alive. No matter what side she served on, the men served their countries bravely, and should not be forgotten. So I personally have no problems with finding and raising a ship....it simply depends on the motives behind it.

Besides....planes are found in the jungles and islands of the Pacific all the time, the pilots' remains returned to their respective countries for proper burial and recognition, and the planes (hopefully) restored as static displays. A sunken ship is, in essence, the same thing, but on a larger scale. I guess it all comes down to a judgement call on the part of each person/country.





Heh. Just scrolled back through older posts....forgot I'd already commented on this one. Man...I need a decent night's sleep....

i dont even think it would be possible to raise the ship, it lies 60 yrs under water. if they would raise it then they would have to start restoring her at once, otherwhise the rust-process would start to desintegrate (sry if spellt wrong) the ship from the moment it starts to surface and comes in contact with air.
i would say like some others, let her be.

From Wikipedia. The articles claims that one reason the wreck is being raised is because it is a hazard to navigation. James Cameron is mentioned in the article as filming the process.

German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Apparently, the ship is not in deep water.

"Immediately after the scuttling in shallow water, much of the ship's superstructure remained above water level, but then over the years the wreck subsided into the muddy bottom and today only the tip of the mast remains above the surface."

Here is a pic of the ship after the scuttling.

I agree with the prevailing winds here-leave her be. However, since she is so close to the surface, the grave robbers will undoubtedly loot her for artifacts. If so, it seems to me that some artifacts in a museum make sense. It would be a great opportunity to highlight the sacrifices made by the German Navy.