This video is the first of two which detail the efforts to locate the Destroyer Escort Samuel B Roberts, which was lost in battle during the Battle off Samar on October 25, 1944. She was lost along with other members of its task force, Taffy 3: the USS Johnston (DD), USS Hoel (DD), and USS Gambier Bay (CVE).
Under the command of her captain, LCDR Robert W. Copeland, the ship with just her two 5-inch guns, triple torpedo tubes, and smaller caliber guns helped fight off the Japanese Center Force which was led by the super-battleship Yamato. Suffering ferocious attacks from Taffy 3 and its aircraft, the Japanese forces suffered heavy casualties and eventually withdrew in what many historians describe as one of the greatest last stands in naval history.
This video shows the technology, method, and patience required to find what is now the deepest shipwreck ever discovered and surveyed. Part one of this two-part series covers a dive by pilot Tim Macdonald of Australia and sonar operator Jeremie Morizet of France scanning the seabed for wreckage. They were actually looking for the carrier Gambier Bay but instead discover debris from the "Sammy B."
Be forewarned, the video is more or less uncut and there are very long stretches of very little activity other than slowly moving across and scanning the seafloor, but that is what is really involved in exploration. Exploration is not an action film, it is slow, painstaking work which this video will show. The team did not find the main wreckage of the Sammy B on this dive, but found . . . . let’s just say, "hard proof" that it was very close.
In Part 2, we will cover the actual discovery of the wreck. While this video may not be the most entertaining of the series, it was requested by many viewers and is part of the historical record of the discovery of the deepest shipwreck ever found.
