The 1944 Battle of Saipan resulted in many U.S. losses, including Douglass SBD Dauntless, F6F Hellcat, and TBF/M Avenger aircraft. In 2018, East Carolina University’s (ECU) Program in Maritime Studies held their summer field school as a DPAA-oriented mission to examine an already-known Avenger site and search for other aircraft losses in Tanapag Harbor, Saipan. Led by Drs. Jennifer McKinnon (PI) and Nathan Richards (co-PI), students explored sites using side scan sonar surveys, remotely operated vehicle target testing, diver/snorkel ground-truth target testing using visual and metal detection inspections, and archaeological survey and mapping. Their investigations resulted in extensively recording the Avenger site and locating sites such as aircraft wreckage, landing craft, shipwrecks, anchors, moorings, and other WWII-related debris. ECU’s 2018 summer field school provided a major step towards understanding the aftermath of the Battle of Saipan by identifying World War II remnants in Tanapag Harbor.
For more information, see the publications from Dr. McKinnon from 2015a, 2015b, and 2016.
Please visit these blogs to learn more about ECU Program in Maritime Studies’ 2018 summer field school:
- Graduate Students’ Work in Saipan Could Help With Recovery of Servicemen MIA After WWII
- Graduate Students Learning to Become Better Archaeologists, Divers on Saipan Trip
- Abroad in Saipan: Same Field School, Different Perspectives
- Maritime Students go from Surveying WWII Sites Underwater to Local Outreach