BALLARD: WWII AIRCRAFT CARRIER OFF CALIFORNIA COAST IN ‘AMAZING STATE’

San Jose, Calif. — Famed oceanographer Robert Ballard discovered the Titanic, the Bismarck, the USS Yorktown and John F. Kennedy’s PT-109.

On Tuesday, he added another accomplishment to his list of documenting the world’s greatest shipwrecks: the first images in more than six decades of the USS Independence, an iconic World War II aircraft carrier scuttled in 1951 off the California coast, half a mile under the sea.

Ballard’s team revealed breathtaking images of the lost carrier’s flight deck, a Hellcat fighter plane, anti-aircraft guns, hatches, and even the letters of the ship’s name still visible on the hull. Viewers in more than 30 countries watched live over the internet.