M88 Hercules sank in a swamp in Lithuania

[Fredled]

According to interviews and comments, the situation is incredibly difficult and no one has seen something like this before. The M88 Hercules is one of the heaviest tank in the US army and it fell into a pond or a very deep swamp if you will. Complicating the recovery efforts is a mix of mud and algae all around the vehicle. The most incredible thing is that even five days later, the rescue team still didn't locate the metal behemoth with precision. In other words, it's still completely invisible.
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[Todjaeger]

According to interviews and comments, the situation is incredibly difficult and no one has seen something like this before. The M88 Hercules is one of the heaviest tank in the US army and it fell into a pond or a very deep swamp if you will. Complicating the recovery efforts is a mix of mud and algae all around the vehicle. The most incredible thing is that even five days later, the rescue team still didn't locate the metal behemoth with precision. In other words, it's still completely invisible.
Article

If one has every been involved in an underwater search for a submerged subject or object, it should not be terribly surprising. Often times in swampy or boggy waters, there is so much material suspended in the water that there is no visibility and divers have to search by hand. Certain types of shallow water sonar might provide some assistance, OTOH if there are numerous other objects suspended or submerged in the water as well, they might provide no further clarity.

 

[John Fedup]

If one has every been involved in an underwater search for a submerged subject or object, it should not be terribly surprising. Often times in swampy or boggy waters, there is so much material suspended in the water that there is no visibility and divers have to search by hand. Certain types of shallow water sonar might provide some assistance, OTOH if there are numerous other objects suspended or submerged in the water as well, they might provide no further clarity.

Absolutely, diving in many locations isn’t Caribbean crystal clear! In a bog/swamp, not for me even when I was 30 years younger.

 

[Feanor]

If one has every been involved in an underwater search for a submerged subject or object, it should not be terribly surprising. Often times in swampy or boggy waters, there is so much material suspended in the water that there is no visibility and divers have to search by hand. Certain types of shallow water sonar might provide some assistance, OTOH if there are numerous other objects suspended or submerged in the water as well, they might provide no further clarity.

And Eastern Europe has some very large swamps. Definitely don't want to be driving around or even walking around in them unless you know exactly where you can and can't go.

 

[SolarisKenzo]

Eastern european swamps are terrifying, even to this day they sometimes discover Nazi or Soviet tanks and vehicles when working to clean up a muddy area.

 

[old faithful]

According to interviews and comments, the situation is incredibly difficult and no one has seen something like this before. The M88 Hercules is one of the heaviest tank in the US army and it fell into a pond or a very deep swamp if you will. Complicating the recovery efforts is a mix of mud and algae all around the vehicle. The most incredible thing is that even five days later, the rescue team still didn't locate the metal behemoth with precision. In other words, it's still completely invisible.
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It really shouldn't be that hard to pin point, scuba on GPS grid pattern with a metal detector.

 

[Todjaeger]

It really shouldn't be that hard to pin point, scuba on GPS grid pattern with a metal detector.

Likely harder than you think. Bog iron was Russia's main type/source of iron until the 16th century. In point of fact, sites in nearby Sweden, Finland and Poland from 800 BCE to ~200 BCE, with some iron production sites in Sweden dating from the late Bronze Age.

In other words, it is quite likely there is quite a bit of other stuff in the water which could trip a metal detector, and trying to conduct a grid search in zero visibility waters (of unknown depths) is quite tricky. Heck, conducting a grid search when the searchers are visible to each other and any search manager is hard enough.

Also one cannot forget that not only could objects be sunk in the water, but there could easily be things stuck/sunken into mud at the bottom of a body of water, swamp or bog, and that mud could sometimes be quite deep.

 

[old faithful]

I have a very good understanding of metal detectors.
The one shown is a pulse induction detector that won't discriminate between ferrous and non ferrous metals.
It's a sensitive detector, and things like a screw will give a quiet signal, something like a car will give a huge signal . It's easy to judge the size of an object, as the signal will be , what , 10m plus long? Where as smaller signals will fade as you get away from it.
Useing a gps to grid a waterway is the only way to go, and even a depth sounder on a boat will show a good image of what you are looking at.
It's 2025, and a good fisherman/prospector could find a tank, of that I am sure.
I sometimes fish a wreck several km off darwin, in about 15m of water, and can find it.
1st time was a bit harder, but still managed, that was in the 1990s of course, and the sounders were nothing like what you can get now.

 

[old faithful]

Here are some images that show how geos look for reef gold using a chopper and metal detector. These are accurate and you can determine the size of the target. It's VLF technology and will discriminate between metals

 

[old faithful]

Considering you are looking for a 40t size metal object, you can ignore smaller signals, easy to tell apart a 44g drum size (and smaller) target from a 44 ton size target.

 

[Sandson41]

Well, they found it. Specialized equipment was required to drain and shore up the area enough to pull it out.

US armored vehicle missing in Lithuania pulled from swamp but fate of 4 soldiers is still unknown

Lithuanian officials say a U.S. armored vehicle that went missing during a training exercise has been retrieved from a swamp after a six-day search but there is still no information about the fate of the four American soldiers who were on board.

apnews.com

There are several Youtube channels about using sonar and experienced divers to search US waterways for missing people and their cars, if anyone wants to see more about the possible search methods and equipment. Very sad, but educational.

 

[Fredled]

Well, they found it. Specialized equipment was required to drain and shore up the area enough to pull it out.

US armored vehicle missing in Lithuania pulled from swamp but fate of 4 soldiers is still unknown

Lithuanian officials say a U.S. armored vehicle that went missing during a training exercise has been retrieved from a swamp after a six-day search but there is still no information about the fate of the four American soldiers who were on board.

apnews.com

There are several Youtube channels about using sonar and experienced divers to search US waterways for missing people and their cars, if anyone wants to see more about the possible search methods and equipment. Very sad, but educational.

They worked day and night. Pulling out the M88 went faster than expected according to the Lithuanian spokesman (Lithuanian language only - sorry). Now they are using sonars and water drone to search for the 4th body.
There is no picture of the M88 as far as I know. The vehicle is not repairable.

It took two other M88s and two bulldozers to extract the tank from the swamp. Algae retained the vehicle on the bottom. these algae are quite big and strong. According to this article in Lithuanian. I hope the same information will be shared in English soon.

 

[Fredled]

Considering you are looking for a 40t size metal object, you can ignore smaller signals, easy to tell apart a 44g drum size (and smaller) target from a 44 ton size target.

The problem was not to locate the vehicle, but to locate it with accuracy. Then to find the hooks where to attach the crane cables.