The Moody
Location: San Pedro Bay, California
Wreck: The Moody
Date: September 10 & 17th, 2022
The Moody
The Moody is a Wickes class destroyer that is 314 feet long. She was commissioned in December 1919 and assigned to the pacific fleet. She was decommissioned in June 1930 and set for disassembly. In 1933 she was purchased by MGM for the movie “Hell Below”. The Moody was remade to look like a German destroyer. On February 21, 1933, crews detonated explosives between watertight compartments with the hope she would float after the explosion. Unfortunately, another series of explosions damaged the watertight compartments causing her to sink at 5:30 pm. She rests in approximately 150 feet of water. The two halves of the wreck are about 111 feet apart.
Californiawreckdivers.org (n.d.).
September 10, 2022
Survey Team: Jim Babor, Karim Hamza, David Watson
The survey team set out with the objective of collecting GPS data to pinpoint locations of the net on the wreck. The team found that there were 5 area of the wreck holding nets with a significant concentration of net being found at the stern Pictures, video and survey notes were collected.
September 17, 2022
The team returned to the Moody for a clean up mission.
Closed Circuit Team: Jim Babor, Karim Hamza, Nir Maimon
Open Circuit Team: Jung-han Hsieh, Norbert Lee, Mark Self
The teams agreed to take one half of the wreck each. The closed circuit team descended first to stage the lift bags for both teams and start working on their half of the wreck. The open circuit team descended upon the wreck and began removing net from their half. The teams planned a 2 hour dive and were excited to report that their dive was shorter than anticipated at an hour and 30 minutes. They attribute this efficiency to the use of the GPS data. They were able to plan their dives with a high level of precision because they knew exactly where to find the net. They were able to successfully remove the majority of the net from the wreck and plan to monitor the status of the remaining net.
