Assessment and Significance of a World War II battle site: recording the USS Emmons using a High-Resolution DEM combining Multibeam Bathymetry and SfM Photogrammetry

Abstract

The USS Emmons, a 106m US Navy Gleaves-class destroyer minesweeper that sank in 40m of water off Okinawa Island, Japan after kamikaze attack in 1945, is used as a case study for examining the history, multivocal significance, and heritage management of a World War II naval battle site. A baseline record of the site was made using an innovative method incorporating precise control points obtained from high-resolution multibeam echosounding bathymetry to generate 3D models using structure-from-motion photogrammetry. The 3D models produced can be used for sharing information about this underwater cultural heritage and for future in situ monitoring of the archaeological remains.