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USS Macaw - Midway Atoll
After wrecking on February 13, 1944, the remains of the Chanticleer class U.S. Navy submarine rescue vessel USS Macaw ASR-11 came to rest in the channel at Midway Atoll. The Macaw was a 250-foot salvage and rescue ship and featured heavy lifting and deep-sea diving capabilities, including the McCann Rescue Chamber. She initially went aground in foul weather during the attempted rescue of the submarine Flier near Midway’s main channel. Other assets were soon mobilized from Pearl Harbor, and the submarine was freed from the reef…but the Macaw remained hard aground and threatening to block the channel, then a critical passageway for the sub refit base at Midway.
During the salvage operations of the salvage ship, a powerful storm swept in and, in the late hours of February 13th, 1944, the Macaw began to list and slide backwards into deeper water. Complete salvage of the USS Macaw was then considered improbable, and efforts focused on removing equipment and clearing the channel. Finally, the decision was reached to set charges on the remaining superstructure and level the Macaw in place. The salvage crew on board abandoned ship. Most were rescued the next day, clinging to buoys and reef rock, but five, including the Macaw’s commanding officer, were never recovered. It took more than six months to clear the channel of the ex-USS Macaw. The wreck was eventually flattened and the evidence of months of hard work, thousands of pounds of explosives and hundreds of dive-hours by the salvage crew is plain.
Salvage divers from the USS Shackle spent hundreds of man-hours setting demolition charges and cutting away Macaw’s superstructure, in order to clear the channel. Her hull and twisted superstructure debris were surveyed by NOAA archaeologists during the 2003 field season, and again in 2005. The Macaw is an excellent example of the way that many historic shipwreck sites also become important artificial reef sites for fish. The Macaw is now a habitat for a variety of species including several large jacks and sharks. The Macaw remains property of the U.S. Government and lies within protected waters at Midway Atoll, under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Efforts to document and interpret the Macaw are part of larger multi-agency goals to protect these important aspects of our maritime past, and help tell the story of Midway Atoll.
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