California Megadrought unveils long-lost ghost WWII ship on dry lake bed

A wrecked WWII military ship was uncovered at the bottom of Lake Shasta after the water level receded.

The “ghost boat” was first sighted last fall when the lake’s waters dropped due to California’s mega-drought, according to the US Forest Service for the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

Forest officials have now shared dramatic photos of the ship on the dried up lake bed.

In a Facebook post accompanying the images, the US Forest Service wrote: “This boat is being dubbed ‘The Ghost Boat.’ It is truly remarkable how it has emerged from the lake with so many stories. Any “restoration” is done to preserve as much of the boat’s integrity as possible and hopefully keep it in a weathered “battle fatigue” look, and so shall it be displayed in a museum in Nebraska.”

Lake Shasta is a large reservoir on the Sacramento River in Northern California that was built in the 1930s and 1940s. According to forest officials, it is not yet known how the ghost boat got into the lake.

Her post added: “The puzzle begins with the painted numbers found on the ramp when the boat was being moved. It is marked ’31-17′. This confirms that this is a boat assigned to the assault transport USS Monrovia.”

The US Navy ship Monrovia saw service in the Atlantic and Pacific during World War II. “This ship was Patton’s headquarters during the invasion of Sicily. Eisenhower was also on this ship at the time and it proceeded to 6 more D-Day invasions in the Pacific. It was reportedly used in the invasion of Tarawa [in November 1943],” They write.

Lake Shasta, California’s largest reservoir, is one of many bodies of water in the western United States that have been hit by drought in recent years – and 2022 is expected to be one of the driest on record. According to the California Department of Water Resources, Lake Shasta is currently at 33 percent of its capacity. At this time of year it should be about 59 percent.

Water levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell, two reservoirs on the Colorado River, have also dropped dramatically due to the drought. Mead is 28 percent busy on Oct. 11 and Powell is 25 percent busy.

The effects of climate change are believed to worsen the situation in drought-stricken parts of the western United States.

“California has experienced many severe to extraordinary droughts in the past,” said Tapan Pathak, a climate adaptation specialist at the University of California Merced news week.

“However, climate change projections show a greater likelihood of increased frequency and intensity of droughts. There are no visible trends toward a wet or dry future in California, but the trends show increased variability at either extreme. That means California is expected to be prone to both flooding and flooding, as well as drought conditions.”

Lake Mead has also revealed hidden secrets as its waterline has dropped: five human remains have been discovered there so far this year. Most are believed to have been drownings, while one is being investigated as a possible murder.

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