World War II-era boat revealed as drought continues to shrink Northern California lake
A World War II-era boat has emerged at Shasta Lake, the latest historical reveal caused by the continuing drought in the Western United States.
Shasta-Trinity National Forest posted photos of the discovery Sunday morning on its Twitter page.
The marking “31-17” stamped on the side of the now rusted and deteriorated landing craft confirms that it was assigned to the attack transport USS Monrovia, the post stated.
USS Monrovia was launched in 1942 and among other duties was used by Gen. George S. Patton ahead of the invasion of Sicily in summer 1943.
This boat appeared in low water of Shasta Lake. It is marked '31-17' confirming it as a boat assigned to the Attack Transport USS Monrovia. This ship was Patton's HQ during the invasion of Sicily. The circumstance of its sinking remains a mystery. pic.twitter.com/y7foKWbExt
— Shasta-Trinity NF (@ShastaTrinityNF) October 9, 2022
The Monrovia was decommissioned in October 1968 and sold for scrap.
How the landing craft came to be at Shasta Lake and the circumstance of its sinking remain mysteries. Many of the landing crafts, even after their mother ships were scrapped, were repurposed for peacetime use.
In July, a Higgins landing craft that had been 185 feet below the surface was found to be nearly halfway out of the water at Lake Mead near Las Vegas.
Human remains also have been found at Lake Mead.
In Utah, drought brought back the remains of a ghost town for the first time in 64 years.
