Editing Underwater archaeology (section)

== Research potential ==
There are many reasons why underwater archaeology can make a significant contribution to our knowledge of the past. In the shipwreck field alone, individual [[shipwreck]]s can be of significant historical importance either because of the magnitude of loss of life (such as the [[RMS Titanic|''Titanic'']]) or circumstances of loss (''[[USS Housatonic (1861)|Housatonic]]'' was the first vessel in history sunk by an enemy submarine).<ref name="Titanic">{{cite web|url=http://www.titanicinquiry.org/|title=TIP – United States Senate Inquiry|access-date=2007-12-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213181241/http://www.titanicinquiry.org/|archive-date=2007-12-13|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=Housatonic>{{cite web|title=Housatonic i|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/h/housatonic-i.html|publisher=[[Naval History and Heritage Command]]|access-date=5 June 2015|date=15 January 2015}}</ref> Shipwrecks such as ''[[Mary Rose]]'' can also be important for archaeology because they can form a kind of accidental [[time capsule]], preserving an assemblage of human [[Artifact (archaeology)|artifacts]] at the moment in time when the ship was lost.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2008/08/080821_what_lies_beneath.shtml|title=BBC World Service – Documentaries – What Lies Beneath}}</ref><ref name="Maryrose">{{cite web|url=http://www.maryrose.org/|title=The Mary Rose}}</ref>

Sometimes it is not the wrecking of the ship that is important, but the fact that we have access to the remains of it, especially where the vessel was of major importance and significance in the history of science and engineering (or warfare), due to being the first of its type of vessel. The development of submarines, for example, can be traced via underwater archaeological research, via the ''[[H. L. Hunley (submarine)|Hunley]]'', which was the first submarine to sink an enemy ship (''Hunley'' also had unique construction details not found in previous vessels and was one of the few historic warships ever raised intact);<ref name="Housatonic" /> the [[Resurgam|''Resurgam'' ''II'']], the first powered submarine;<ref name=ACHW2005>{{cite web|title=Advisory Committee on Historic Wreck Sites Annual Report 2005 |url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/ACHWS_annual_report_2005.pdf |publisher=[[Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport]] |access-date=5 June 2015 |date=June 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070114115741/http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/ACHWS_annual_report_2005.pdf |archive-date=14 January 2007 }}</ref> and ''[[Holland 5]]'', which provides insight into the development of submarines in the British Navy.<ref name=DCMS>{{cite web|title=Heritage Minister Andrew McIntosh Acts To Protect Wreck Site Of Prototype Submarine|url=http://www.culture.gov.uk/Reference_library/Press_notices/archive_2005/dcms001_05.htm|publisher=[[Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport]]|access-date=5 June 2015|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20060926083354/http://www.culture.gov.uk/Reference_library/Press_notices/archive_2005/dcms001_05.htm|archive-date=26 September 2006|date=4 January 2005}}</ref>