A US mission captured the wreckage of a US World War II destroyer approximately 6,500 meters off the coast of the Philippines.
“ We have just completed the deepest wreck dive in history to find the main wreckage of the USS Johnston, ” Viktor Veskovo, founder of the Texas-based Kaladan Oceanic Corporation that created the footage, posted on Twitter on Wednesday. Veskovo said the wreck is 6,456 meters.
The USS Johnston site has been known for some time, but it was the first time a crew had been able to fully map and photograph the site, according to CNN.
During two separate eight-hour dives that Veskovo made with the submarine DSV Limiting Factor in late March, Kaladan Oceanic was able to photograph, photograph and study the wreck.
Samar’s battle
The destroyer sank on October 25, 1944 in the Battle of Samar, one of four naval battles known as the Battle of Leyte Bay, one of the greatest battles in the history of naval wars. That battle also marked the beginning of the end for the Japanese Navy in World War II. Of the 327 crew members, 141 survived, according to U.S. Navy records.
The wreck was already located in the Philippine Sea in 2019 by other scouts, but much of the wreck was outside the range of their remotely piloted submarine.
Caladan Oceanic specializes in submarine technology.
