The wreck of the USS Stewart, a World War II destroyer, has been discovered at a depth of approximately 1,065 meters in the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary, located about 80 kilometers northwest of San Francisco, California. The search team successfully located the only warship that fought for both the United States and Japan during World War II.
The USS Stewart was sunk during a target practice exercise in 1946 by missiles from American fighter planes and artillery from a U.S. warship. However, its exact location remained unknown until it was rediscovered by three autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) deployed by the marine robotics company Ocean Infinity.
Images from the three autonomous underwater vehicles used to explore the wreck show the ship remains in relatively good condition after over 80 years on the ocean floor. (Photo: Ocean Infinity).
According to The New York Times, the AUVs scoured an area of 37 square nautical miles (or 127 km2) in less than 24 hours.
The USS Stewart began its service as a U.S. destroyer under the designation DD-224 and was ordered to Borneo in November 1941, just before the U.S. entered World War II. It operated as an escort ship alongside other U.S. warships during the early months of the Pacific War, but suffered severe damage from Japanese warship fire near Bali in February 1942, during the Battle of the Badung Strait.
The USS Stewart managed to return to Surabaya on the island of Java. However, the port was under attack by Japanese forces, so the crew intentionally sank the ship by detonating explosives in its hull. A year later, the Japanese salvaged the sunken warship and converted it into a patrol vessel for the Imperial Japanese Navy until the war ended in 1945.
The ship once again came under U.S. control following Japan’s surrender on September 2, 1945. The U.S. Navy briefly recommissioned the vessel as DD-224, but it was in poor condition at that time. Ultimately, it was decommissioned in May 1946 and subsequently used for target practice.
The USS Stewart is known as the “Ghost Ship of the Pacific” and was reportedly seen by U.S. pilots behind enemy lines during World War II, according to a statement from the archaeology company Search, which was also involved in this discovery. The mystery surrounding the ship was resolved after the war when it was found adrift near the port city of Kure, Japan, close to Hiroshima.
According to the statement, the wreck remains in relatively good condition after nearly 80 years underwater and will provide insights into early 20th-century naval architecture and technology.
