'Pacific Ghost Ship' Discovered, Double Agent in World War II

The wreck of the USS Stewart has been found at a depth of about 1,065 m in the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary , about 80 km northwest of San Francisco (USA). Searchers have located the only warship that fought for both the US and Japan in World War II.

It was sunk there during a target practice in 1946 by missiles from American fighter planes and artillery shells from a US warship. But its exact location remained unknown until the wreck was rediscovered by three autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) deployed by the marine robotics company Ocean Infinity.

Images from three autonomous underwater vehicles used to explore the wreck show the ship is still in fairly good condition after more than 80 years on the seabed. (Photo: Ocean Infinity).

According to The New York Times, the AUVs searched an area of ​​37 square nautical miles (or 127 square kilometers) of seabed ⁱⁿ less than 24 hours.

The destroyer USS Stewart began the war as an American destroyer, designated DD-224 , and was ordered to Borneo in November 1941, shortly before the United States entered World War II. She served as an escort with other American warships during the first months of the Pacific War, but was severely damaged by fire from Japanese warships near Bali in February 1942, during the Battle of Badung Strait.

The USS Stewart managed to return to Surabaya on the island of Java. But the port was under attack by the Japanese, so the ship was deliberately sunk by its own crew, who detonated explosives in the hull. However, a year later, the Japanese salvaged the sunken warship and turned it into a patrol ship for the Imperial Japanese Navy until the end of the war in 1945.

The ship once again came under American control when Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945. The ship was briefly recommissioned by the US Navy as DD-224, but by then she was in poor condition. She was finally decommissioned in May 1946 and later used for target practice.

The Stewart, known as the 'Ghost Ship of the Pacific,' was sighted behind enemy lines by American pilots during World War II, according to a statement from the archaeological company Search, which was also involved in the discovery. The mystery was solved after the war ended, when the ship was found floating in the Japanese port city of Kure, near Hiroshima.

The wreck is still in good condition after nearly 80 years at sea and will provide insight into early 20th century naval architecture and technology, the statement said.