A Tokyo-based nonprofit organization that has been searching for the Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Hiei (see below) -- which was sunk off Guadalcanal Island, one of the fiercest battlefields of the Pacific War -- recently found objects protruding from the seabed near the island that could be part of the wreck of the battleship.
The Asian-Pacific Remembrance Honoring Association has been trying to find the sunken battleship using sonar, and intends to conduct further research using an underwater probe vehicle.
An expert said: "[The protruding objects] are clearly different from the topography around them. It is possible that they are those of a battle vessel."
The Japanese and U.S. militaries confronted each other in the sea off Guadalcanal, and so many battleships were sunk in the area that it became known as "Iron Bottom Sound."
In the Third Battle of the Solomon Sea in November 1942, the Hiei was extensively damaged in an exchange of fire with U.S. warships, including cruisers.
Because the Hiei drifted in the sea before submerging, the exact location of the wreck was never known, according to the association.
Based on such data as the last known location of the battleship and tides in the area, it estimated that the sinking point was in an area about 10 kilometers north of Guadalcanal.
From Nov. 13-24 last year, the NPO conducted a seabed topography survey in the area using a sonar device attached to a boat.
As a result, it found a protruding object on the seabed at a depth of about 400 meters that measures 30 meters long, 8 meters wide and 5 meters high.
Another protruding object was found on the seabed at a depth of about 600 meters in a location about 5 kilometers from the first spot. The object is about 150 meters long, 40 meters wide and 7 meters high.
Regarding the first object, Prof. Akira Asada at the Institute of Industrial Science at the University of Tokyo, who is an expert on seabed topography surveying, said, "As similar-shaped topographies or rocks are not seen in nearby areas, it's possible that a vessel lies under the water."
Due to the shape, he assessed that a vessel had sunk with its bridge still upright, and one side of the vessel may be buried under earth and sand.
Concerning the other protrusion, as it has a flat shape, the professor said, "It's possible it is a vessel."
Katsuhiko Ikeda, 71, who runs an underwater survey company in Tokyo, is one of the NPO's founders. He said, "It's also possible one of the objects is the Hiei."
The association is now considering conducting research with underwater cameras centering on the areas around the sites where the protruding objects were found.
--Battleship Hiei
This warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy was about 220 meters long and 30 meters wide. Its standard displacement was about 32,000 tons. It had 36-centimeter naval guns and usually carried about 1,200 crew members. It took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway.
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