A Japanese navy destroyer torpedoed during a crucial Second World War battle has finally been discovered on the Pacific Ocean floor 80 years after it sank.
The Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki sank in 1942 while transporting supplies to soldiers in the Solomon Islands.
Measuring over 134m (440ft) long, Teruzuki was the Imperial Japanese Navy’s second Akizuki-class destroyer built with air-search radar.
Such ships mainly acted as escorts with anti-aircraft screening abilities for main battle ships.
Teruzuki was sunk in December 1942 by US torpedoes while transporting food for soldiers in Guadalcanal, also called “Gato” or the island of starvation.
After it was hit by torpedoes, a detonation broke the rudder and one propeller shaft, disabling the ship.
Then a ruptured oil tank caught on fire, setting ablaze ammunition and causing an explosion.
Nearly 350 crew members survived, most rescued by other nearby Japanese destroyers, but 10 died.
Since Imperial Japan’s naval vessel plans were a tightly held secret, there are no historical images of Teruzuki and the latest survey is the first ever to get a glimpse of the vessel for this generation.
A US marine research team has finally found Teruzuki’s wreck in a sea area known as the Iron Bottom Sound, which was the stage of five major naval battles between August and December 1942 that led to the loss of over 20,000 lives, 111 naval vessels, and 1,450 planes.
However, fewer than 100 of these US, Japanese, Australian, and New Zealand military ships and planes have been located in this marine location of an area less than 25 nautical miles wide, 40 nautical miles long, and 1,400 meters deep.
"Iron Bottom Sound was the scene of five ferocious major night surface battles, resulting in the loss of dozens of ships and thousands of men. Both sides showed extreme courage and tenacity, although in the end the U.S. Navy and allies prevailed, at enormous cost,” said Samuel J. Cox, a retired US Navy rear admiral.
Two Akizuki-class destroyers were known to have sunk in the Solomon Islands during WWII.
Since the other one was already discovered, researchers concluded the latest finding was Teruzuki ‘s wreck.
Earlier this month, a team of US and Japanese marine researchers conducted the first visual scan of the destroyer since it sank.
“This is the first time anyone has laid eyes on Teruzuki since it was sunk in WWII’s battles off Guadalcanal, with surveyed details rewriting the ship’s final hours,” researchers wrote.
The marine scientists found that Teruzuki’s bow had collapsed to one side, and most of her superstructure had fallen off to one side.
Several features of the sunken ship match testimonies of former crew members who survived its sinking.
The numbers and positions of gun turrets on the wrecked remains were also found to be the same as on Teruzuki.
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