After decades of speculation and searching, the wreck of the USS Stewart, a US Navy destroyer dubbed the “Ghost Ship of the Pacific”, has been discovered off the coast of California, CNN reports.
The ship, which sank in 1946 during a naval exercise, was located by undersea investigators from the Air Sea Heritage Foundation and Search Inc., along with the robotic marine survey firm Ocean Infinity.
Three autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) were deployed to scan the ocean floor in the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary, located off the coast of northern California. The AUVs, equipped with sonar and multibeam echosounder technology, searched for 24 hours before discovering the Stewart resting 3,500 feet below the surface.
Further confirmation came from a follow-up sonar survey and a remote-operated vehicle equipped with a camera that captured visual images of the wreck.
The USS Stewart had a fascinating and tumultuous history. Commissioned in 1920, the ship saw action in World War II, but was damaged during combat with Japanese forces in 1942 and subsequently captured by the enemy. The Stewart was renamed Patrol Boat No. 102 by the Imperial Japanese Navy. After being towed back to San Francisco, the ship was used as a target ship during a naval exercise, sinking after being bombarded for over two hours.
