World’s deepest shipwreck discovered four miles underwater in the Philippines

the USS samuel b robertsalso known as the “sammy b”, was discovered in the Philippine Sea at a depth of 22,916 feet last week by a team of explorers. The wreck is the deepest ever found, according to the Associated Press. The Navy confirmed the wreck site in a statement on Monday.

Explorer and former naval commander Victor Vescovo of Caladan Ocean Expeditions found the ship together with EYOS Expeditions, a UK-based exploration company.

“It was an extraordinary honor to site this incredibly famous ship and in doing so have the opportunity to retell her story of heroism and duty to those who may not know of the ship and the sacrifice of her crew,” Vescovo said in a statement. . statement.

the sammy b it was the first ship to be named for helmsman Samuel Booker Roberts, Jr., who was killed in World War II during the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942, according to the Navy. Roberts participated in a mission to rescue a company that had been surrounded by Japanese forces, steering his boat directly into the fire to provide time and cover for the rescue. His boat was hit and he was mortally wounded in the process.

The ship that bears his name, a John C. Butler-class destroyer (a type of escort ship), she was commissioned in 1944 and was sunk by Japanese forces during the Battle of Samar that same year. Two other ships, another destroyer and a frigate, were also later named after the USS Samuel B Roberts.

During the Battle of Samar, a “small US naval force successfully defended itself against the vastly superior Japanese Center Force, which consisted of four battleships, six heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and 11 destroyers, including the largest battleship and best armed ever built, the Yamato”, writes EYOS Expeditions in a facebook post. the sammy b it damaged the Japanese fleet and delayed it so much that it withdrew, but the destroyer took a hit from the Yamato and sank. Eighty-nine people on board the sammy b died and 120 were saved, according to the Associated Press. Rescued crew members were forced to cling to wreckage in the water for up to 50 hours, according to BBC News from Jonathan Amos.

“The sammy b it gave evidence of the incredible and fierce fight he waged against the cream of the crop of the Imperial Japanese Navy,” Vescovo tells Amos. “There were bullet holes. He had obviously taken a massive hit from a battleship in the quarter aft of him. [the rear of the boat]with him basically blown to bits.”

Vescovo tells BBC News he was surprised they were able to locate the ship because there was very little debris to point them in the right direction. Even though the ship broke into two parts, it was relatively intact, he tells the outlet. The team was looking for several ships, and the sammy b he was the smallest.

The depth that the sammy bThe wreck was found in a particularly extreme place: 98 percent of the world’s oceans are shallower than the nearly 23,000-foot depth of its resting place, according to the BBC. News.

“Using a combination of detective work and innovative technology, they have all come together to reveal the final resting place of this tenacious ship,” Kelvin Murray, Expedition Leader and Director of Expedition Operations & Undersea Projects for EYOS, says in a statement. . “It has been a challenging, exciting and moving expedition, one that honors the ships and sailors of every nation who fought so hard during this battle.”

The team discovered the USS Johnston last year in the Philippine Sea, which, at more than 21,000 feet, was previously the deepest shipwreck ever discovered.

“At that depth, there is so little oxygen that you don’t see as much biological growth in the wreck,” Vescovo tells BBC News. “So they may look very similar to when they were fighting in 1944.”