Musashi under attack 1944

After eight years of searching, a team lead by Microsoft founder and billionaire, Paul Allen, has discovered the wreck of the Japanese battleship Musashi, over 70 years after she was sunk in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The wreck was located in the Sibuyan Sea off the Phillipines at a depth of around 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) using a remotely operated vehicle deployed from the yacht Octopus.

The battleship Musashi and her sistership Yamato were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed. They were the last great battleships, arguably obsolete when they entered service in 1941 and 1942. Musashi was sunk by an estimated 19 torpedo and 17 bomb hits from American carrier aircraft on 24 October 1944, during the Battle of Leyete Gulf, which was the largest the naval battle of World War II, and by some standards the largest sea battle in history. Eighteen American aircraft were lost in the attack on the battleship. An estimated 1,000 Japanese sailors died when the ship capsized. Despite her 18″ guns and antiaircraft batteries, the battleship was helpless against the waves of attacking aircraft.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s team finds sunken WWII battleship

Thanks to Alaric Bond and Phil Leon for contributing to this post.