The BBC reports that explorers have found the deepest shipwreck ever identified, a US navy destroyer escort sunk during WWII.

The USS Samuel B Roberts went down during the Battle Off Samar in the Philippine Sea in October 1944. It lies in 6,895m (22,621ft) of water.

Texan financier and adventurer Victor Vescovo, who owns a deep-diving submersible, discovered the “Sammy B” battered but largely intact.

In the Battle Off Samar, the US Navy escort carrier task force Taffy 3 was surprised by the arrival of a Japanese fleet of 23 ships, consisting of 4 battleships, 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 11 destroyers, commanded by Admiral Kurita. Among the fleet was the Yamoto, one of two of the largest battleships ever built. To face the Japanese, the task force had only 3 destroyers and 4 destroyer escorts to defend 6 escort carriers. 

Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, the seven destroyers and destroyer escorts sank 3 Japanese heavy cruisers and damaged 3 heavy cruisers and 1 destroyer. The cost was high, however. Of the 3 US destroyers, 2 were sunk and one was damaged. One of the destroyer escorts, the Sammy B, was sunk and 2 were damaged. 

Steaming through incoming shells, Samuel B. Roberts scored one torpedo hit and several gunfire hits on larger enemy warships before she was sunk, earning the appellation: “The destroyer escort that fought like a battleship.” Of the Samuel B Roberts‘ 224-man crew, 89 were killed. The 120 survivors clung to life rafts for 50 hours awaiting rescue. 

Based on the intensity of the attack by the American destroyer and destroyer escorts, Admiral Kurita was convinced that he was engaging a much larger carrier force. Admiral Kurita decided to break off the attack and steam northwest.

In 2019, the wreck of the USS Johnston, one of the destroyers sunk in the battle, was located at a depth of 20,400 ft in the Philippine Sea, setting the previous record for the deepest shipwreck, prior to the discovery of the Samuel B Roberts. 

Thanks to Alaric Bond and David Rye for contributing to this post.