The wreckage of an old US Navy destroyer has been discovered near the Philipinnes at nearly 7,000 meters (23,000 feet) below sea level, making it the deepest shipwreck located in history. The wreckage of inarguably the most famous shipwreck, Titanic, lies at 4,000 meters below sea level.
Texas-based undersea technology company Caladan Oceanic led the expedition that discovered the sunken ship that sunk over 75 years ago. Over eight days, a crewed submersible filmed, photographed, and surveyed the wreckage, confirming that it belonged to USS Samuel B. Roberts.
Another video from the survey dive on the Sammy B. This one is from the starboard side near the bridge and forward gun mounts. We kept our distance because we spotted potentially live shells in the 40mm gun, and later towards the stern, depth charges still in their racks. pic.twitter.com/DY54o6Prpx
— Victor Vescovo (@VictorVescovo) June 26, 2022
The ship, reportedly, went down during a battle off the central island of Samar, Philippines, on 24th October 1944. It was a part of a battle regiment during the Battle of Leyte, fought against the Japanese occupation of Philipinnes, which was then a US colony.
Some additional photos from the Sammy B. The bow, the fallen mast, the gap between fore and aft where she was hit by a battleship round, and the aft turret . . . where the brave and mortally wounded GM3 Paul H. Carr died trying to place a final round into the broken breech. pic.twitter.com/3VcZoZyPo3
— Victor Vescovo (@VictorVescovo) June 25, 2022
Caladan Oceanic founder Victor Vescovo shared additional images from the survey on Twitter, confirming that it was the wreckage of ‘Sammy B’ that was discovered.
Some additional photos from the Sammy B. The bow, the fallen mast, the gap between fore and aft where she was hit by a battleship round, and the aft turret . . . where the brave and mortally wounded GM3 Paul H. Carr died trying to place a final round into the broken breech. pic.twitter.com/3VcZoZyPo3
— Victor Vescovo (@VictorVescovo) June 25, 2022
While the discovery is exciting, the story behind it gets a bit morbid. According to US Navy records, the crew of this sunken ship “floated for nearly three days awaiting rescue, with many survivors perishing from wounds and shark attacks.” The records state that of the 224 members of the crew, 89 were confirmed as dead.
The previous holder of the ‘deepest shipwreck located’ was USS Johnston, which was discovered at nearly 6,500 meters by Caladan Oceanic in 2021.
