Deep-sea explorer and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen made an incredible discovery yesterday when his team identified the remains of the Musashi, Japan’s largest battleship ever built. The monumental find was made in the Sibuyan Sea, off the Philippines’ coast, marking this day down in history for naval history.
The search for the Musashi began more than a decade ago, pouring through primary sources that located four possible sinking positions: the official Japanese and U.S. Navy positions, a log entry from a Japanese destroyer, and a survivor’s drawing. At this point, combining the accounts with numerous navigational clues, a team led by David Mearns of Bluewater Recoveries narrowed the search area down to 360 square nautical miles.
Initial attempts with side-scan sonar were foiled by snagging fishing lines. The team next turned to an MBES to create a bathymetric map of the area. But both MBES and traditional side-scan sonar proved unusable over such difficult terrain, dominated by a vast volcanic ridge with depths that ranged from 500 to more than 6,560 feet. An AUV provided the answer, running a consistent sonar survey over the rough terrain.
It was this advanced technology that a team finally used to locate the wreck, operating from his luxury yacht and exploration vessel, the Octopus, on behalf of Paul Allen. Allen announced the discovery on Twitter with photographs of the rusting, coral-encrusted bow of the Musashi, bearing the chrysanthemum crest of the Japanese imperial family. Other images showed one of the ship’s enormous anchors and a heavily encrusted valve, with a poignant caption to the approximate 1,023 crew members who perished.
The Musashi, with its sister ship Yamato, was the biggest and most powerful armed warship ever launched in history, belonging to the Yamato class of battleships. It was commissioned in November 1940 and had a length of 263 meters, 73,000 tons fully laden, and an overall speed of 27 knots. Its armament of nine 46cm cannons mounted on board were the largest-caliber guns ever fitted on any warship, capable of firing armor-piercing shells weighing 1,460kg up to distances as far away as 26 miles.
For all its power, the Musashi was prone to air attacks. During the Battle of Leyte Gulf on 24 October 1944, the vessel was spotted by a U.S. plane, after which relentless air attacks were launched upon it. The Musashi received 37 direct hits from torpedoes and bombs by day’s end, causing it to list heavily. Ordered to abandon ship by Captain Toshihiro Noguchi, the last crew ordered off the vessel did so at 7:30 PM, with the Musashi sinking shortly afterward. There were 2,399 crew members in all, but just 1,376 survived.
The Battle of Leyte Gulf was an engagement combined by American and Australian forces against the Japanese navy and is widely believed to be the largest naval battle of World War II and probably in world history. With so many eyewitness accounts, no wonder the wreck eluded discovery until Allen’s find.
Paul Allen, who has dedicated a portion of his $17.5 billion fortune to deep-sea and space exploration, expressed his honor in finding the Musashi and commemorating the bravery of its crew. This discovery not only enriches our understanding of World War II naval history but also highlights the relentless pursuit of knowledge and exploration.