The deepest shipwreck ever found by explorers was a US Navy destroyer that was sunk during WWII.
In October 1944, the Battle Off Samar took place in the Philippine Sea. The USS Samuel B Roberts was lost. It is located in 6895m (22.621ft) of water.
Victor Vescovo (Texan adventurer and financier) discovered that the “Sammy B”, a deep-diving submarine, was damaged but largely intact.
This vessel is known for its heroic stand against the Japanese.
It was outnumbered and outgunned but managed to frustrate and contain several enemy ships before finally going down.
Out of the 224 men on board the Samuel B Roberts, 89 died. Rest of the crew waited for rescue while they clung to liferafts for 50 hours.
Vescovo was a navy reservist at the time and said that it was an incredible honour to find the ship lost and to be able to tell its remarkable story of heroism, duty, and sacrifice.
He told BBC News that steel does not lie and that wrecks of these vessels are last witnesses to the battles they fought.
“The Sammy B engaged Japanese heavy cruisers at point-blank range and fired so fast it ran out of ammunition. It was left to shoot smoke shells, illumination rounds to try and set fire to the Japanese ships. It was an incredible act of heroism. These men, on both sides, were fighting to the end.
The Limiting Factor captured imagery that shows the hull structure, guns, and torpedo tubes.
The Sammy B is punctured by Japanese shells, and evidence can be seen in the stern quarter for one huge hit.
It appears that the vessel struck the seafloor bow first, judging by its crumpled appearance.
98% of the ocean’s bottom is below 6,000m to give an idea of how deep it is. Only a few places within the great tectonic tunnels exceed 6,000m.
Battle of Samar was part of the Battle of Leyte Gulf. It was a fierce engagement. After intense fighting, the heavily damaged Japanese Imperial Navy was forced to withdraw its forces.
Many ships were lost to the depths by both sides.
Last year, Mr Vescovo was able to locate the USS Johnston destroyer at depths of 6,460m (21.180ft).
There may be others deeper than the Johnston or Sammy B.
Kelvin Murray, from EYOS (the company that organized and led Mr Vescovo’s expedition), stated that there are two more American ships that have not been found.
“We have historical records that may indicate where they might have been sunk. Although we did look for the Gambier Bay in the Gambier Bay, this was detective work. These types of deep-ocean operations are new to us. Because there is a lot of research involved in making that haystack smaller, I won’t use the term “needle in the haystack”. There’s still some luck involved in all of this.
Vescovo was the first to reach the bottom of Earth’s five oceans.
He has also climbed the highest summits on all seven continents. And he just recently flew into space aboard New Shepard, a rocket-and-capsule system created by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com.
