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The Ship That Sank With 1080 People From 14 Nations in World War II

22 April 2023 11:59 (UTC +04:00)

The wreck of the Montevideo Maru, one of the worst international maritime disasters in history, has been located at a depth of more than 4,000 metres off the coast of the Philippines – 80 years after it was sunk by an American submarine during World War II, APA reports citing Finance Yahoo.

The location of the Japanese transport ship has been an enduring mystery since it was torpedoed on July 1, 1942 by the USS Sturgeon. Unbeknown to the submarine, the Montevideo Maru was carrying prisoners of war and civilians who had been captured in the fall of Rabaul in Papua New Guinea a few months earlier.

Approximately 1060 prisoners, both military and civilian, were lost. An estimated 979 Australians perished in the disaster, the worst in Australia’s maritime history. Onboard were 33 crew from Norweigen freighter the Herstein, who died together with 20 Japanese guards and crew.

The tragedy impacted at least 14 countries, including: Australia, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, Holland, Japan, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Solomon Islands, Sweden and the United States.

The wreck was discovered on an extraordinary mission put together by Australia’s Silentworld Foundation, which is dedicated to maritime archaeology and history, and Dutch company Fugro, deep-sea survey specialists, with support from Australia’s Department of Defence.

The search commenced on April 6 in the South China Sea, 110km north-west of Luzon. After just 12 days (April 18), a positive sighting was recorded using state-of-the-art technology, including an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) with in-built sonar.

It took a number of days to verify the wreck using expert analysis from the project team, comprising maritime archaeologists, conservators, operations and research specialists, and ex-naval officers.