JAPAN — In a remarkable discovery, Naval History and Heritage Command's (NHHC) Underwater Archaeology Branch, in collaboration with the Lost 52 Project, announced that they had found the sunken US destroyer warship, USS Mannert L. Abele.
The discovery was made this week in the waters off Okinawa, Japan, where the ship had been sunk by a Japanese kamikaze bomb in April 1945. JPost reports.
The historic finding marks a significant milestone for the NHHC's Underwater Archaeology Branch, which participated in an expedition to survey World War II shipwrecks in Coral Sea and surrounding waters of Midway Atoll in the summer of 2019.
The Mannert L. Abele became the first US vessel to have been taken down by a human-guided kamikaze bomb.
The discovery brings closure for families of the 84 servicemen who had lost their lives in the battle. The father of one of the Lost 52 Project archaeologists had also witnessed the tragedy first-hand, making the discovery all the more poignant. Tim Taylor, from the Lost 52 Project team, said “connecting me to my father” while expressing his gratitude at having discovered the shipwreck.
Witnesses of the event said that the ship had split in two and had been lost within three minutes of the battle. The Mannert L. Abele had engaged with multiple enemy aircrafts and successfully downed one of them. However, shortly after, it was hit by a Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka ‘Cherry Blossom’ rocket-powered human-guided bomb that caused the ship to sink.
Samuel J. Cox, retired US Navy rear admiral and NHHC Director, expressed his congratulations to Taylor and his team for making the discovery and said, "My deepest thanks... for discovering this wreck site. Its discovery allows some closure to the families of those lost and provides us all another opportunity to remember and honor them."
The discovery of the USS Mannert L. Abele adds to the evidence of the devastating impact of kamikaze bombings on the naval forces during the World War II. It is a poignant reminder of the soldiers who lost their lives in the fight, and their sacrifice and bravery will never be forgotten.
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