The USS Juneau has been found.
Philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has announced that wreckage of the sunken military ship on which five brothers died in World War II has been discovered in the South Pacific.
https://youtu.be/-TrPylyJRBg
Wreckage from the USS Juneau was found Saturday off the coast of the Solomon Islands with an autonomous underwater vehicle with advanced sonar technology.
Crew from the Allen-owned Research Vessel Petrel then sent down a remote-operated vehicle to inspect the wreckage.
Here’s the crew of the Petral watching pictures sent up from the ROV as it hovers at the stern of the wreck, near what appears to be the ship’s nameplate.
“Well, that’s going to be the J, there’s the U, N, E. Here’s the A,” one crew member can be heard saying in a video. “That’s it. That is the Juneau.”
They also were able to confirm it was the USS Juneau by examining the wreck’s gun configuration.
The cruiser was hit by Japanese torpedoes in 1942, killing hundreds of men, including the five Sullivan brothers from Waterloo, Iowa.
“It’s amazing the stern is laying right next to the bow and it’s nearly a kilometer away from the midsection of the ship,” a crew member can be heard saying the video. “You’ve got over a mile of spread of debris. It’s consistent with the report and the massive destruction.”
Allen has an expedition team that has reported finding wreckage of other ships, including the aircraft carrier USS Lexington, also sunk during World War II.
There is a memorial to the USS Juneau on the downtown Juneau waterfront.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
