WWII Shipwreck Found After 81 Years
The Japanese merchant vessel the SS Montevideo Maru was sunk on 1 July, 1942, off the coast of the Philippines after setting sail from the former Australian territory of New Guinea.
The location of the Japanese transport ship has been an enduring mystery since it was torpedoed by the USS Sturgeon. The submarine’s captain did not know that the ship was carrying approximately 1,060 prisoners from at least 14 countries, including 850 Australian service members from Rabaul. The ship was not marked as a Prisoner of War transport.
Almost twice as many Australians died in this one incident than were killed in the entire Vietnam War. Significantly more were lost than in the sinking of the HMAS Sydney (645) in 1941 and the hospital ship Centaur (268) in 1943.
The search was led by not-for-profit Silentworld Foundation, deep-sea survey specialists Fugro, and supported by the Australian Department of Defence.
Read more in Spatial Source article. https://www.spatialsource.com.au/wwii-shipwreck-found-after-81-years/?utm_campaign=SS%20-%20Overall%20Publication%20-%20Master&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=255795747&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--XQubHZgXSLwyp9EM6INWhwMTWrwUVLpRSt-NNJbTBwjNbBnoMj5LYNGBq4EbG2y6gjlYk0oALBQOUbzqVquldVwoIYw&utm_content=255795747&utm_source=hs_email