A historic discovery was made off the coast of California as the wreck of the ‘Ghost Ship of the Pacific’ was found, nearly eight decades after it sank. The USS Stewart, a US Navy destroyer from the Second World War, was located 3,500 feet below the ocean’s surface within the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary on August 1.
The search team, which included Ocean Infinity, the Air/Sea Heritage Foundation, SEARCH, NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, and the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC), made the remarkable find. The USS Stewart was built in Philadelphia in September 1919, too late to see action in the First World War, but went on to serve in the Second World War under both American and Japanese flags.
Initially stationed in Manila with the US Navy’s Asiatic Fleet in 1941, the ship was later damaged during combat and abandoned by its crew off the coast of Java due to a freak accident. It was subsequently repaired by the Imperial Japanese Navy and put into service under a new name, Patrol Boat No. 102. Allies often spotted the USS Stewart in enemy hands, giving rise to its nickname as the “Ghost Ship of the Pacific.”
After the war ended, the ship was found afloat in Kure, Japan, and brought back into service in the US Navy. In a post-war naval exercise in 1946, the USS Stewart was deliberately sunk near San Francisco. For 78 years, it remained hidden beneath the water’s surface until this summer when the search teams located it using advanced technology and captured never-before-seen images of the wreckage.
During the expedition, three autonomous underwater vehicles were deployed to search for the wreck deep below the sea. Sonar technology scanned the seabed for 24 hours and revealed the “largely intact” wreckage with a “sleek and imposing” hull resting almost upright on the seafloor. Rear Admiral Samuel Cox USN (Ret), the Director of Naval History and Heritage Command, praised the team’s professionalism in locating the USS Stewart, highlighting that a warship, whether lost in battle or sunk as a target, remains sovereign property in perpetuity.
The discovery of the ‘Ghost Ship of the Pacific’ has shed new light on this piece of naval history and serves as a testament to the dedication of those involved in uncovering such significant relics from the past.