Exploration company says it’s fully mapped world’s deepest shipwreck, a WWII destroyer

An exploration company this week claims to have fully mapped the world’s deepest known shipwreck, what experts assume is the lost World War II American destroyer USS Johnston.

Caladan Oceanic said in a press release this week that one of its teams had “successfully re-located, surveyed, and filmed the USS Johnston, the world’s deepest known shipwreck,” one that “principally lies at a depth of 21,180ft” under Leyte Gulf in the Phillipine Sea. 

The ship sunk in October 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, widely regarded as the largest naval battle in history and one that proved decisive in crippling the Japanese fleet and hastening the end of the war the following year. 

Caladan Oceanic said its dive had confirmed the identity of the ship, including its hull number. The expedition was “privately funded and executed by two former US Navy Officers,” the group said.