Japan's WW2 'Musashi Battleship Wreck Found In Philippines

Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul Allen announced that he has discovered the famous World War II Japanese battleship, the Musashi, more than 70 years after it was sunk by U.S. forces. The apparent discovery of the Musashi, one of the largest battleships in history, comes as the world marks the 70th anniversary of the war's end. Mr Allen and the team aboard his superyacht M/Y Octopus found the ship on Sunday, more than eight years after their search began, Mr Allen said in a statement issued by his publicity agency, Edelman.

Detailed images captured by a high-definition camera mounted on an underwater probe confirmed the wreckage as that of the Musashi, it said. Mr Allen said on his website that the video and still images showed a valve wheel with Japanese letters saying "main valve handle" which used to be in a lower engineering area, a catapult system used to launch planes, a large gun turret, and one of the ship's two 15-ton anchors.

He said the team also found the ship's bow. But despite such magnificence, the end of the Musashi would be as cloaked in opacity as its origins. Allied forces pummeled its mighty frame with 20 torpedoes and 17 bombs, and on that day in October 1944, it sank somewhere in the Sibuyan Sea near the Philippines. It took with it 1,023 lives. And it was never seen again. That was until this week, when the Musashi reemerged in the most unexpected of places: Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen’s Twitter page. “WW2 Battleship Musashi sank 1944 is FOUND 1,000 meters deep. … Huge anchor,” wrote Allen, who has been looking for the ship for more than eight years. “RIP crew of Musashi.”