The expedition team, led by Robert Kraft, conducted a live streaming video tour of the underwater site late last week, providing the world with its first detailed images of the historic shipwreck. Earlier this month, Allen announced they had located the wreck of the Musashi strewn across the floor of the Sibuyan Sea in the Philippines, more than 3,000 feet below the surface. The research team sponsored by Paul Allen, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, spent eight years searching for the Musashi, sifting through historical records in four countries, as well as undersea topographical data, before deploying a high-tech yacht and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to conduct their search. In the nearly 70 years since, shipwreck hunters have tried and failed to locate the wreck of the Musashi, which like other Japanese warship did not bear its name on its side. More than 1,000 members of the ship’s crew were killed, including the captain, while Japanese ships were able to rescue some 1,300 others. The Musashi sustained some 25 direct torpedo hits over more than four hours.

After it caught fire and began to lose propeller power, U.S.

Despite its massive size, the Musashi lacked sufficient aerial protection in the battle, and proved vulnerable to enemy torpedoes. forces in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the clash that followed the Allied landing in the Philippine Islands. On October 24, 1944, the Musashi came under heavy fire from U.S. Though the Japanese seemed initially reluctant to put their flagships in harm’s way, the loss of other major warships in the Battle of Midway (1942) and the Battle of the Philippine Sea (1944) changed their minds.

The Musashi leaving Brunei for the Battle of Leyte Gulf, October 1944

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