A Navy destroyer sunk by 2 Japanese kamikaze attacks in World War II has been discovered in the deep Pacific

The U.S.S. Mannert L. Abele sunk off the coast of Okinawa in 1945.Courtesy of the US Naval Institute.

• A group of underwater explorers discovered a long-lost sunken World War II Navy warship.
• The U.S.S. Mannert L. Abele sank off Okinawa in 1945 after being hit by two kamikaze attacks.

A group of civilian underwater explorers discovered the remains of a long-lost World War II-era warship that sunk off the coast of Okinawa nearly 70 years ago amid the Pacific War.

The precise location of the U.S.S Mannert L. Abele had been previously unknown until the Lost 52 Project — an archeological organization dedicated to finding Navy ships and submarines that sank in the Second World War — discovered the Abele in December of last year, the group told The New York Times this week.

The US Navy's Naval History and Heritage Command confirmed the discovery last month.

Official Navy photos shared with Insider show the decades-old warship as it sank in the Pacific after being struck by two Japanese kamikaze aircraft which triggered dual explosions.