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WATCH: Haunting footage from the submersible that just visited the world's deepest known shipwreck

Mia Jankowicz   

WATCH: Haunting footage from the submersible that just visited the world's deepest known shipwreck
International1 min read
  • An ocean exploration company filmed what it says is the world's deepest shipwreck dive.
  • Two divers got into a submersible and filmed the U.S.S. Johnston, which sank in battle in 1944.
  • The footage is eerie and humbling.

Two former US naval officers have filmed what they say the world's deepest known shipwreck from a submersible that traveled 21,180ft to get the footage.

According to Caladan Oceanic, the company that made the expedition, the two eight-hour dives involved were the deepest wreck dives in history.

The U.S.S. Johnston is a 376-ft destroyer that lies deep under the Philippine Sea, off Samar Island, where it sank during a WWII battle with Japan in 1944, the company said.

The vessel was first located and filmed remotely in 2019. In March, two divers - Victor L. Vescovo and Parks Stephenson - got into a submersible and went down there in person.

The divers saw the ship's bridge through the gloom

Gun mounts loom in the darkness

Here are the ship's now-ancient torpedoes

And the bow of the ship:

The submersible has managed to get high-definition imagery and conduct a survey detailed enough to construct a map of the U.S.S. Johnston's layout, Caladan Oceanic said earlier this week.

To locate the vessel, Parks Stephenson studied both Japanese and US accounts of the battle. "Reading the accounts of the Johnston's last day are humbling and need to be preserved as upholding the highest traditions of the Navy," he said. "This was mortal combat against incredible odds."

In memory of those who died, the team laid a wreath on the oceanic battlefield, the company said in a statement.

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