First Ever Photos of Flagship IJN Destroyer Teruzuki
During our Maritime Archaeology of Guadalcanal: Iron Bottom Sound (NA173) expedition, the Corps of Exploration located and imaged the World War II Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki (照月) on the seabed at over 800 meters depth in the Solomon Islands.
The wreckage was discovered by an expedition team working to combine ocean technologies to demonstrate new efficiencies in ocean exploration. Using remotely operated vehicles Hercules and Atalanta to investigate a target found during seafloor mapping operations by the University of New Hampshire’s uncrewed surface vessel DriX, the team found the never-before-seen ship resting in Iron Bottom Sound.
This is the first time anyone has laid eyes on Teruzuki since it was sunk in WWII’s battles off Guadalcanal, with surveyed details rewriting the ship’s final hours. Japanese naval vessel plans were kept highly secret during the war, so much so that no historical images of Teruzuki exist today. This survey is the first ever look at the vessel for this generation.
Maritime Archaeology of Guadalcanal: Iron Bottom Sound
Located in the Solomon Islands between the islands of Guadalcanal, Savo, and Nggela, Iron Bottom Sound was the stage of five major naval battles between August and December 1942 which resulted in the loss of over 20,000 lives, 111 naval vessels, and 1,450 planes. These underwater cultural heritage sites now rest on the seafloor offshore Honiara in a confined area less than 25 nautical miles wide, 40 nautical miles long, and 1,400 meters deep.
