
Spotted! E/V Nautilus sailing past Savo Island.
While exploring the HMAS Canberra with ROV Hercules, the Corps of Exploration was able to find the original plaque placed on the wreck by Dr. Ballard and his team in their 1992 expedition to the Iron Bottom Sound. While the plaque was difficult to read with our ROV cameras, we did get a stunning view of this brass engine order telegraph showing the direction of the ship's propulsion at the time of sinking. The HMAS Canberra was a 187-meter-long County-class heavy cruiser and one of the four Allied heavy cruisers lost during the Battle of Savo Island on August 9, 1942. Canberra remains the largest ship the Royal Australian Navy has ever lost in combat.