The wreck of the USS Stewart, the so-called “Ghost Ship of the Pacific” from World War II , has just been discovered off the coast of northern California.
According to a statement from the Air/Sea Heritage Foundation, the discovery was made on a recent expedition led by Ocean Infinity, the Air/Sea Heritage Foundation, SEARCH, NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, and the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC). It only went to its final resting place off the West Coast after a series of consequential events during the war.
The destroyer was stationed in Manila and was part of the U.S. Navy’s Asiatic Fleet during the Pacific War but was damaged in February 1942. While in a repair drydock in Indonesia , it was trapped in a freak accident and abandoned by the Navy as Japanese forces closed in. When the Japanese arrived, they brought the Stewart into service themselves as a patrol boat for the Imperial Japanese Navy. This is when it earned its “Ghost Ship” nickname, as Allied pilots reportedly saw the U.S. ship among Japanese forces.