A team funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen discovered the wreckage of a military ship that sunk with more than 600 aboard, including five brothers, during World War II.
The USS Juneau wreckage was discovered on March 17 about 2.6 miles beneath the surface near the coast of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, according to a statement on Allen's website. The ship was sunk by a Japanese torpedo in November 1942. Only 10 men survived.
The ill-fated ship became infamous because it carried the five Sullivan brothers from Waterloo, Iowa, whose request to serve together led to their simultaneous deaths.
Allen said the ship, which is named the R/V Petrel, first identified the ship using sonar on March 17, and a day later used an remotely operated underwater vehicle to confirm that the wreckage was the USS Juneau.Allen-led expeditions have also discovered the final resting place of other WWII ships, including the USS Lexington and the USS Indianapolis.
The latest chapter of an Irish-American family tragedy played out on St. Patrick’s Day when an expedition team backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen discovered the shipwreck of the USS Juneau in the South Pacific.
The Juneau was sunk by a Japanese torpedo during the Battle of Guadalcanal on Nov. 13, 1942, leading to the deaths of 687 sailors — including the five Sullivan Brothers.
The Sullivans insisted so forcefully on serving together that naval officers bent their rules against having brothers serving on the same ship during wartime.
