Japanese submarine graveyard

Texas A&M University researchers have found the wreckage of a fleet of Japanese submarines that terrorized U.S. ships throughout World War II.

The Navy used explosives to sink the 24 subs in 1946 to prevent the Soviet Union from taking advantage of their technology. The location of the wreckage was classified for nearly six decades.

Using now-declassified Navy documents and underwater technology, Texas A&M oceanography professor William Bryant and graduate student Brett Phaneuf found the submarines 60 miles off the coast of Nagasaki.

About three weeks ago they used a robotic vehicle to take pictures of the wreckage, 675 feet underwater. It is among the largest collections of sunken submarines in the world, Bryant said.

Posted by David on June 17, 2004 7:28 PM