Severed bow of US warship finally found in the South Pacific

The bow section of the US warship USS New Orleans, which was blown off by a Japanese torpedo in 1942, has been located near the island of Guadalcanal in the South Pacific. Although the ship survived the attack, more than 180 of the crew on board the heavy cruiser were killed when one of the ship's magazines of ammunition was hit by a torpedo and detonated, tearing off the front of the vessel.

- WORDS TOM METCALFE

The ship's bow section was discovered during seafloor mapping operations at Ironbottom Sound, near Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, at a depth of 675 metres.

"By all rights, this ship should have sunk," said the director of the Naval History and Heritage Command, retired Rear Admiral Samuel Cox. "But due to the heroic damage control efforts of her crew, USS New Orleans became one of the most grievously damaged US cruisers in World War II to actually survive."