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Navy Destroyer sunk in World War II is discovered off Okinawa

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A U.S. Navy destroyer sunk in 1945 by a kamikaze aircraft during World War II’s Battle of Okinawa has been discovered by a group of civilian underwater explorers deep in the Pacific Ocean, the group’s leader said Wednesday.

The USS Mannert L. Abele was the first warship to be struck by what was then a new Japanese weapon called an Ohka – essentially a flying bomb capable of speeds of 600 miles per hour.

A group called the Lost 52 Project, which searches for naval submarines and warships sunk during World War II, found the ship in December.

The U.S. Navy’s Naval History and Heritage Command in Washington, which is responsible for tracking the 3,000 ships and submarines the service has lost at sea in both peacetime and war, confirmed the discovery in April.

“The Battle of Okinawa was the biggest battle of the Pacific campaign,” says Tim Taylor, who leads the Lost 52 Project. “Fifty thousand casualties just on the US side, so it’s a monumental find.”

“And it’s a very deep connection for me,” he added. “My father’s ship was hit by a kamikaze just 10 days before the Abele sank in the same area — maybe 90 miles south of there.”

The small warship was one of many that surrounded Okinawa during the campaign to take the island by force during World War II. It used its radars to spot enemy aircraft coming from the Japanese mainland and relayed information to aircraft carriers, which could then launch fighter jets to intercept them.

Pronounced ABLE-ee, the Abele withstood numerous attacks from Japanese kamikaze pilots, who went on suicide missions towards the end of World War II. But it succumbed after two planes crashed into the starboard side and exploded, sending it to the bottom. The exact location was unknown until recently.

A total of 84 sailors of the Abele were killed by the double explosions, the sinking of the ship or Japanese pilots who then shot and bombed the survivors in the water.

Sam Cox, a retired Navy rear admiral who heads the Navy’s historic command, said identifying the ship was fairly easy given the evidence the Lost 52 team provided.

The Navy considers the Abele, and other similar sunken ships, a tomb and leaves the ship undisturbed.

About a dozen naval destroyers like the Abele were sunk along with other ships during the Okinawa campaign, killing about 5,000 sailors, Admiral Cox said.

Taking its name from the number of U.S. Navy submarines that went missing in World War II, the Lost 52 Project has located a number of wrecks, including the USS Grayback, a submarine that fought for the United States the year before the Abele. coast of Okinawa was sunk. Mr. Taylor uses autonomous underwater vehicles to locate and investigate the wrecks.

Relatives of former crew members welcomed the discovery of the Abele.

“I think my father would have been extremely intrigued and wanted to see every detail,” said Scott Andersen, whose father, Roy, served as a petty officer aboard the Abele. “But I’m not sure what trauma that could cause.”

In 2007, Roy Andersen wrote a book about the ship’s war service titled “Three Minutes Off Okinawa.” He died in 2014 at the age of 94, his son said.

“He once told me he’s rarely had a good night’s sleep since the ship sank,” Mr. Andersen said.

The ship’s namesake, Lieutenant Cmdr. Mannert L. Abelecommanded the USS Grunion, a submarine that was lost at sea. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for sinking three Japanese ships in one day during the war. The Navy commissioned a ship in his honor on July 4, 1944.

According to a history of the navy of the Abele, on April 12, 1945, the ship was “suddenly surrounded by hostile aircraft” while patrolling 75 miles off the north coast of Okinawa. At 1:38 p.m., the ship’s gun crews hit a Japanese dive bomber, setting it on fire and crashing into the ocean. About an hour later, three Japanese Zero fighters approached. The Abele shot down one, but a second collided with the ship’s starboard side and exploded, killing nine sailors.

A minute later, the Abele was hit again, but this time by a rocket-propelled plane called Ohka, Japanese for “cherry blossom.” The Ohka’s pilot crashed into the ship and the more than 2,600 pounds of explosives it was carrying exploded, causing the Abele to break in two and sink in 4,500 feet of water.

The Abele and other Navy warships around Okinawa helped draw kamikaze attacks away from troop transports and supply ships supporting the battle ashore, Admiral Cox said.

“The ships couldn’t run away,” Admiral Cox said. “They had to stay and fight.”

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