WWII 'Ghost Ship' Wreck Found Off California Coast

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. 

The Stewart was eventually found in Kure, Japan at the end of the war. It was recommissioned back into the U.S. Navy and towed back to San Francisco where it seemingly received a burial at sea, acting as a target for artillery fire in a 1946 naval exercise before it sank to the depths below. 

Air/Sea Heritage Foundation president Russ Matthews explained how the nickname soldiers gave the ship, "RAMP-224," described their relationship to it, as it was deemed "Recovered Allied Military Personnel."

"It’s clear they thought of Stewart more like a shipmate than a ship," Matthews said, "and I know I speak for the entire expedition team when I say that we’re all very satisfied to have helped honor the legacy and memory of those veterans once again." 

Samuel J. Cox, director of NHHC, is happy to see the Stewart found after so many decades. 

"The U.S. Navy greatly appreciates the professionalism of the team that located the wreck of the USS Stewart," he said. "Whether lost in battle or sunk as a target, a warship remains sovereign property in perpetuity. It is important to know the location and condition of such wrecks so that they may be protected from unauthorized disturbance under the U.S. Sunken Military Craft Act."