AKIPRESS.COM - The first Japanese battleship sunk by US forces during World War II has been found off Guadalcanal, the largest of the Solomon Islands and the location of fierce battles during the Pacific War, CNN reports. 

The battleship Hiei was discovered at a depth of 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) in January by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's expedition team aboard research ship R/V Petrel. For decades, Allen committed himself to locating famous shipwrecks, leveraging sonar scanning technology and underwater cameras to confirm their visuals and condition.

Until this year, the Hiei's exact whereabouts and final moments had remained a mystery. But RV Petrel used autonomous underwater vehicles to detect the battleship, which was found upside down.