Heroic action by the crew saved the ship, but for the families of the doomed sailors, the final resting place of loved ones lost in the predawn hours of Aug. 18, 1943, remained unknown.

On July 17, a team of scientists from the University of Delaware and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego discovered the missing 75-foot stern section, in 290 feet of water off of Kiska, one of the few U. S. territories to be occupied by foreign forces in the last 200 years. The project was funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

“This is a significant discovery that will shed light on this little-known episode in our history,” said retired Navy Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet, acting under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “It’s important to honor these U.S. Navy sailors who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation.”  

Mapping an underwater battlefield

Abner Read was on patrol at about 1:50 a.m. when the massive explosion — presumed to be from a Japanese mine — ripped the destroyer apart. Somehow the crew kept the main part of Abner Read’s hull watertight, and two nearby Navy ships towed it back to port. “This was catastrophic damage that by all rights should have sunk the entire ship,” said Sam Cox, curator of the Navy and director of the Naval History and Heritage Command. 

Within months, the destroyer was back in the war. It went on to fight in several battles in the Pacific Theater before being destroyed in November 1944 by a Japanese dive bomber in a kamikaze attack during the battle of Leyte Gulf. Abner Read received four battle stars for her World War II service.

Finding the ship’s shorn stern was a primary goal of the July 2018 mission to document the underwater battlefield off Kiska. Recent advancements in undersea technology, many developed by the Office of Naval Research, made the discovery possible and helped to reveal the forgotten histories of long-ago valor.

“We’ve entered a new age of exploration,” added Mark Moline, director of UD’s School of Marine Science and Policy, which is part of the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment.

“New sensors and improved underwater robots that can bring back real-time images are driving new discoveries.”

Historians have studied battles on Kiska and Attu, the Aleutian Islands that were attacked and occupied by as many as 7,200 Japanese forces from June 1942 to mid-August 1943, but this Kiska mission was the first to thoroughly explore the underwater portion of the battlefield. Many ships, aircraft and submarines from both the United States and Japan were lost during a punishing 15-month campaign to reclaim this distant wind- and fogbound corner of America.

After multibeam sonar mounted to the side of the research ship Norseman II identified a promising target, the team sent down a deep-diving, remotely operated vehicle to capture live video for confirmation.

“There was no doubt,” said expedition leader Eric Terrill, an oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. “We could clearly see the broken stern, the gun and rudder control, all consistent with the historical documents.”

In addition to NOAA and Scripps, the project was supported by Project Recover, a public-private partnership that uses 21st century science and technology and archival and historical research to find the final underwater resting places of Americans missing in action since WWII. UD’s Moline and Scripps’ Terrill are both co-founders of Project Recover.

Hallowed ground

Wrecks like Abner Read are protected from activities that disturb, remove or damage them or their contents by the Sunken Military Craft Act of 2004, though exceptions can made for activities that have archaeological, historical or educational purposes. The twisted metal and sharp edges of sunken military wreckage can pose life-threatening risks to divers, but according to the Naval History and Heritage Command, there is a more important reason to protect sites like the Abner Read. They are often war graves, recognized by the U.S. Navy as the fit and final resting place for those who perished at sea.

“We take our responsibility to protect those wrecks seriously,” said Cox. “They’re the last resting place of American sailors.”

About the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment

UD’s College of Earth, Ocean and Environment (CEOE) strives to reach a deeper understanding of the planet and improve stewardship of environmental resources. CEOE faculty and students examine complex information from multiple disciplines with the knowledge that science and society are firmly linked and solutions to environmental challenges can be synonymous with positive economic impact. The college comprises the School of Marine Science and Policy, Department of Geography and Department of Geological Sciences.

CEOE brings the latest advances in technology to bear on both teaching and conducting ocean, earth and atmospheric research, including a fleet of robotics technologies in UD’s Robotics Discovery Laboratories. Current focus areas are ecosystem health and society, environmental observing and forecasting, and renewable energy and sustainability.