The destroyer was commissioned in 1942 and used in the Guadalcanal campaign.

Underwater Archaeologists Capture Photos of Japanese Warship That Hasn’t Been Seen Since It Sank During World War II

The “Teruzuki” was a Japanese Navy destroyer that sank near the Solomon Islands on December 12, 1942. Eight decades later, researchers have identified the wreckage in the Pacific

Brendon Baillod, president of the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association, and Kendra Kennedy, a maritime archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society, used side-scan sonar to map a 2.5-mile stretch of the Fox River this spring.

Underwater Archaeologists Were Looking for a Lost Shipwreck in Wisconsin. They Stumbled Upon a Different Vessel Instead

Researchers think they have located the final resting place of the “L.W. Crane,” a wooden side-wheel steam ship that caught fire and sank in the Fox River in 1880

The structure and stamps on the base of the anchor helped researchers confirm the bow belonged to the USS New Orleans. The words "Navy Yard" are still visible through the marine growth.

Lost Bow of American Warship Found Eight Decades After It Was Blown Off by a Japanese Torpedo in World War II

After the attack, crews sailed the USS “New Orleans” backwards for more than 1,000 miles across the Pacific. Since then, the location of the vessel’s bow has been a mystery

On June 10, state and tribal officials recovered the vessel from the water.

Cool Finds

This Dugout Canoe Made From a 12-Foot-Long Log Was Found Bobbing in a North Carolina River

The newly discovered vessel is one of 79 known dugout canoes that have been unearthed throughout the state

The team didn't use any maps throughout their 45-hour trip.

New Research

Scientists Built a Canoe Using Only Prehistoric Tools. Then They Sailed the Dangerous 140-Mile Route Early Humans Traveled 30,000 Years Ago

Five paddlers journeyed from Taiwan to Japan’s southern Yonaguni Island in 45 hours. Their efforts provide new insights into prehistoric mariners’ tools and techniques

The remains of what appears to be a Ford Model T truck have surfaced in Lake Lure.

Long-Lost Treasures Emerge From Lake During Hurricane Helene Recovery Efforts in North Carolina

Officials are draining the water from Lake Lure to remove sediment and debris, revealing historic objects embedded in the dry lakebed

The CSS Shenandoah surrendered to the British government in November 1865, after traveling 17,000 miles in just three months in hopes of evading capture by Union warships.

Untold Stories of American History

A Confederate Raider Fired the Final Shots of the Civil War in the Arctic, Two and a Half Months After Robert E. Lee Surrendered

The CSS “Shenandoah” only learned of the Confederacy’s defeat in the summer of 1865. That June, the cruiser’s crew sank 24 American merchant vessels, unaware that the conflict had already ended

These gold coins, known as cobs, date to 1707, the year before the San José sank.

Cool Finds

These Gold Coins May Solve the Mystery of the ‘World’s Richest Shipwreck,’ Confirming Its Identity as a Legendary 18th-Century Galleon

Minted in Peru in 1707, the money bolsters the evidence that the wreck is the Spanish ship “San José,” which sank off the Colombian coast in 1708 with treasure worth billions on board

The jugs and plates appear to have been made during the 16th century in Liguria, a seaside region in northwest Italy near the French border.

Rare 16th-Century Shipwreck Discovered at Record Depth in French Waters

The 98-foot-long vessel was transporting ceramic jugs, ceramic plates and metal bars when it sank off southeastern France nearly 500 years ago

The fading pages of the manuscript were sitting in a screened-in porch at a home in Barrington, Rhode Island, for years.

Untold Stories of American History

Tattered Pages Discovered in Storage Reveal an Enslaved Man’s Daring Bid for Freedom—and His Second Life at Sea

Historians are investigating the haunting handwritten manuscript, which chronicles Thomas White’s escape from slavery in Maryland and adventures around the world nearly 200 years ago

The wreck of the Joseph Cochrane, a 131-foot-long cargo schooner that sank in 1870, is located 563 feet from the Old Baileys Harbor Lighthouse in Lake Michigan.

Historians Set the Record Straight on This Misidentified 155-Year-Old Shipwreck in Lake Michigan

For years, experts thought a wreck near Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin, was the “Christina Nilsson.” Recently, they realized it’s actually the “Joseph Cochrane,” which sank in 1870

A German submarine torpedoed the S.S. Pennsylvania Sun on July 15, 1942, destroying 107,500 barrels of U.S. Navy fuel oil.

The Hidden History of the Nazi U-Boats That Prowled the Gulf Coast, Bringing World War II to America’s Shores

Between 1942 and 1943, German submarines sank 56 Allied ships in the region and damaged another 14, losing just one of their own in the process

Conservators have spent the last 14 years carefully cleaning and restoring the 18th-century ship.

America's 250th Anniversary

Revolutionary War-Era Gunboat Found Underneath World Trade Center Wreckage Finds a Permanent Home in Upstate New York

Researchers are reassembling the ship, which was likely built in the 1770s near Philadelphia

A photogrammetric reconstruction of the submarine USS F-1, showing the conning tower and collision damage that caused the boat to sink

New Research

See a Lost U.S. Navy Submarine, Sunk During a World War I Test Run, in Digital Detail

Researchers descended to the wreck in underwater vehicles to collect data for 3-D models

Loaded with colorful containers, a cargo ship floats right into the Port of Miami.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

Set Sail With These 15 Scenes of Sensational Ships

These seafaring shots are harbored in the archives of the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

Ever since its departure from England exactly 180 years ago, on May 19, 1845, the Franklin expedition has captivated the public’s imagination.

The Shipwrecks From John Franklin’s Doomed Arctic Expedition Were Exactly Where the Inuit Said They Would Be

In May 1845, 129 British officers and crew members set out in search of the Northwest Passage on HMS “Erebus” and HMS “Terror.” None returned

The 140-foot Dutch vessel sank during a violent storm off the coast of South Australia in June 1857, killing 16 of the 25 crew members onboard

How Researchers Discovered a 168-Year-Old Dutch Shipwreck Off the Coast of Australia in Underwater ‘Blizzard’ Conditions

The Dutch merchant ship ‘Koning Willem de Tweede’ sank off the coast of South Australia in a violent storm in June 1857

The S.S. Almond Branch was torpedoed by a German submarine during World War I.

Man Who ‘Always Fancied’ Owning a Shipwreck Buys One on Facebook Marketplace for $400

Hobbyist diver Dom Robinson jumped at the chance to purchase the S.S. “Almond Branch,” a cargo ship that’s been resting 190 feet beneath the surface of the English Channel since World War I

The letter was postmarked on April 11 in Queenstown, Ireland, one of the two stops the Titanic made before sinking. It reached London one day later.

He Boarded the Titanic, Then Wrote a Letter: ‘It Is a Fine Ship, But I Shall Await My Journey’s End Before I Pass Judgment’

First-class passenger Archibald Gracie wrote the missive shortly after settling into his cabin on the doomed vessel. It just sold at auction for nearly $400,000

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