Wreck of ill-fated US warship found by Allen expedition

The wreckage of a World War II American warship on which five brothers perished has been found by an expedition backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

The five siblings from the Irish-American Sullivan family were serving aboard the USS Juneau in the Pacific when it was sunk by a Japanese torpedo during the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942.

Allen announced on Monday the wreckage was discovered – on St Patrick’s Day. It lay 4200m below the South Pacific ocean surface off the Solomon Islands.

“We certainly didn’t plan to find the Juneau on St Patrick’s Day. The variables of these searches are just too great,” said Robert Kraft, director of subsea operations for the expedition.

“But finding the USS Juneau on St Patrick’s Day is an unexpected coincidence that allows us to pay final respects to the Sullivan brothers and all the service members who were lost 76 years ago.”

The USS Juneau entered service only a year before it was torn in half by an enemy torpedo on November 13, 1942.

Although about 100 crew survived the explosion, the US navy did not launch a rescue mission for several days and only 10 men were rescued from the water.

All five Sullivan brothers – George, Francis, Joseph, Madison and Albert ­- perished.

Allen’s expedition aims to locate and explore historic warships.

The Research Vessel Petrel’s autonomous underwater vehicle first located the Juneau wreck on its side scanner radar on Saturday.

The next day a remotely controlled underwater was deployed to verify the remains through video feed.

Earlier this month, the crew of found the World War II aircraft carrier USS Lexington