notforsale

World War II history buffs might be interested in this little tidbit: Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and his team aboard his research vessel the Octopus recently found the Japanese ship Musashi, sunk by American forces Oct. 24, 1944, at the bottom of the Sibuyan Sea off the Philippines.

It was “one of the world’s largest and most technologically advanced battleships.” With its sister ship, the Yamato, the pair were “the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed” says Allen’s website, www.paulallen.com, which is loaded with photos and video of the discovery. One of the images, of Musashi’s 15-ton starboard anchor, is shown. Inset, a photo of the formidable ship, which weighed 73,000 tons fully loaded, had 18-inch thick armor plating and was armed with nine 18-inch guns.

Allen says he and his team used “historical records from four different countries, detailed topographical data and advanced technology aboard his yacht” to find the lost battleship, and the search took more than eight years.

The goal of the discovery, the website says, is to “not only help fill in the narrative of World War II’s Pacific theater, but bring closure to the families of those lost.”

— Elleda Wilson