Lost World War II Sub Discovered in South China Sea

News June 4, 2024

(Lost 52 Project ©2024)
SHARE:

NEW YORK, NEW YORK—Live Science reports that the wreckage of the USS Harder has been found under 3,750 feet of water by members of the Lost 52 Project, a group that looks for the 52 U.S. submarines lost during World War II. Naval records show that the Harder, nicknamed the “Hit ‘Em Harder,” had torpedoed and sunk five Japanese destroyers and other enemy ships in the Pacific Ocean before it was lost during a battle in the South China Sea near the Philippine Island of Luzon on August 24, 1944. All 79 crew members were killed. The Lost 52 Project team members began their search for the USS Harder by reviewing reports of the battle, then exploring possible sites with shipboard sonar. “It is a long and arduous process, like looking for a needle in a haystack,” said Tim Taylor of the Lost 52 Project. The submarine’s resting place is protected as a war grave. To read about the underwater archaeology of the attack on Pearl Harbor, go to "December 7, 1941."

  • Features July/August 2024

    The Assyrian Renaissance

    Archaeologists return to Nineveh in northern Iraq, one of the ancient world’s grandest imperial capitals

    Read Article
    (Land of Nineveh Archaeological Project)
  • Features July/August 2024

    A Dynasty Born in Fire

    How an upstart Maya king forged a new social order amid chaos

    Read Article
    Maya Guatemala Ucanal Excavation
    (Courtesy Proyecto Arqueológico Ucanal)
  • Features July/August 2024

    Making a Roman Emperor

    A newly discovered monumental arch in Serbia reveals a family’s rise to power in the late second century a.d.

    Read Article
    (Serbia’s Institute of Archaeology)
  • Features July/August 2024

    Rise and Fall of Tiwanaku

    New dating techniques are unraveling the mystery of a sacred Andean city

    Read Article