In August, three autonomous drones scanned the ocean floor, finally locating the ship’s marine growth-covered hull 3,500 feet beneath the surface. “We’re in the midst of, I think, a radical change in ocean discovery.

After nearly 80 years, researchers have finally located the sunken wreckage of a World War II-era Navy destroyer off the coast of Northern California.

The wreck of a US Navy destroyer known as the “Ghost Ship of the Pacific” has been found off the coast of California by undersea investigators.

U ndersea investigators have located the wreck of a century-old US Navy destroyer, USS Stewart, that was lost for nearly 80 years. The wreck, once known as “The ghost ship of the Pacific”, was found off the coast of northern California 1,067 meters (3,500 feet) below the water's surface.

In 1945, as Japan was occupied at the end of World War II, the ship was found afloat at Kure, Japan. Recommissioned once more as the USS Stewart, the old destroyer was towed back to San Francisco and sunk the next year as a target ship.

The “ Ghost Ship of the Pacific ,” used by both American and Japanese forces, was given a “burial at sea” and intentionally sunk on May 24, 1946, off the coast of San Francisco, according to a joint Oct 1. release from Ocean Infinity, SEARCH and the Air/Sea Heritage Foundation.

The rediscovery of the vessel, which was captured by the Japanese for a time during World War II, highlights the potential of underwater autonomous vehicles to map the ocean floor.

Recently, marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity used three autonomous underwater vehicles to locate the sunken wreck of a long-lost piece of U.S. Naval History.