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Researchers on a Hawaii underwater submersible found a sunken ship off Oahu that was commissioned into military service during World War II, according to the University of Hawaii.
The USS Kailua lies in 2,000 feet of water about 20 miles off the coast of Oahu, the university announced Friday.
The ship was sunk as a target by U.S. submarine torpedo on Feb. 7, 1946, after World War II, but the exact location was not recorded and its final resting place had been a mystery.
"The ship was surprisingly intact. … The upper deck structures from the bow to the stern were well preserved," said Terry Kerby, an official with the UH Undersea Research Laboratory who was part of the team that discovered the vessel last year.
Kerby, pilot of the remote-control submersible Pisces, said he was thrilled to see a piece of history emerging out of the darkness.
The 174-foot cable ship Dickenson became the USS Kailua, or IX-71, under a Navy charter to service underwater cables and submarine nets in the South Pacific. Built in 1923 for the Commercial Pacific Cable Co., the ship carried supplies to cable stations on various Pacific islands, including Fanning and Midway islands, according to shipscribe.com.
The Dickenson, carrying evacuees from Fanning Island, sailed into Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 — the day it was attacked by Japanese forces. An enemy sub- marine had followed the Dickenson but was driven off by U.S. forces.
Officials with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration regard the USS Kailua wreck as a historic site.
"We plan to nominate the wreck to the National Register of Historic Places," said James Delgado, director of maritime heritage for the National Marine Sanctuaries.
Delgado said the ship not only served a vital role in keeping global telecommunications open in the first part of the 20th century, but is a historic link to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge — now part of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the National Marine Sanctuary system.
"Wrecks such as this remind us of special places in the ocean … that connect all of us," Delgado said.
The university said there are no plans for a return to the site or any recovery.
The wreck is owned by the U.S. government and is protected as federal property, the university said.
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STAR-ADVERTISER / DEC. 5, 2013