Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen on
Wednesday said his private exploration team had found a famed
WWII Japanese battleship, the Musashi, more than 70 years after
it was sunk by US forces.
The ship was at a depth of more than 1km (3,280ft) on the
floor of the Sibuyan Sea off the Philippines.
The Musashi and its sister vessel, the Yamato, were two of
the largest battleships ever built.
US warplanes sank the Musashi on 24 October 1944 during
the Battle of Leyte Gulf, believed to be the biggest naval
encounter of World War Two in which American and Australian
forces defeated the Japanese.
Seattle-born Allen, 62, founded Microsoft with Bill Gates
in 1975, and is believed to be the 51st richest person in the
world with a net worth of $17.5bn according to Forbes Magazine.
He is currently working on an initiative called
Stratolaunch, set up to enable "cost-effective" cargo and manned
missions to go into space.
Allen launched SpaceShipOne, a suborbital air-launched
space plane, in 2004.
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