‘Deepest wreck dive’ reaches US WWII destroyer

6km below: A photograph showing the main wreckage of the ‘USS Johnston’ resting on the ocean floor off Samar Island. — AFP

A US navy destroyer sunk during World War II and lying nearly 6,500m below sea level off the Philippines has been reached in the world’s deepest shipwreck dive, an American exploration team said.

A crewed submersible filmed, photographed and surveyed the wreckage of the USS Johnston off Samar Island during two eight-hour dives completed late last month, Texas-based undersea technology company Caladan Oceanic said.