The unlikely return of a ghost ship

Undated photos provided by Ocean Infinity showing a high-resolution synthetic aperture sonar image of DD-224, formerly the USS Stewart, a ship resting on the seafloor of the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary and the rediscovery of the vessel, which was captured by the Japanese for a time during World War II. — ©2024 The New York Times Company

ON Aug 1, a ship deployed three orange drones into the waters some 110km northwest of San Francisco.

Shaped like torpedoes, the 6m-long robots autonomously scanned the ocean floor, covering nearly 130 square kilometres.