Stoker

The ADV 'Stoker', using advanced robotic and autonomous systems, normally used for hydrographic survey capabilities, has located the USS 'Edsall' on the sea-bed south of Christmas Island. where the destroyer was sunk on March 1, 1942 with 185 sailors and 31 U.S. Army Air Force pilots aboard at the time. The announcement of its discovery was made on Nov. 11, 2024, celebrated as Veterans Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in Australia. "Captain Joshua Nix and his crew fought valiantly, evading 1,400 shells from Japanese battleships and cruisers before being attacked by 26 carrier dive bombers, taking only one fatal hit. There were no survivors," said Caroline Kennedy, U.S. ambassador to Australia, in a joint statement recorded with Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, head of the Australian Navy. Commissioned in 1919, on March 1, 1942, the USS 'Edsall' was steaming alone south of Java, having spent the past several months escorting convoys between Australia and Indonesia. Overtaken by a force of much faster and more heavily armed Japanese battleships and cruisers, the Edsall nevertheless spent almost two hours performing evasive maneuvers, laying smoke screens, and avoiding more than 1,000 enemy shells. Eventually, more than two dozen Japanese aircraft were launched to bomb the destroyer, finally leaving it dead in the water. Japanese observers reportedly described the destroyer as performing like a "dancing mouse", referring to a popular Japanese pet at the time known for its erratic movement. Almost all of the ship's crew were lost in the sinking, although war crimes trials convened after the war revealed that a handful of survivors had been picked up by the Japanese fleet, only to later be executed. The Australian Navy initially encountered the wreck in 2023, and researchers had worked since then to confirm that it was, in fact, the 'Edsall'.

The 'Stoker' was in collision with the submersible 'LR 5' near Fremantle anchorage, in calm waters off the West Australian Coast on Nov 11, 2020. The 'LR 5' was engaged in emergency training exercises when the incident happened, and returned to the Perth naval base HMAS Stirling for repairs.