Wreck of Navy destroyer USS Edsall known as 'the dancing mouse' found 80 years after sinking

More than 80 years after it was sunk by Japanese forces during World War II, the U.S. Navy said Monday that the wreckage of the destroyer USS Edsall has been found at the bottom of Indian Ocean.

A Royal Australian Navy vessel discovered the USS Edsall south of Christmas Island, in the area 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, 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.

"This is part of our continuing efforts to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice. We will now be able to preserve this important memorial and hope that the families of the heroes who died there will know their loved ones rest in peace. We will tell their stories, learn from their bravery, and be inspired by their sacrifice. We will always remember them." Kennedy added.

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'The dancing mouse'

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.

Retired Navy Rear Adm. Samuel J. Cox, head of the Naval History and Heritage Command, wrote in his history of the engagement that as Japanese ships once again opened fire on the crippled destroyer, Nix, the ship's captain, pointed the bow of the Edsall towards the Japanese fleet and was last seen on the ship's bridge before it sank.

Japanese observers reportedly described the destroyer as performing like a "dancing mouse," according to Cox, 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 commanding officer of Edsall lived up to the U.S. Navy tenet, 'Don’t give up the ship,' even when faced with overwhelming odds," Adm. Lisa Franchetti, Chief of Naval Operations, said in a statement on Monday. "The wreck of this ship is a hallowed site, serving as a marker for the 185 U.S. Navy personnel and 31 U.S. Army Air Force pilots aboard at the time, almost all of whom were lost when Edsall succumbed to her battle damage. This find gives us the opportunity for today’s generation of Sailors and Navy civilians to be inspired by their valor and sacrifice."

The Australian Navy initially encountered the wreck in 2023, and researchers had worked since then to confirm that it was, in fact, the Edsall.

Hammond said that the ADV Stoker, an Australian Navy support ship, "used advanced robotic and autonomous systems, normally used for hydrographic survey capabilities, to locate USS Edsall on the sea-bed," although he did not elaborate further on how the ship was found.

Max Hauptman is a Trending Reporter for USA TODAY. He can be reached at MHauptman@gannett.com