A nonprofit ocean exploration team recently found the Japanese destroyer Teruzuki, sunk off the island of Guadalcanal by U.S. forces in December 1942.

The destroyer was found at a depth of more than 2,600 feet in waters off the northern end of Guadalcanal, located in the Solomon Islands northeast of Australia, the Ocean Exploration Trust said.

The team’s discovery of the Imperial Japanese Navy vessel marked the first time anyone had seen the boat since its sinking on Dec. 12, 1942.

The roughly 439-foot-long boat was protecting Japanese supply boats when American patrol boats hit it with Mk-8 torpedoes. The U.S. vessels that fired the torpedoes were PT boats, according to the U.S. Naval Institute.

The Teruzuki still had depth charge munitions on board when it sank, per a video of the discovery taken by the nonprofit’s exploration crew. Previously, people believed that an explosion of the destroyer’s magazine of depth charges caused it to sink, according to Dive Magazine.

The Teruzuki’s rudder was wrecked, disabling the boat, and fires broke out. Nine Japanese sailors died when the boat sank, the Ocean Exploration Trust said. Other IJN vessels rescued 196 people from the waters off Guadalcanal, while another 156 managed to swim ashore, according to the U.S. Naval Institute.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.