USS Stewart (DD-224) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was the second ship named for Rear Admiral Charles Stewart. The ship was captured by the Japanese Army and commissioned in the Japanese Navy.


Interesting story. This ship should have been a museum.


Laid down in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in September 1919 and commissioned in September 1920, the Stewart was completed too late to see action in World War I but found itself on the front lines at the start of World War II. In 1941, the Stewart was stationed in Manilla as part of the US Navy’s Asiatic Fleet, an under strength collection of old, largely obsolete warships tasked with opposing Imperial Japan’s onslaught after its devastating attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Stewart was damaged during combat in February 1942, and a freak accident trapped it in a repair drydock on Java where its crew was forced to abandon it as enemy forces prepared to seize the island. Raised and repaired a year later, the Stewart was pressed into service with the Imperial Japanese Navy as Patrol Boat No.102. Soon, far-ranging Allied pilots began reporting the strange sight of an old American destroyer operating deep behind enemy lines. It was not until the Stewart was found afloat in Kure, Japan at the end of the war that the mystery of the Pacific ghost ship was finally solved.

The battered veteran vessel was recommissioned back into the US Navy in what was called an “emotional ceremony” and towed home to San Francisco. There, something like a “burial at sea” was performed: the Stewart served its country one last time as a target ship, absorbing fire from aerial rockets, machine gun, and naval guns for more than two hours before sinking. In the following decades, the Stewart’s story drew the interest of historians, archaeologists, and naval enthusiasts, and the rediscovery of its wreck became a top national priority for exploration. More than 78 years would pass before it was found.

Initial story here.

Link to detail which is included above here.

Very interesting history! Thanks!

Interesting stuff, I could watch the videos all day, they have some very good stuff on wrecks they have found, Shackleton's Endurance discovery is really cool Link Endurance

Theres the USS Nevada, SS Blody Marsh and others

Link Projects

I think that was the first US Navy ship captured by an enemy force since the War of 1812. . .

Interesting history. Glad they found her.

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Originally posted by Shaql:

...It was not until the Stewart was found afloat in Kure, Japan at the end of the war that the mystery of the Pacific ghost ship was finally solved.

Kure is on western Honshu Island just a little south of Hiroshima. I was assigned there from 1989-93 as an Army civilian at the Akizuki Ammo Depot. Depot hqs was on the water in between the IHI ship yard (that built the Yamato, among many other ships) and a Japanese Navy base.

Kure was a major Japanese Navy base during WWII, across the bay in Eta Jima was/is their naval academy.

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USS Stewart (DD-224)

doesnt look like Navsource allows deep linking

USS Stewart 224