Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen discovers Japanese battleship

Paul Allen is most widely known for two things -- co-founding Microsoft along with Bill Gates, and owning the Seattle Seahawks football team which won last year's Super Bowl. You may also hear about his yachts, but likely you will hear little of the many other endeavors that Mr. Allen participates in and funds with his fortune.

One is a mission of discovery that has found a long lost relic, in this case a Japanese battleship that disappeared back in World War II not far from the Philippines. According to Allen the search took about eight years.

"Since my youth, I have been fascinated with World War II history, inspired by my father's service in the U.S. Army", Allen said in a statement given to news network CNN. However, Allen also published the news and photos via his Twitter account.

The ship, named Musashi, was one of the largest ships on the sea during its era. It disappeared on October 24th 1944. According to Wikipedia, the ship was attacked using both aircraft and submarines -- "At 13:31, the ship was attacked by 29 aircraft from the fleet carriers Essex and Lexington. Two Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters strafed the ship's deck and Helldivers scored four more bomb hits near her forward turrets. Musashi was hit by four more torpedoes, three of which were forward of Turret No. 1, causing extensive flooding".

Despite all of the knowledge of this sinking and the general location, the ship had remained undiscovered until now. More verification will be needed, but that likely will be coming fairly soon.