80 years after enemy forces sank it, researchers have found the wreckage of a US Navy World War two submarines. This submarine sank the most Japanese warships during World War Two in the South China Sea.

The USS Harder was found 3,000ft (914m) below water off the Philippines’ northern island of Luzon.

On 29 August 1944, the Harder sank in battle, taking its crew of 79 men down with it.

In one of its final war patrols, it sank three Japanese destroyers. It heavily damaged two others over four days, according to the US Navy’s History and Heritage Command (NHHC).

This forced the Japanese to change their battle plans and delay their carrier force, contributing to their defeat.

“Harder was lost in the course of victory. We must not forget that victory has a price, as does freedom,” said Samuel J. Cox, a retired US admiral who heads the NHHC.

US Sub Joins Musashi in Philippine Waters

The Philippines was one of the main Pacific battlegrounds of World War Two. The US fought to retake its former colony from the Japanese Imperial Army.

Waters in and around the archipelago have served as the resting place of famed World War Two battleships.

In 2015, US billionaire Paul Allen located the wreck of the Musashi, one of the two largest Japanese warships ever built, in the Philippines’ Sibuyan Sea.

The Lost 52 project, which aspires to find the 52 US submarines lost during World War Two, founded The Harder. The submarine sailed under the motto of “Hit ’em harder”. The US Navy said it found The Harder sitting upright on its keel or spine and relatively intact.

The submarine and its crew later received the Presidential Unit Citation for their service during the warrecognizes extraordinary heroism in action.

Commander Sam Dealey, the skipper, received the US’s highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, posthumously.