US researchers have discovered the wreck of the Imperial Japanese Navy warship Hiei, the first Japanese battleship lost in the Second World War, off the Solomon Islands.

The wreck was discovered by Vulcan Inc., the Seattle-based philanthropic organisation that was set up in 1986 by Paul Allen, the joint founder of Microsoft Corp., at a depth of 3,200 feet.

Underwater craft remotely controlled from the R/V Petrel explored the wreck in late January, revealing the battleship’s 6-inch guns in the debris field, crates of anti-aircraft rounds and portholes that are gradually being swallowed up by encroaching rust.

The images also show a large breach in the hull that it sustained during the November 1942 First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal with US Navy warships and aircraft.

NHK, Japan’s national broadcaster, quoted the head of the Yamato Museum, in the port city of Kure, as saying that the images indicate that as much as one-third of the Hiei’s hull appears to be missing, suggesting that an explosion within the vessel’s magazine may have ultimately sealed her fate.

“This discovery shows the tragedy of war and I believe that it also serves to remind people that war is real, not a story”, Kazushige Todaka said.