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In August 2017, researchers announced they had found one of history's most significant-and sought-after-shipwrecks. More than 72 years after it sank in July 1945, the final resting place of USS Indianapolis has been discovered in the Pacific Ocean. But the heavy cruiser isn't just a cool maritime find; it's a graveyard. The wreck was the U.S. Navy's largest-ever single loss of life at sea: an event that left hundreds of sailors dead, hundreds more ambushed by sharks and the American public reeling at the magnitude of a tragedy that took place so close to the end of World War II.

Before it plunged to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, Indianapolis, named after the capital city of Indiana, played a critical role in the war. In 1941, it narrowly missed the Pearl Harbor attack while participating in military exercises a few hundred miles away. Then, led by Rear Admiral Charles B. McVay III, it supported multiple campaigns throughout the Pacific, including helping provide cover for the Iwo Jima landings in 1945.

But its most famous mission was top secret. As the war hurtled toward its end, Indianapolis was tasked with bringing parts for "Little Boy," the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, from San Francisco to the Mariana Islands. After completing its mission, and following a quick stop in Guam, the ship was heading toward the Philippines carrying nearly 1,200 sailors-without an escort-when disaster struck on the night of July 30, 1945.

It came in the form of two torpedoes shot from the I-58, a Japanese submarine commanded by Mochitsura Hashimoto. The flaming ship sank in just 12 minutes.

That was just the start of the ordeal for the roughly 900 sailors that survived the initial blast. For days, they floated on parts of the annihilated warship, suffering from starvation and dehydration, their burnt skin blistering in the unforgiving sun. Meanwhile, sharks circled, eating the dead and, eventually, attacking the surviving men- the worst shark attack in history (and an incident famously referenced in the movie Jaws). And help didn't come, in part because the ship's distress calls were ignored. Tragically, though U.S. intelligence had intercepted the calls, the military thought they were a Japanese trap and failed to come to the ship's rescue.

By the time an airplane pilot spotted the wreck three and a half days later, the soldiers that were still alive were hallucinating and near death. A rescue operation was mounted. But it was too late for hundreds of men. Only 317 survived.

"I don't see this as an average shipwreck," says David A. Kohnen, director of the John B. Hattendorf Center for Maritime Historical Research at the U.S. Naval College-and not just because of the tragedy. For Kohnen, the wreck doesn't just stand out because of the loss of life, but because the ship itself was a favorite of the entire U.S. Navy.

The disaster was a public affairs nightmare for the Navy, says Kohnen, especially since word only leaked to the public after the Japanese surrendered to Allied forces. Stunned by the news of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but happy to see the end of the war, the public could not understand how a tragedy of such magnitude could happen to an American warship so close to war's end.

Ever since, the wreck has been fodder for historical debates about everything from McVay's actions to the armed forces' handling of the disaster to the wreck's very location. McVay was controversially court-martialed, and blamed for not trying to evade the Japanese torpedoes. Despite the fact that Mochitsura Hashimoto himself testified in his defense, McVay wasn't exonerated for his role in commanding the doomed ship until 2001, years after his 1968 suicide.

Previously undiscovered information on the potential location of the wreck from a nearby vessel that saw the ship on the day it went down recently came to light, but finding the ship in the 600-square-mile target the search team identified was still the equivalent of finding a needle in an aquatic haystack.

"There were several challenges we had to overcome during this mission, not least of which was the hostile environment of 5,500 meters and the extreme seafloor terrain," said Robert Kraft, director of subsea operations and expedition director of Vulcan, Inc ., a civilian company owned by Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul G. Allen, via email. "There is a 2,500-meter-tall mountain range with extreme slopes, peaks and cliffs that put our equipment to the test both physically and technically."

It paid off: the crew found the wreck more than 18,000 feet below the surface with the help of their research vessel, the Petrel, and special subsea equipment. Now, at least, there's one fewer mystery in the tragedy of USS Indianapolis. Though the site is now known to the crew of the Petrel and the U.S. Navy, it will remain confidential and the remains of the ship will be treated as a war grave, in keeping with U.S. law.

"Knowing the location of the wreck provides some level of closure to survivors and a memorial of those that were lost," Kraft said. "This is an educational opportunity for archaeologists, engineers and historians." As for Kohnen, he's glad the wreck will be preserved intact for future generations. "When a ship goes down," he says, "a little piece of the country goes with it."

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After 72 Years, Wreckage of U.S. Navy's Biggest Tragedy is Found

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In August 2017, researchers announced they had found one of history's most significant-and sought-after-shipwrecks. More than 72 years after it sank in July 1945, the final resting place of USS Indianapolis has been discovered in the Pacific Ocean. But the heavy cruiser isn't just a cool maritime find; it's a graveyard.

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The city of Rome is over 2,700 years old. Dig into the ground and you'll eventually bump into what the old residents left behind.

Over the past decade, the construction and extension of Rome's third subway line-Line C-has unearthed a treasure trove of artifacts. In December 2017, The New York Times reported that archaeologists had found petrified peach pits and images of an extinct elephant species at the site where the new San Giovanni station will open next year.

Some of the archaeological discoveries will go on display at the San Giovanni station. But there are a lot of other discoveries that have already gone into museums or storage. Here's a look at some of the amazing things that Rome's subway construction has unearthed.

1. Medieval kitchens with pots and pans

When Italian dictator Benito Mussolini started work on Rome's first subway in 1937 (which didn't open till 1955), he wasn't very concerned about preserving artifacts. Consequently, workers ended up destroying a lot of historic objects that they encountered.

Today, the story is different. Between the beginning of Line C's construction in 2007 and its opening in 2014, archaeologists have painstakingly recorded and preserved historical artifacts. In 2008, they publicly announced their discovery of imperial medieval homes.

These homes had kitchens that still contained pieces of pots and pans. In particular, researchers were excited to find a ninth-century kitchen with three sauce-heating pots. Before then, only two such pots had been found in Italy.

2. A copper factory

In addition to the kitchens, researchers announced in 2008 that they had found a sixth-century copper factory during Line C's construction.

Like the kitchens, the factory still had its own tools-specifically, ovens that were used to melt copper alloy. In the Roman Empire, copper was an important component of coins, architecture, and Rome's famously extensive plumbing system.

Around the same time that researchers discovered the factory and kitchens, they found parts of the ancient road of Via Flaminia. More morbidly, they also found the remains of two children. Several years later, more bodies came up.

3. An ancient military barracks...with 13 adult skeletons

During work to extend subway Line C in 2016, archaeologists announced another big discovery: the 2,000-years-old military barracks of Emperor Hadrian's army.

Hadrian was one of Rome's so-called "Five Good Emperors" who expanded the empire in the first and second centuries. His arm barracks had 39 mosaic- and fresco-lined rooms for sleeping and weapon storage. It also had a mass grave containing 13 adult skeletons, who may have been fallen soldiers in Hadrian's army.

Because the barracks is too huge to completely remove, designers hope to incorporate it into a forthcoming archeological subway station at Amba Aradam.

4. A dog that burned to death in a "Pompeii-like scene"

Yet more extension work on Line C led to the discovery of a "Pompeii-like scene," as the Culture Ministry put it. Just as a volcanic eruption had preserved people's remains in ashes at Pompeii, archaeologists say these new subway-line artifacts were uniquely preserved because they'd been hardened by a fire.

The recent excavation found a 3rd century house that had burned down, as well as the skeleton of a dog that appeared to have died in the same fire. Researchers also found fragments of frescoed walls, mosaic floor tiles, and tables.

Speaking to The Guardian, the head of Rome's archaeological ruins and excavations, Francesco Prosperetti, reflected on this significant discovery: "The fire that stopped life in this environment allows us to image life in a precise moment."

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The Most Amazing Artifacts Discovered While Building Rome's Subway

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The city of Rome is over 2,700 years old. Dig into the ground and you'll eventually bump into what the old residents left behind. Over the past decade, the construction and extension of Rome's third subway line-Line C-has unearthed a treasure trove of artifacts.

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Newsela | Alabama heralds 'last slave ship' discovery; ponders future

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Wreckage found in the Mobile River confirmed as a slave ship

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Newsela | Climate change is written all over mummies' faces

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Mummies have remained remarkably intact for centuries. Yet in the last decade, they have begun to age. The result of a changing climate, many believe. Moisture's seized once-dry burial spots.

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Newsela | A Manhattan village owned by black people was destroyed to build Central Park

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The property where Seneca Village once stood was condemned for the construction of one of New York City's most famous landmarks.

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Newsela | Archaeologists discover dozens of cat mummies in Egyptian tomb

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Ancient Egyptians weren't "kitten" around when they mummified their cats.

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Recent research revealed evidence of the earliest prehistoric high-altitude residential site in the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia.

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Newsela | Mexican archaeologist was one of the few woman researchers of 1800s

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In a time when woman archaeologists were few, Zelia Nuttall was an expert on ancient Mexico.

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Newsela | Native American archaeological site discovered in Norwalk, Connecticut

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Newsela | Archaeologists use radar to find Viking ship buried on an island for a millennium

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Archaeologists' discovery of a huge Viking ship on an island in Norway was part luck.

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Newsela | Early Villages and the Social Networks They Created

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For much of human history, we lived in small villages and towns, not in the large cities and civilizations we're used to today. What was life like in these villages?

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Newsela | Stolen African artwork: "It's like holding our ancestors hostage"

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Will Nigeria settle for just borrowing prized metal sculptures that British seized in 1897?

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela | Understanding archaeology: Digging up the past from around the world

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Although some archaeologists study living cultures, most archaeologists concern themselves with the distant past.

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Newsela | Ötzi the Iceman died 5,300 years ago, but he still needs checkups

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A lot of work goes into preserving a mummy found in a glacier.

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Newsela | Digging deep: Archaeology from the Silk Road in Afghanistan

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Newsela | USS Independence discovered half a mile underwater by Robert Ballard

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Robert Ballard finds World War II aircraft carrier half a mile under the sea.

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Newsela | Scientists prove great China flood is much more than a myth

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Once mostly myth, evidence suddenly surfaces for China's great flood

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Newsela | Artifacts prove humans lived in Florida 1,500 years earlier than believed

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Archaeologists used radiocarbon dating to prove humans were living in the Americas about 1,500 years earlier than originally believed.