The USS Edsall, sunk by Japanese forces in World War II, has been found

The USS Edsall, an American warship known for its crew's courageous last stand against Japanese forces during World War II, has been found.

The U.S. Navy announced the discovery on Monday. The 314-foot destroyer was found by an Australian survey ship last year, deep in waters south of Australia's Christmas Island. But it wasn't positively identified as the Edsall until last week. The ship was surprised by Japanese battleships on March 1, 1942, in the Indian Ocean. It was outgunned and already reeling from damage sustained weeks earlier, and had been deemed not fit for combat duty. There were 185 U.S. Navy personnel and 31 U.S. Army Air Force pilots aboard at the time, the Navy said.

The crew "lost in a valiant battle against the Imperial Japanese Navy in the early days of World War II. The commanding officer of Edsall lived up to the U.S. Navy tenet, 'Don't give up the ship,' even when faced with overwhelming odds," Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti said in a statement. First launched in 1920, the Edsall played a role in sinking Japan's I-124 submarine, which became one of the first Japanese subs lost in World War II. On March 1, 1942, the Edsall was likely responding to a distress call of another American ship when Japanese forces spotted it about 225 miles south-southeast of Christmas Island. It "fought a hopeless action against an overwhelming force" of two Japanese battleships and two heavy cruisers, the Naval History and Heritage Command says.