( CNN ) On October 24 , 1944 , U.S. warplanes swarmed at the Leviathan of battleships , Japan 's Musashi , splashing down torpedoes or dive bombing it . It took them four hours and more than 25 direct hits to put one of the two largest war ships in World War II to the bottom of the Philippines ' Sibuyan Sea . This month , Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and a team of researchers found a sprawling undersea wreck after an eight-year search for the Musashi . Japanese maritime expert Kazushige Todaka is 90 % sure they found the right ship after the first images were published earlier in March . And that 's a breakthrough . `` I have heard countless stories in the past that the ship was discovered , but they all turned out not to be true , '' Todaka said . Unfortunately , Japanese war ships did not bear their names on their sides , so a full identification takes a while . But the wreckage matched the ship 's description , and it had a mount for the Imperial Japanese Navy seal , a chrysanthemum which was made out of teak and rotted away in the ship 's 70 years in the sea . On Thursday , Paul Allen 's team treated the world to a live tour from the wreck at nearly 4,000 feet under the waves . An unmanned vehicle 's spotlights lit up the pitch darkness , revealing crisp high definition images of massive rusted iron in crystal clear turquoise water . The live tour began with one of the Musashi 's many death blows -- a warped bow . `` What we see here is torpedo damage , '' said Robert Kraft , the expedition 's leader . Torpedoes usually punctured the hull and exploded inside the ship , belling the metal outward . The remote operated vehicle puttered past more fatal damage , as Kraft and his team described it . A big dent pushing inward , he explained , was likely from a torpedo that barely missed the ship , exploding outside the hull , pushing it in . `` It 's the concussive force next to the ship , '' he said . The submersible showed multiple hits right under the Musashi 's main gun , perhaps the most powerful naval cannon at that time . It weighed 270 tons , and gunners had to duck into a blast shelter before firing it to keep from getting killed . While in the Musashi 's death throes , the gun discharged one time before everyone took cover and blew sailors off the ship 's deck , Allen 's researchers said . It was one of three such guns followed by rows of other guns . The Musashi was the most heavily armed ship of its time , the researchers said . But the giant had an Achilles heel . It was very vulnerable to torpedoes . The ship caught fire ; it lost most of its propeller power and began to flail . U.S. warplanes went in for the kill . `` No defenses would have saved her , '' an expedition member commented , as the submersible drifted past one gun turret or gun mount after the next . As the Musashi sank , parts of it , where air was trapped imploded . The wreck landed in pieces on the sea floor with some 1,000 crew members . About 1,300 more were rescued by other Japanese ships , including the executive officer . The camera appeared to spare viewers any skeletal remains , but among unfired shells and bent iron , small objects peered at the lens . Could the small chain have been a necklace ? Pocket watch chain ? Those wanting to answer those questions themselves will find the recording of the tour archived on Allen 's website . Launched in 1940 , the Musashi was , at the time , in the largest class of warship ever constructed , displacing more than 69,000 tons . It had a twin , the Yamato . The U.S. Navy sank the Musashi during the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea , part of the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the central Philippines . Microsoft billionaire Allen has said his long fascination with World War II history was inspired by his father 's service in the U.S. Army . To finally arrive at the wreck , Kraft 's team scoured historical records from four countries and undersea topographical data before sending down detection devices , such as the Bluefins that have searched for missing airliner Malaysia Airlines flight 370 . Nearly a decade passed before they had the wreck in their sites . `` That moment of discovery was exhilarating , '' Kraft said . CNN 's Euan McKirdy , Jethro Mullen , Yoko Wakatsuki and Brad Lendon contributed to this report .
Japan 's giant battleship Musashi was sunk off the Philippines in World War II . A team led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen said it found the wreck after October 24 , 1944 search .