It was the largest shipwreck in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, and for nearly 60 years, it was speck out in the Pacific-- waiting to be found. 
 
 Click here to watch Catherine Cruz's report. 
 
 Flashback to 1957. 
 
 The USS Mission San Miguel had left Guam enroute to Seattle. 
 
 But the military tanker ran aground on Moro reef and the crew was forced to abandon ship. 
 
 And no one set eyes on it until two weeks ago. 
 
 "It was 80 feet in water is where it sits. And its sandy bottom there and we think that 20 feet of the ship is still under the sand," said Jason Raupp, marine heritage field leader. 
 
 Marine archeologists had expected to find a ship in pieces. 
 
 "Instead you have a largely intact structure with the steering wheel and helm still standing and it was a pretty exciting moment," said Raupp. 
 
 The find in the remote area of the National Monument came as part of a larger expedition mapping the coral reefs in the marine preserve. 
 
 "We were there four days and they spent 3/4 of their time looking for the San Miguel.” said Scott Goodwin, chief scientist onboard the NOAA ship-- the Hi’ialaka. 
 
 Two marine science students were along the research cruise and were crestfallen after they didn’t find their target after searching for almost a day and a half. 
 
 "And you are like, oh, my gosh. Are we ever going to find this? We spent so much time why can’t we find this at this spot," said Melissa Price, an masters student at East Carolina University. 
 
 "I have been interested in the Pacific Northwest islands since I was in middle school and I have always wanted to go out there," said University of Hawaii marine biology senior Rebecca Weible. 
 
 But the budding marine scientists would not be disappointed. 
 
 "Our coxwain was great. He kept his eye on the sounder and he saw some reef on the sounder and he said you should dive here. So we jumped overboard. 
 
 And I had a look at these two and their eyes were pie plates so it was great it was one of those aha moments," said Raupp. 
 
 Raupp says they got lucky. Visibility was exceptional and with just one day left scheduled in the area--they had just enough time to record these images and begin documenting the wrecksite for future visits. 
 
 A lesson in mapping the monument and bringing the past back to the future. ||||| PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — Navy divers from the U.S. and Indonesia confirmed that a sunken vessel in the Java Sea is the World War II wreck of the USS Houston, a cruiser sunk by the Japanese that serves as the final resting place for about 700 sailors and Marines, officials announced Monday. 
 
 The Japanese sank the Houston during the Battle of Sunda Strait on Feb. 28, 1942. The ship carried 1,068 crewmen, but only 291 sailors and Marines survived both the attack and being prisoners of war. The Houston's commanding officer, Capt. Albert H. Rooks, posthumously received the Medal of Honor for extraordinary heroism. 
 
 U.S. Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Harry Harris said Monday that divers have documented evidence the watery gravesite has been disturbed. 
 
 Assessments conducted in June to determine the condition of the Houston found that hull rivets, a metal plate and unexploded ordnance were removed from the ship. There is also oil actively seeping from the hull. 
 
 Officials are working on measures to keep the site from further disturbance. 
 
 "In my discussions with our Indonesian navy partners, they share our sense of obligation to protect this and other gravesites," Harris said in a statement. "Surveying the site, of course was only the first step in partnering to respect those sailors who made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the freedoms and security that we richly enjoy today." 
 
 The Navy History and Heritage Command concluded that all of the recorded data is consistent with the identification of the former USS Houston. 
 
 The Houston was nicknamed the "The Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast." Resting off the west coast of Java, Indonesia, the ship, which remains sovereign property of the United States, is a popular recreational dive site, the Navy said. 
 
 The Navy estimates there are more than 17,000 sunken ships and aircraft resting on the ocean floor worldwide.
– The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are a chain of almost entirely uninhabited islands, atolls, and shoals that stretch across some 1,250 miles of the Pacific. Amid that large expanse has slumbered what's considered the largest shipwreck to have occurred in the islands: the Mission San Miguel, a naval tanker used in World War II and the Korean War. Now, a three-person dive team has finally found its resting place some 80 feet below the surface. "I turn around and [see] this giant, looming structure, so eerie," a maritime archaeologist tells Hawaii News Now of the Aug. 3 discovery. "This is a ship that wasn't a glamorous part of World War II history, but was an important part," adds the maritime heritage coordinator for the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. The tanker was responsible for transporting fuel to machines used in the wars and had been recognized a number of times for its service. It was traveling to Seattle from Guam in 1957 when it hit a reef. The crew was unharmed, but the ship was lost. The marine archaeologists had been mapping the area's coral reefs, though the group's main focus was the search for the San Miguel, which they expected to have broken into pieces. "Instead you have a largely intact structure with the steering wheel and helm still standing," the field leader of the dive team tells KITV. "We think that 20 feet of the ship is still under the sand." Though the vessel will undergo further study, it'll remain in the national monument's protected waters.