In September 2023, more than 100 scientists from around the world watched as ROV Atalanta descended more than three miles down in the Pacific Ocean in search of the sunken aircraft carriers of the Battle of Midway. The battle, fought over four days in June 1945, was one of the most decisive engagements of the Pacific theater of World War II and gave the United States an advantage against the Japanese forces they had not enjoyed since the attack on Pearl Harbor the previous December. Five carriers—four Japanese and one U.S.—were sunk during the battle, yet only three have been found thus far.