Billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has found the wreckage of the World War II Japanese battleship Musashi.

The battleship sank in 1944 off the Philippines’ coast and, until now, its resting place was unknown.

Allen explained on Twitter that he found the Japanese battleship in the waters of the Sibuyan Sea. He uploaded a photo of the wreckage, showing a chrysanthemum, the symbol of Imperial Japan.

A statement Allen released explained the billionaire and his team had been searching for the battleship for eight years with the help of historical documents from four different countries and with advanced technology from his yacht, M/Y Octopus. The ship was discovered on March 1.

His team commissioned a hypsometric bathymetric survey of the ocean floor in an attempt to narrow the search area. In February, the team used a BlueFin-12 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) to search through the areas narrowed down. The AUV managed to find the Musashi on its third dive.

“Since my youth, I have been fascinated with World War II history, inspired by my father’s service in the U.S. Army,” Allen said. “The Musashi is truly an engineering marvel and, as an engineer at heart, I have a deep appreciation for the technology and effort that went into its construction. I am honored to play a part in finding this key vessel in naval history and honoring the memory of the incredible bravery of the men who served aboard her.”

Speaking to AFP, Manolo Quezon, a prominent historian in the Philippines and the presidential communications undersecretary, said the discovery of Musashi would be a “major” historical find.

"This would be like finding the Titanic, because of the status of the ship and the interest on the ship," he explained.

Ex-crewmembers of the ship, now in their 90s, were shown photos of the wreckage and identified it as Musashi, reports the Associated Press. Ninety-three-year-old Shizuhiko Haraguchi recognized photos of the massive gun turrets. He was stationed aboard the ship and was transferred to another post before her demise.

"The discovery of the Musashi was really a nice surprise," he said. "It was as if the spirits of her crewmembers who sank with her were telling us to remember them for the 70th anniversary."

Allen said on his statement that he will work with the Japanese government to ensure the site is treated with respect and according to Japanese tradition as it it’s the resting place of more than a thousand Japanese sailors.

Musashi sunk in 1944 during the Battle of the Leyte Gulf when American planes bombed the behemoth sister ship of the Yamato. Armed with 18-inch guns and displacing 73,000 tons fully loaded, the sister ships were some of the biggest warships in the world. Almost half of the crew perished when the ship sunk after being struck by 17 bombs and 19 torpedoes.

Watch footage from the submersible exploring the wreckage: