Great article about how submarine hunting led to the discovery and mapping of undersea mountains, aka seamounts.
How the Hunt for WWII Subs Revealed Undersea Volcanoes
“Certainly, before they developed acoustic soundings—which is sonar—there’s a lot of uncertainty in the depth of the seafloor because the methods weren't good enough,” says Heidi Dierssen, marine sciences professor at the University of Connecticut. “Once they discovered that they could use the speed of sound pretty accurately, it really revolutionized our understanding of Earth itself.”
"During World War II, the United States paused most of its seafloor mapping efforts. The exception came when Hess, then a young Princeton University professor, joined the U.S. Navy as captain of the USS Cape Johnson. Equipped with the latest sonar technology, Hess was able to collect an unprecedented amount of data, rapidly and around the clock, as he and his crew searched for enemy submarines."
And it turns out there are a lot of them down there. As well as many other significant geological features.
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