The USS Yorktown was a major chess piece in one of the most pivotal naval battles in the Pacific Theater of World War Two. But on a recent deep-sea expedition, ocean explorers made a bizarre discovery aboard its watery grave: a shell of an old car, resting silently on the hangar deck. What was it doing there?
The sunken automobile was imaged by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in April 2025 as part of the Papahānaumokuākea ROV and Mapping expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer. While exploring these North Pacific waters, the team swung past the final resting site of USS Yorktown, a US Navy aircraft carrier that was sunk by a Japanese submarine during the Battle of Midway in World War Two.
Unexpectedly, the rusted wreck of an automobile was spotted on the grand ship’s hangar deck. As the NOAA explains in a post about the mission, the presence of the car doesn’t make much sense.
“Why, though, did the car remain stowed in the hangar deck after a brief 48-hour repair period in Pearl Harbor, when the ship’s officers knew it was heading to the Battle of Midway? During the valiant efforts to right Yorktown’s list, why too wasn’t this car jettisoned like the anti-aircraft guns and the aircraft? Did this automobile carry any particular importance to crew and officers who hoped it could be saved?” the NOAA wrote.
Another view of the sunken vehicle: can you guess what model it is?
Image credit: NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2025 Beyond the Blue
The team has “tentatively identified” the car model as a 1940-41 Ford Super Deluxe “Woody” in black. They suspect it belonged to Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, Captain Elliott Buckmaster, or another crewmember who used the vehicle when USS Yorktown was docked in foreign ports.
However, they did put out a call for any car fanatics or amateur historians to add any more insights into the mysterious relic.
“Here’s an open request to all your automobile vehicle folks out there. I’m sure you are being attentive to this and you understand what you are looking at. Please post on this. It really helps,” a NOAA expedition operator researcher said during a live feed on the mission.
The NOAA’s ROV lights up a hand-painted mural called “A Chart of the Cruises of the USS Yorktown.”
Image credit: NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2025 Beyond the Blue
On the same dive, the team identified a giant hand-painted mural inside the ship’s elevator shaft. Measuring 12.8 meters by 3.66 meters (42 by 12 feet), the painting shows a world map that tracks the voyages of USS Yorktown.
The shipwreck was also found to be brimming with life. The outer hull of USS Yorktown was riddled with tubeworms and other surface-latching organisms. Most stunning of all was a ruby red jellyfish, which the team hopes might be a new species that hasn’t been described by scientists.
Could this be a new species of jellyfish?
Image credit: NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2025 Beyond the Blue
“In addition to being a historic time capsule, the wreck of USS Yorktown provides habitat for a variety of marine life. Observations of this life made throughout the ROV dives on April 19 and 20 are important in helping us better understand how the deep-ocean environment changes over time,” added the NOAA.
Source Link: Unexpectedly, A Car Was Found On A WW2 Shipwreck – And NOAA Is Asking For Help Identifying It
