Underwater Camera Finds Mysterious Car in Sunken World War II Ship
Researchers sent a remotely operated camera inside a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier that was sunk in the Pacific Ocean during World War II and were stunned to find a mysterious car inside the wreck.
NOAA Ocean Exploration researchers discovered the car after they sent a remote camera into the shipwreck of USS Yorktown aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean for the first time ever on Saturday.
The iconic U.S. Navy aircraft carrier was famously torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in June 1942 during the Battle of Midway in World War II.
The 809-foot-long USS Yorktown — which now rests about three miles below the Pacific Ocean’s surface in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands — was capable of handling 90 planes and staffing 2,200 sailors.
During the NOAA Ocean Exploration’s remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dive into the shipwreck, which was livestreamed, the crew were shocked to see what appeared to be a military jeep inside the hangar.
“It’s a car. That’s a car,” a surprised researcher was heard saying during the live feed, according to the Miami Herald.
“That is a full car. Why is there a car on this boat?” another NOAA crew member exclaims.
According to The Miami Herald, the vehicle was seen resting upright close to USS Yorktown’s elevator three. Closer inspection by the underwater camera revealed flared fenders, hints of a rag top, chrome trim, and a spare tire.
The Theories Behind The Mysterious Car Inside a Shipwreck
At the time, the NOAA crew said they had no idea how or why the car made it onto the USS Yorktown and asked the public’s help with identifying the mystery vehicle.
“Here’s an open request to all your automobile vehicle folks out there,” a NOAA expedition operator researcher says during the live feed. “I’m sure you are being attentive to this and you understand what you are looking at. Please post on this. It really helps.”
While no historical records account for the vehicle aboard the USS Yorktown, NOAA say it suspects the car to be a 1940-41 Ford Super Deluxe “Woody” — a civilian car with a distinctive wood body and a unique combination of trim on the fenders. Such a car would be a likelier find on a country estate than on the deck of a carrier at sea, and would have been among the last cohort of mass-market vehicles that Ford produced before switching fully to wartime production.
Several theories could explain why a military jeep was aboard the Yorktown during its final days at sea. One is that it might have been Rear Admiral Frank Fletcher’s flag car as the Yorktown served as his flagship during World War II.
Another theory is that it could have been brought aboard for repairs after getting damaged at the Battle of Coral Sea, according to the Miami Herald.
The USS Yorktown was commissioned in 1937 and played a huge role in the United States’ Pacific campaign during World War II before it sank in June 1942.
