Mysterious Undocumented Vehicle Found in Wreckage of WWII Ship

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wants YOU—to help identify a car that evidently sank to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean with the USS Yorktown in 1942.

A NOAA-led team spotted the previously unknown car (pictured above) during a recent dive to the wreck, which hadn’t been known to be carrying a vehicle. In June 1942, Yorktown was stricken by Japanese vessels, including the aircraft carrier Hiryu and the submarine I-168, during the Battle of Midway—a naval battle that marked a critical turning point in the war for the Allies.

“In a battle as intense as Midway, the fury and frenzy of the fight and the scale of death and destruction meant that not every aspect or detail of what happened is in the history books,” said James Delgado, a lead scientist on a 2023 mission to the site, in a NOAA release. “These dives, once unimaginable, into the deepest parts of the ocean add to that record, as well as connecting postwar generations to those who fought this pivotal battle in a global war.”

The wreck of Yorktown sits upright more than 3 miles (5 kilometers) under the sea, about 1,000 miles (1,610 km) northwest of Honolulu. The wreck, discovered in 1998, now serves as an ideal testing ground for NOAA equipment used to gather archaeological and biological data from the seafloor.

According to the release, a NOAA-led team conducted remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dives to the wreck on April 19 and 20. The dives are part of the Beyond the Blue: Papahānaumokuākea ROV and Mapping expedition, which is helping NOAA assess the ocean environment and pave the way for future deep-sea missions.

The Miami Herald reported two possible explanations for the vehicular presence on the ship: it may have been Rear Admiral Frank Fletcher’s flag car, or it was brought on board for repairs before meeting an untimely end.

According to NOAA Ocean Exploration, the car is thought to be a 1940-41 Ford Super Deluxe “Woody” with black trim. Part of the vehicle’s front license plate reads “SHIP SERVICE,” but the rest has corroded away.

“Here’s an open request to all your automobile vehicle folks out there,” a NOAA researcher said during a livefeed, according to the Herald. “I’m sure you are being attentive to this and you understand what you are looking at. Please post on this. It really helps.” Unsurprisingly, Reddit threads are filling with speculation about the car’s make and the possible reasons it may have ended up on the ill-fated carrier.

You can keep up with the team’s dive plans in real time on this site, where it often livestreams expeditions such as the recent dive. Today, the team is diving off an unnamed seamount northwest of Midway.

Though no mystery vehicles are in today’s docket, according to NOAA, the main goals of the dive “include investigating the biological and habitat range within this feature, characterizing communities of sponges, corals, and other marine life along the rift arm, and documenting transitions between habitat types as we make our way to shallower depths.” In addition, the team hopes to gather “geological samples and environmental (eDNA) water samples to further characterize the geology and ecology of this region.”

Despite the remote and dark environs of the dives, the work is a reminder that the ocean floor is a vibrant place, teeming with life and mysteries to resolve.