A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration exploration team found multiple vehicles in and around the World War II-era wreck of the USS Yorktown recently.
The aircraft carrier was sunk by a Japanese submarine towards the tail end of the June 1942 Battle of Midway. Last weekend, the NOAA team went down to build on previous site explorations.
Their finds included the first-ever underwater discovery of aircraft shot down during the Battle of Midway, with the team turning up at least three Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers, including one that still had a bomb mounted to it.
Another peculiar discovery was a black 1940-41 Ford Super Deluxe ‘Woody,’ which was not offloaded even though USS Yorktown stopped briefly at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii just a few days before the Battle of Midway.
Its license plate, NOAA said in a release, reads “SHIP SERVICE ___ NAVY,” and the explorers have theorized that it would have been used by officers or crew during port calls by USS Yorktown.
The team also found for the first time a mural from one of the USS Yorktown’s elevator shafts, detailing its voyages around the world. Previously, the art piece had only been seen partially in photographs centered on other subjects.
“The Navy thanks NOAA and partners for the opportunity for our nation to reflect on the extraordinary valor and sacrifice of those who held the line and turned the tide during the darkest days of World War II, buying time with their lives for the U.S. to fully mobilize for ultimate victory, enabling the freedom we have today,” Naval History and Heritage Command Director and retired Rear Adm. Sam Cox said in another NOAA release.
In addition to the vehicles and mural, the NOAA team also saw oceanic wildlife, including a red jellyfish that could be a new species and tubeworms and anemones growing on the wreck of the USS Yorktown.
