Key Points and Summary – Commissioned in the 1930s and sponsored by Eleanor Roosevelt, USS Yorktown (CV-5) fought from Tulagi to Coral Sea, then helped win Midway—her SBDs crippling Soryu before Hiryu’s counterstrikes left the carrier doomed.
-Torpedoed and sunk on June 7, 1942, Yorktown now lies 16,650 feet down in Papahānaumokuākea.
USS Yorktown Under Attack. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
-Robert Ballard first located the wreck in 1998; in April 2025, NOAA returned with new ROVs and found a surprise: a likely 1940–41 Ford “Woody” car sitting in the hangar, possibly a flag vehicle.
-The discovery renews interest in Yorktown’s legacy, linking battlefield history to an enduring deep-sea mystery.
Meet the USS Yorktown (CV-5)
The USS Yorktown (CV-5) was one of several aircraft carriers that was commissioned and completed in the 1930s and later went on to serve in World War II. Named after the Battle of Yorktown in the Revolutionary War, the Yorktown was ordered in 1933, laid down in 1934, and launched in 1936. Its sponsor was then-First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
After conducting patrols of the Atlantic Ocean, the carrier was at port in Norfolk when Pearl Harbor was attacked and the United States joined World War II. The USS Yorktown soon headed to San Diego and eventually joined the Pacific campaign.
“Yorktown steamed for the Pacific, reaching San Diego on 30 December 1941, where she shortly thereafter became flagship for Rear Admiral Frank J. Fletcher‘s newly formed Task Force (TF) 17,” according to Naval History and Heritage Command.
The carrier’s first mission of the war took place about a month after Pearl Harbor, when the Yorktown “launched 11 torpedo planes (Devastators) and 17 scout bombers (Dauntlesses) in the early morning of 31 January that hit what Japanese shore installations and shipping they could find at Jaluit.” However, due in part to poor weather conditions, six aircraft attached to the Yorktown were lost.
The Yorktown participated in several engagements with the Japanese throughout 1942, playing a part in the invasion of Tulagi and the Battle of the Coral Sea. During that battle, in May 1942, the Yorktown took some fairly major damage.
“The damage Yorktown suffered during the battle was estimated to take about three months for the overhaul. Unfortunately, there was little time for repairs,” Naval History and Heritage Command writes. That was because the Allies had intercepted messages indicating that Japan was “on the threshold of a major operation aimed at two islets in a low coral atoll known as Midway.”
A Sad Day
In the crucial naval battle that took place between June 4–7, 1942, attack planes were launched from the Yorktown, and amid the battle, “Yorktown’s dive-bombers pummeled Soryu, making three lethal hits with 1,000-pound bombs that turned the ship into a flaming inferno,” Naval History and Heritage Command writes.
However, the Yorktown’s triumph didn’t last for long. While three Japanese carriers had been lost during the battle, the fourth, the Hiryu, survived and soon launched a strike force towards the Yorktown.
“Planes were flying in every direction, and many were falling from the sky. Despite the valiant effort to keep the enemy attack planes from Yorktown, three scored hits on the ship,” according to Naval History and Heritage Command. Only 40 servicemen were killed, out of the carrier’s more than 2,000.
While the Yorktown managed to stay afloat for a while and continued to launch aircraft, the carrier’s port side was struck by two Japanese torpedoes. Power was out, leading to an “abandon ship” order.
However, even with the Yorktown sinking, its aircraft joined the USS Enterprise in striking back at the Hiryu, which was itself soon abandoned. The Yorktown, meanwhile, was struck again by the Japanese submarine I-158.
The Yorktown would go on to sink on June 7, 1942, the final day of the battle. It went on to receive three battle stars.
The area where the wreckage lies is now known as the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
Finding the Wreck
For more than 50 years, the wreck of the USS Yorktown remained undisturbed at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
But in May 1998, a group of explorers located the wreckage, which at that point was 16,650 feet below the surface. The team was led by Robert Ballard, who had earlier recovered the wreckage of the Titanic. However, the Yorktown was a full mile deeper than the Titanic’s resting place in the Northern Atlantic.
“The ship was sitting upright on the ocean floor, its giant anti-aircraft guns still aimed skyward,” CNN reported the following month.
“There was absolutely no biological growth on it. It was the most sterile water environment I’ve ever seen. You could see all the way across the flight deck,” Ballard told CNN at the time.
An Intact Car?
Earlier this year – more than 25 years after the discovery – NOAA cameras paid another visit to the wreckage, this time with the benefit of more modern equipment. There had been multiple dives into the wreckage over the years, but the 2025 exploration made a shocking discovery.
According to the Miami Herald, the expedition took place in April, and the explorers found something surprising: A car.
“Defying all logic, a vehicle has been found parked in the hangar of the USS Yorktown, which was famously sunk in the Pacific by a Japanese submarine during World War II,” the Herald reported. “The baffling discovery was made Saturday, April 19, when NOAA Ocean Exploration sent a remotely operated camera inside the massive wreck, about 1,000 miles northwest of Honolulu.”
On the video of the expedition, per the newspaper, the explorers can be heard asking each other why there would be a car there.
There’s been some speculation about the reason for the car, including the possibility that it was Rear Admiral Frank Fletcher’s flag car. It appears the vehicle was a 1940-41 Ford Super Deluxe ‘Woody’ in black.
“Here’s an open request to all your automobile vehicle folks out there,” one researcher says on the feed, per 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.”
“This car is hypothesized to have been used for Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, Captain Elliott Buckmaster, or other ship crew while USS Yorktown was conducting business in foreign ports,” NOAA’s official website said.
The discovery led to a spirited debate on the Subreddit r/whatisthiscar, while Smithsonian magazine looked at the mystery as well.
NOAA was also able to show a map mural, titled “A Chart of the Cruises of USS Yorktown,” aboard the ship.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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