Crews exploring the USS-Yorktown shipwreck made unexpected discoveries when they spotted the mysterious Ford car in the wreckage over the weekend, officials said.
A suspected summary of the 1940-41 Blackford Super Deluxe “Woody” was discovered Saturday by a remotely operated vehicle on the hangar deck of an aircraft carrier during the historic World War II that sank at the Battle of Midway in 1942. According to NOAA marine exploration.
A further investigation the following day showed that the car was upright in part of the “Ship Service__Navy”, part of the license plate, with the windshield still about three miles below the surface.
“It’s a car. It’s a car,” I heard researchers say in a live stream of the expedition. The Miami Herald reported. “It’s a full car.”
“Why is there a car on this boat?” asked another researcher.
NOAA officials believe the car could have been used by Prime Minister Jack Fletcher, Captain Elliott Buckmaster, or other crew members while USS Yorktown was docked to a foreign port.
Researchers wondered why the vehicle was left in the container as the crew desperately threw heavy machines from the wreck after being struck by Japanese torpedoes to lower the load.
“The Yorktown salvage crew has made tireless efforts to abandon anti-aircraft guns and aircraft to cut that list. [after the torpedo strike]but have they left the car? A NOAA official said in an email to the Herald.
“This car probably belonged to someone important on a ship or fleet. It was a captain or admiral.”
There are also questions as to why the car remained on the ship after a temporary halt at Pearl Harbor for 48 hours of repairs prior to the planned battle, officials said.
USS Yorktown was commissioned in 1937 and took part in several World War II missions in the Pacific before it went down after an attack by the Japanese.
The large shipwreck was found upright and unharmed in May 1988 in a joint effort by the US Navy and the National Geographic Association.
