A mystery car found aboard a well-known World War II shipwreck surprised researchers over the weekend, CBS News reports. It turns out that it has roots in Michigan.
A NOAA Ocean Exploration crew is on a weeks-long mission researching the iconic USS Yorktown, an U.S. Navy aircraft carrier that was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and sank in the Pacific Ocean during the Battle of Midway during June 1942.
USS Yorktown anchored at Hampton Roads, Virginia, on Oct. 30, 1937. The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier was torpedoed and sank during Battle of Midway in June 1942.NOAA Ocean Exploration
On Saturday, the crew was conducting a remote dive of the wreckage when they came across the vehicle, the report said. The car rests upright and has flared fenders, chrome trim, a rag top and a spare tire on the back door.
Researchers identified it as a 1940-41 Ford Super Deluxe “Woody” convertible. It may have been Rear Admiral Frank Fletcher’s flag car, the report said. Another theory is that it could have been brought on board for repairs after the Battle of Coral Sea.
The remains of USS Yorktown (CV-5) within Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, where it sank during the Battle of Midway in 1942.NOAA Ocean Exploration
The Super Deluxe was one of several Ford models whose wooden bodies were built at Ford’s Iron Mountain manufacturing plant, according to The Henry Ford Museum. The wood was also sourced from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Wooden body manufacturing continued in Iron Mountain until 1951.
Researchers noted that it was odd that the “Woody” was left onboard despite the crew dumping aircrafts and anti-aircraft guns to lighten the load after the torpedo strike, the report said.
More than 3,400 people were killed in the Battle of Midway, including 362 U.S. servicemen, according to the National World War II Museum. The United States also lost one carrier (USS Yorktown), one destroyer and 144 aircraft while Japan lost four carriers, one cruiser and hundreds of aircraft.
