April 29, 2025
It was absolutely a miraculous discovery.
Marine archaeologist at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Phil Hartmeyer, referring to new footage of a sunken World War II aircraft carrier located three miles below the water’s surface.
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Why It Matters: The USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier, sunk in the Pacific Ocean in the 1942 Battle of Midway after helping support U.S. forces turn the tide of the war against the Japanese. Earlier this month, NOAA used an underwater robot to see what the ship holds. While other explorations have caught glimpses, this trip specifically captured the entirety of a mural of the Earth, with the mural measuring 42 feet long and 12 feet high. No one has seen the mural in its fullness since the ship sank more than 80 years ago.
- The mural served as a symbol of the ship’s service to the country, with vivid colors used to outline land masses and bodies of water, to artistically document the routes of the USS Yorktown over the years. The artist remains unknown.
- Divers using robotic cameras discovered other items such as an old station wagon and smashed airplanes.
- USS Yorktown and its service members fought in the battle of Midway — one of the most significant sea battles of the time. The battle occurred six months after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, which caused the U.S. to enter into World War II. The ship sank when a Japanese submarine torpedoed it, with oceanographers re-discovering it in 1998.
Read More: On a sunken WWII aircraft carrier, experts find a mural, wrecked planes and a station wagon (The Washington Post)
Image Credit: NOAA Ocean Exploration
by Emily Hooker, based in Texas
