Over a three-year campaign (2022–2025), the Major Projects Foundation collaborated with Inkfish to photogrammetrically map over 75 WWII-era ship and plane wrecks across the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands, and Australia. These surveys encompassed both Axis and Allied vessels, representing the largest assemblage of WWII-era wrecks recorded with this level of resolution. Sites ranged from aircraft carriers and battleships to armed merchant freighters, submarines, and minesweepers.

Beginning with basic underwater photogrammetry equipment in November 2022, the project evolved to incorporate technical diving procedures and custom-built arrays, enabling efficient documentation at depths up to 80 meters/260 feet.

Results significantly improved understanding of Pacific WWII wreck condition and integrity while identifying management and preservation challenges. This presentation highlights methods and generated data to foster collaboration in expanding knowledge of this pivotal period in Pacific history.

On April 19 and 20, 2025, NOAA Ocean Exploration and partners explored the final resting site of USS Yorktown (CV-5). This U.S. Navy aircraft carrier was sunk following the Battle of Midway. These non-disturbance dives were the first to explore the ship’s hangar deck. On April 19, for the first time ever, the team imaged the mural, “A Chart of the Cruises of the USS Yorktown,” hand-painted inside the ship’s #2 elevator shaft, which had only been partially visible before in historic photographs. The mural displays a world map that tracks the voyages of Yorktown measuring approximately 42 feet by 12 feet. NOAA Ocean Exploration and partners are currently conducting additional research on the mural and similar murals found on other U.S. Navy ships, in an effort to explore the expression of connection between sailors and their ships through shipboard art. This presentation discusses our preliminary research and findings.

During NOAA Ocean Exploration’s April 2025 exploratory dives on USS Yorktown, a car was unexpectedly discovered on the hangar deck near the stern #3 aircraft elevator. Tentatively identified as a 1940-1941 Ford Super Deluxe colloquially referred to as a ‘Woody’, its presence onboard a warship engaged in active combat has raised many questions. Based on preliminary research, it appears that this vehicle may have served the Flag Staff on board USS Yorktown. Several other examples of contemporary use of Ford Super Deluxe ‘Woodys’ have been identified on US Naval Air Stations during World War II, but this is the only known example found on board a ship engaged in active combat. This paper will examine the use of these types of vehicles during WWII and offer context as to how this particular automobile ended up on USS Yorktown as it set sail on its last voyage to Midway.

The footage of several deep-water shipwrecks shows remarkable amounts of paint remaining on the ships. Paint preservation was quantified on shipwrecks ranging from 200 m to 5500 m based on ROV footage from Vulcan Inc. and Nautilus. This project focuses on two aspects of seven US Navy ships sunk during WWII in the Pacific: the hull and splinter shields. The percentages of paint preservation, metal, marine life, and corrosion are compared across the sites as well as how the primer is affecting the paint seen on these shipwrecks today. This presentation examines the beginning of a larger study by the Navy into the preservation of paint on deep submergence shipwrecks.