USS Yorktown (CV-5) was an American Yorktown-class aircraft carrier built by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia. It was commissioned at Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Virginia, on April 4, 1936.
Yorktown had an overall length of 246.7 meters, a beam of 26.2 meters, a draft of 6.6 meters, a maximum speed of 32.5 knots, and a range of 14,400 miles at 28 knots. It had a complement of approximately 2,200 personnel and 90 aircraft.
Yorktown took part in several operations during World War II (WWII), including the Battle of the Coral Sea from May 4-8, 1942, and the Battle of Midway on June 4-7, 1942. During the Battle of Midway, Japanese Aichi D3A bombers successfully attacked Yorktown. Three bombs hit their targets: the first at the midship elevator on the starboard side; the second inside the starboard side exhaust stack, which crippled five of the nine boilers; and the third at the aft elevator on the starboard side. Despite this, Yorktown was able to recover and continue to launch aircraft. Later in the battle, Japanese Nakajima B5N torpedo bombers delivered two torpedo hits along the port side of the carrier, destroying its rudder system. Unable to move, Yorktown was towed by destroyer USS Hammann for transit back to Pearl Harbor for repairs. On the morning of June 7, 1942, while under tow, the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-168 attacked both vessels, sinking Hammann and striking Yorktown twice on the starboard side, causing the carrier to capsize and sink.
In May 1988, a joint U.S. Navy and National Geographic Society expedition led by Robert Ballard rediscovered Yorktown. It was sitting upright and intact on the seafloor at a depth of approximately 5 kilometers. On September 9, 2023, Ocean Exploration Trust and partners surveyed Yorktown with remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Atalanta during the Ala ‘Aumoana Kai Uli expedition on Exploration Vessel Nautilus, which was funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute.
Data collected during the 2023 expedition raised additional questions, and in April 2025, NOAA Ocean Exploration and partners returned to the site for two dives during the Beyond the Blue: Papahānaumokuākea ROV and Mapping expedition. During these dives, ROV pilots from the Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration piloted ROV Deep Discoverer — equipped with an Insite Pacific Pacific Zeus Plus HD camera — to image Yorktown’s navigation bridge, air traffic control, island, stern and aft deck, midships elevator shaft, and part of the port side. Given Yorktown’s immense size, not all parts of the ship could be explored during these dives.
NOAA Ocean Exploration collected over eight hours of ROV dive footage of Yorktown. The footage was exported into 10,041 still images using VLC media player. Images were aligned and rendered into 3D models using Agisoft Metashape Professional and Rhinoceros 3D (Rhino) and uploaded to Construkted Reality. Creating these models was a unique and challenging experience. A significant portion of the footage was in a single continuous sequence, making it easier to process into still images. However, where there were breaks in the footage, it was difficult to align images into a continuous model. To troubleshoot this issue, smaller models were created and aligned in Rhino using Yorktown’s builders’ plans.
The full annotated video of these dives can be viewed on SeaTube:
April 19, 2025
April 20, 2025
Site Name: USS Yorktown (CV-5)
Type: UCH
UCH Vessel Year Built: April 4, 1936
UCH Vessel Year Sank: June 7, 1942
Hull Material: Steel
Official Number: CV-5
Location: Hawai‘i
Depth: 5 kilometers
Length: 246.7 meters
Width: 26.2 meters
Expedition Number: EX2503
Expedition Name: Beyond the Blue: Papahānaumokuākea ROV and Mapping
ROV Dive Number: Dives 06 and 07
ROV Dive Date: April 19-20, 2025
ROV Used: Deep Discoverer
Camera Information: Insite Pacific Zeus Plus HD, 3-CCD color camera with 2/3-inch 2,200,000 pixel 1080i IT CCDs
Video or Stills: Video
Software: Agisoft Metashape Professional and Rhinoceros 3D (Rhino 8)
Number of Images Used/Format: 10,041/JPG
Image Alignment Percentage: 86%
Number of Tie Points: 2,963,917
Time to Complete: 19 Hours
Orthomosaic Views Available: Yes
Images Available: Yes
Animations Available: Yes
Available File Exports/Location/POC: archaeology.oceanexploration@noaa.gov
Link to NOAA Ocean Exploration Project Page: https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/photogrammetry/
Developer: Raymond Phipps, December 3, 2025
Credit: Model courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2025 Beyond the Blue.
- N. Virginia, USA
