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 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. At the time, Yorktown was intact, listing on its starboard side, and embedded in seafloor sediment. Bomb damage was noted on its main deck near the midship elevator and on the lower section of the bridge. There was also extensive damage on the portside of the hull, which was likely caused by a torpedo(s).
Ocean Exploration Trust collected over 14 hours of ROV dive footage of Yorktown. The footage was exported into 9,819 still images using VLC Player and color corrected in Photoshop. Seven individual models were made (port side, bow and starboard section, upper portion of the stern, lower portion of the stern, bomb damage on the deck, island, and exhaust stack) and then stitched together in Rhinoceros 8 and uploaded to Construkted Reality.
A full annotated video of this dive can be viewed on SeaTube.
Site Name: USS Yorktown (CV-5)
Type: UCH
UCH Vessel Date Built: April 4, 1936
UCH Vessel Date Sank: June 7, 1942
Hull Material: Steel
Official Number: CV-5
Expedition Number: NA154
Expedition Name: Ala ‘Aumoana Kai Uli
ROV Dive Number: T1001
ROV Dive Date: September 9, 2023
Location: Hawai‘i
Depth: 5 kilometers
Length: 246.7 meters
Width: 26.2 meters
ROV Used: Atalanta
Camera Information: Insite Pacific Mini-Zeus HD
Video or Stills: Video
Number of Images Used/Format: 9,819/JPG
Image Alignment Percentage: 79%
Number of Tie Points: 937,061
Link to Raw Video Footage: Link to come
Time to Complete: 82 hours
Orthomosaic Views Available: No
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/news/oer-updates/2023/midway.html
Software: Agisoft Metashape Professional Version 2.1.0, Rhinoceros 8
Developer: Raymond Phipps, NOAA Ocean Exploration explorer-in-training, April 8, 2024.
Credit: Model courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration/Ocean Exploration Trust, Ala ‘Aumoana Kai Uli expedition.
