Saratoga underway in 1942, after her lengthy refit
| |
| Career (United States) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Saratoga |
| Namesake: | Battle of Saratoga |
| Ordered: | 1917 (as a battlecruiser) 1922 (as an aircraft carrier) |
| Builder: | New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey |
| Laid down: | 25 September 1920 |
| Launched: | 7 April 1925 |
| Commissioned: | 16 November 1927 |
| Reclassified: | 1 July 1922 to aircraft carrier |
| Struck: | 15 August 1946 |
| Identification: | Hull number: CC-3, then CV-3 |
| Nickname: | Sara Maru, Sister Sara |
| Honors and awards: | 8 battle stars |
| Fate: | Sunk by atomic bomb test, 25 July 1946 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class & type: | Lexington-class aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: | 36,000 long tons (37,000 t) (standard) 43,055 long tons (43,746 t) (deep load) |
| Length: | 888 ft (270.7 m) |
| Beam: | 106 ft (32.3 m) |
| Draft: | 30 ft 5 in (9.3 m) (deep load) |
| Installed power: | 180,000 shp (130,000 kW) 16 water-tube boilers |
| Propulsion: | 4 shafts 4 sets turbo-electric drive |
| Speed: | 33.25 knots (61.58 km/h; 38.26 mph) |
| Range: | 10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 2,791 (including aviation personnel) in 1942 |
| Armament: | 4 × twin 8-inch (203 mm) guns 12 × single 5-inch (127 mm) anti-aircraft guns |
| Armor: | Belt: 5–7 in (127–178 mm) Deck: .75–2 in (19–51 mm) Gun turrets: .75 in (19 mm) Bulkheads: 5–7 in (127–178 mm) |
| Aircraft carried: | 78 |
| Aviation facilities: | 1 Aircraft catapult |
USS Saratoga (CV-3) was a Lexington-class aircraft carrier built for theUnited States Navy during the 1920s. Originally designed as abattlecruiser, she was converted into one of the Navy's first aircraft carriers during construction to comply with the Washington Naval Treatyof 1922. The ship entered service in 1928 and was assigned to thePacific Fleet for her entire career. Saratoga and her sister ship,Lexington, were used to develop and refine carrier tactics in a series of annual exercises before World War II. On more than one occasion these included successful surprise attacks on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. She was one of three prewar US fleet aircraft carriers, along with Enterpriseand Ranger, to serve throughout World War II.
Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Saratoga was the centerpiece of the unsuccessful American effort to relieve Wake Islandand was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine a few weeks later. After lengthy repairs, the ship supported forces participating in theGuadalcanal Campaign and her aircraft sank the light carrier Ryūjōduring the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in August 1942. She was again torpedoed the following month and returned to the Solomon Islands area after repairs were completed.
In 1943, Saratoga supported Allied forces involved in the New Georgia Campaign and invasion of Bougainville in the northern Solomon Islands and her aircraft twice attacked the Japanese base at Rabaul in November. Early in 1944, her aircraft provided air support during theGilbert and Marshall Islands Campaign before she was transferred to the Indian Ocean for several months to support the British Eastern Fleetas it attacked targets in Java and Sumatra. After a brief refit in mid-1944, the ship became a training ship for the rest of the year.
In early 1945, Saratoga participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima as a dedicated night fighter carrier. Several days into the battle, she was badly damaged by kamikaze hits and was forced to return to the United States for repairs. While under repair, the ship, now increasingly obsolete, was permanently modified as a training carrier with some of her hangar deck converted into classrooms. Saratoga remained in this role for the rest of the war and was used to ferry troops back to the United States after the Japanese surrender in August. In mid-1946, the ship was a target for nuclear weapon tests during Operation Crossroads. She survived the first test with little damage, but was sunk by the second test.
Design and construction[edit]
Saratoga was the fifth US Navy ship named after the 1777 Battle of Saratoga, an important victory during the Revolutionary War.[1] She was originally authorized in 1916 as a Lexington-class battlecruiser, but construction was placed on hold so that higher-priority anti-submarine vessels and merchant ships, needed to ensure the safe passage of men and materiel toEurope during Germany's U-boat campaign, could be built. After the war the ship was extensively redesigned to incorporate improved boiler technology, anti-torpedo bulges, and a general increase in armor protection based on British wartime experiences.[2] Given the hull number of CC-3, Saratoga was laid down on 25 September 1920 by New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey.[1]
In February 1922, before the Washington Naval Conference concluded, the ship's construction was suspended[3] when she was 28 percent complete.[4] She was ordered to be converted to an aircraft carrier with the hull number CV-3 on 1 July 1922.[1] Her displacement was reduced by a total of 4,000 long tons (4,100 t), achieved mainly by the elimination of her main armament of eight 16-inch (406 mm) guns in four twin gun turrets (including their heavy barbettes, armor, and other equipment).[5][6] The main armor belt was retained, although it was reduced in height to save weight.[7] The hull generally remained unaltered, as did the torpedo protection system, because they had already been built and it would have been too expensive to alter them.[8]
The ship had an overall length of 888 feet (270.7 m), a beam of 106 feet (32.3 m), and a draft of 30 feet 5 inches (9.3 m) atdeep load. Saratoga had a standard displacement of 36,000 long tons (36,578 t), and 43,055 long tons (43,746 t) at deep load. At that displacement, she had a metacentric height of 7.31 feet (2.2 m).[5]
Christened by Mrs. Curtis D. Wilbur, wife of the Secretary of the Navy, Saratoga was launched on 7 April 1925 and commissioned on 16 November 1927, under the command of Captain Harry E. Yarnell.[1] She was nicknamed by her crewSister Sara and, later, Sara Maru.[9] In 1942, the ship had a crew of 100 officers and 1,840 enlisted men, and an aviation group totaling 141 officers and 710 enlisted men.[5] By 1945, her crew totaled 3,373, including her aviation group.[10]
Flight deck arrangements[edit]
The ship's flight deck was 866 feet 2 inches (264.01 m) long and had a maximum width of 105 feet 11 inches (32.28 m).[5]Her flight deck was widened forward and extended 16 feet (4.9 m) aft during her refit in mid-1941.[11] When built, herhangar "was the largest single enclosed space afloat on any ship"[12] and had an area of 33,528 square feet (3,114.9 m2). It was 424 feet (129.2 m) long and no less than 68 feet (20.7 m) wide. Its minimum height was 21 feet (6.4 m), and it was divided by a single fire curtain just forward of the aft aircraft elevator. Aircraft repair shops, 108 feet (32.9 m) long, were aft of the hangar, and below them was a storage space for disassembled aircraft, 128 feet (39.0 m) long. Saratoga was fitted with two hydraulically powered elevators on her centerline. The forward elevator's dimensions were 30 by 60 feet (9.1 m × 18.3 m) and it had a capacity of 16,000 pounds (7,300 kg). The aft elevator had a capacity of only 6,000 pounds (2,700 kg) and measured 30 by 36 feet (9.1 m × 11.0 m).[12] Avgas was stored in eight compartments of the torpedo protection system, and their capacity has been quoted as either 132,264 US gallons (500,670 l; 110,133 imp gal) or 163,000 US gallons (620,000 l; 136,000 imp gal).[13]
Saratoga was initially fitted with electrically operated arresting gear designed by Carl Norden that used longitudinal wires intended to prevent the aircraft from being blown over the side of the ship, and transverse wires to slow the aircraft to a stop. This system was authorized to be replaced by the hydraulically operated Mk 2 system, without longitudinal wires, on 11 August 1931. Four improved Mk 3 units were added in 1934, giving the ship a total of eight arresting wires and four barriers intended to prevent aircraft from crashing into parked aircraft on the ship's bow. When the forward flight deck was widened, an additional eight wires were added there to allow aircraft to land over the bow if the landing area at the stern was damaged.[14] The ship was built with a 155-foot (47.2 m), flywheel-powered, F Mk II aircraft catapult, also designed by Norden, on the starboard side of the bow.[5][12] This catapult was strong enough to launch a 10,000-pound (4,500 kg) aircraft at a speed of 48 knots (89 km/h; 55 mph). It was intended to launch seaplanes, but was rarely used; a 1931 report counted only five launches of practice loads since the ship had been commissioned. It was removed some time after 1936.[15]
Relatively few changes were made during the war to Saratoga's aircraft-handling equipment. Her crew removed her forward arresting wires in late 1943, although their hydraulic systems were not removed until her refit in mid-1944. At that time she received two Type H hydraulic catapults mounted in her forward flight deck to handle the heavier aircraft entering service. Before the war, plans were made to replace the aft elevator with a 44-by-48-foot (13.4 m × 14.6 m) model, but manufacturing delays and operational demands prevented this from ever happening. By mid-1942, the increasing size and weight of naval aircraft exceeded the capacity of the aft elevator and it was locked in place. It was removed in March 1945 to save weight and the opening in the flight deck was plated over. The machinery for the forward elevator was scheduled to be upgraded before the war, but this was not done until mid-1944. A new, 44-by-48-foot lightweight forward elevator identical to those used in the Essex-class carriers was installed in March 1945.[16]
Saratoga was designed to carry 78 aircraft of various types, including 36 bombers,[17] but these numbers increased once the Navy adopted the practice of tying up spare aircraft in the unused spaces at the top of the hangar.[18] In 1936, her air group consisted of 18 Grumman F2F-1 and 18 Boeing F4B-4 fighters, plus an additional nine F2Fs in reserve. Offensive punch was provided by 20 Vought SBU Corsair dive bombers with 10 spare aircraft and 18 Great Lakes BG torpedo bombers with nine spares. Miscellaneous aircraft included two Grumman JF Duck amphibians, plus one in reserve, and three active and one spare Vought O2U Corsair observation aircraft. This amounted to 79 aircraft, plus 30 spares.[5] In early 1945, the ship carried 53 Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters and 17 Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers.[19]
Propulsion[edit]
The Lexington-class carriers used turbo-electric propulsion; each of the four propeller shafts was driven by two 22,500-shaft-horsepower (16,800 kW) electric motors. They were powered by four General Electric turbo generators rated at 35,200 kilowatts (47,200 hp). Steam for the generators was provided by sixteen Yarrow boilers, each in its own individual compartment.[20] Six 750-kilowatt (1,010 hp) electric generators were installed in the upper levels of the two main turbine compartments to provide power to meet the ship's hotel load (minimum electrical) requirements.[21]
The ship was designed to reach 33.25 knots (61.58 km/h; 38.26 mph),[5] but Lexington achieved 34.59 knots (64.06 km/h; 39.81 mph) from 202,973 shp (151,357 kW) during sea trials in 1928.[20] She carried a maximum of 6,688 long tons (6,795 t) of fuel oil, but only 5,400 long tons (5,500 t) of that was usable, as the rest had to be retained as ballast in the port fuel tanks to offset the weight of the island and main guns.[22] Designed for a range of 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph),[5] the ship demonstrated a range of 9,910 nmi (18,350 km; 11,400 mi) at a speed of 10.7 knots (19.8 km/h; 12.3 mph) with 4,540 long tons (4,610 t) of oil.[22]
Armament[edit]
The Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair was not convinced when the class was being designed that aircraft could effectively substitute as armament for a warship, especially at night or in bad weather that would prevent air operations.[23]Thus the carriers' design included a substantial gun battery of eight 55-caliber Mk 9 eight-inch guns in four twin gun turrets. These turrets were mounted above the flight deck on the starboard side, two before the superstructure, and two behind the funnel, numbered I to IV from bow to stern.[24] In theory the guns could fire to both sides, but it is probable that firing them to port would have damaged the flight deck.[25] They could be depressed to −5° and elevated to +41°.[10]
The ship's heavy anti-aircraft (AA) armament consisted of twelve 25-caliber Mk 10 five-inch guns which were mounted on single mounts, three each fitted on sponsons on each side of the bow and stern.[26] No light AA guns were initially mounted on Saratoga, but two twin .50-caliber (12.7 mm) machine gun mounts were installed in 1929. They were unsuccessful,[27]but only the mount on the roof of Turret II was replaced by two .50-caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns by 1934. During the ship's August 1941 overhaul, four 50-caliber Mk 10 three-inch AA guns were installed in the corner platforms. Another three-inch gun was added on the roof of the deckhouse between the funnel and the island. In addition, a number of .50-caliber machine guns were added on platforms mounted on her superstructure. The three-inch guns were just interim weapons until the quadruple 1.1-inch gun mount could be fielded, which occurred during a brief refit at the Bremerton Navy Yard in late November 1941.[28]
While receiving temporary repairs at Pearl Harbor in January 1942, Saratoga's eight-inch turrets, barbettes and ammunition hoists were removed; they were replaced by four twin 38-caliber five-inch dual-purpose gun mounts in February at Bremerton. New barbettes were built and the ammunition hoists had to be returned from Pearl Harbor. The older 25-caliber five-inch guns were replaced at the same time by eight more dual-purpose guns in single mounts. As the new guns were heavier than the older ones, only two could be added to the corner gun platforms; the space formerly used by the third gun on each platform was used by an additional quadruple 1.1-inch mount. In addition 32 Oerlikon 20 mm cannon were installed, six at the base of the funnel and the others distributed along the sides and rear of the flight deck. When the ship's repairs were completed in late May, her armament consisted of 16 five-inch guns, nine quadruple 1.1-inch gun mounts and 32 Oerlikon 20-millimeter (0.79 in) guns.[29]
After the ship was again torpedoed in August 1942, her 1.1-inch gun mounts were replaced by an equal number of quadruple Bofors 40 mm mounts while she was under repair at Pearl Harbor. Her light anti-aircraft armament was also increased to 52 Oerlikon guns at the same time. In January 1944 a number of her 20 mm guns were replaced by more Bofors guns, many of which were in the positions formerly occupied by the ship's boats in the sides of the hull. Saratogamounted 23 quadruple and two twin 40 mm mountings as well as 16 Oerlikon guns when she completed her refit.[30]
Fire control and electronics[edit]
The two superfiring eight-inch turrets had a Mk 30 rangefinder at the rear of the turret for local control, but the guns were normally controlled by two Mk 18 fire-control directors, one each on the fore and aft spotting tops.[24] A 20-foot (6.1 m) rangefinder was fitted on top of the pilothouse to provide range information for the directors.[10] Each group of three 5-inch guns was controlled by a Mk 19 director, two of which were mounted on each side of the spotting tops. Plans were made before the war to replace the obsolete Mk 19 directors with two heavier Mk 33 directors, one each on the fore and aft five-inch spotting tops, but these plans were cancelled when the dual-purpose guns replaced the main armament in early 1942.[26]
Saratoga received a RCA CXAM-1 early warning radar in February 1941 during a refit in Bremerton. The antenna was mounted on the forward lip of the funnel with its control room directly below the aerial, replacing the secondary conning station formerly mounted there. She also received two FC (Mk 3) surface fire-control radars in late 1941, although these were both removed along with her main armament in January 1942. The new dual-purpose guns were controlled by two Mk 37 directors, each mounting an FD (Mk 4) anti-aircraft gunnery radar. When the 1.1-inch guns were replaced by 40 mm guns in 1942, the directors for the smaller guns were replaced by five Mk 51 directors. A small SC-1 early warning radar was mounted on the rear lip of the funnel during 1942. A SG surface-search radar was mounted on the foremast at the same time.[31]
During the ship's refit in January 1944, her electronics were modernized. The CXAM was replaced by an SK model and the SC-1 was replaced by an SC-3. The forward SG was supplemented by an additional SG-1 mounted on a short mast at the aft end of the funnel. A lengthier overhaul in mid-1944 provided the opportunity to revise the radar arrangements. The SK radar was moved to the rebuilt foremast and the forward SG radar was replaced by an SG-1 mounted at the top of the foremast. An SM-1 fighter-control radar was mounted in the SK's former position and new antennas were added to the FD radars to allow them to determine target height. The SC-3 was replaced by an SC-4 in early 1945.[32]
Armor[edit]
The waterline belt of the Lexington-class ships tapered 7–5 inches (178–127 mm) in thickness from top to bottom and angled 11° outwards at the top. It covered the middle 530 feet (161.5 m) of the ships. Forward, the belt ended in a bulkheadthat also tapered from seven to five inches in thickness. Aft, it terminated at a seven-inch bulkhead. This belt had a height of 9 feet 4 inches (2.8 m). The third deck over the ships' machinery and magazine was armored with two layers of special treatment steel (STS) totaling 2 inches (51 mm) in thickness; the steering gear was protected by two layers of STS that totaled 3 inches (76 mm) on the flat and 4.5 inches (114 mm) on the slope.[33]
The gun turrets were protected only against splinters with .75 inches (19 mm) of armor. The conning tower was armored with 2–2.25 inches (51–57 mm) of STS, and it had a communications tube with two-inch sides running from the conning tower down to the lower conning position on the third deck. The torpedo defense system of the Lexington-class ships consisted of three to six medium steel protective bulkheads that ranged from .375 to .75 inches (10 to 19 mm) in thickness. The spaces between them could be used as fuel tanks or left empty to absorb the detonation of a torpedo's warhead.[33]
Structural changes[edit]
While under repair after being torpedoed in January 1942, Saratoga received a 7-foot-2-inch (2.2 m) bulge on the starboard side of her hull.[34] This was primarily intended to increase the ship's buoyancy, improve stability and allow her full fuel capacity to be utilized. The bulge was estimated to increase her metacentric height by 3 feet (0.9 m) and decrease her speed by one-quarter of a knot.[35] It was also used to store additional fuel oil and increased her capacity to a total of 9,748 long tons (9,904 t).[22] At the same time, her funnel was shortened by 20 feet (6.1 m) and her tripod foremast was replaced by a light pole mast to reduce her topweight.[36]
All of these changes, including the lengthening of the flight deck, increased Saratoga's full-load displacement in 1945 to 49,552 long tons (50,347 t). Her overall length increased to 909.45 feet (277.2 m) and her beam, at the waterline, to 111 feet 9 inches (34.1 m), too wide to use the Panama Canal.[37]
Service history[edit]
Inter-war period[edit]
Saratoga was commissioned one month earlier than her sister ship, Lexington. As the ship was visually identical toLexington, her funnel was painted with a large black vertical stripe to help pilots recognize her. She began her shakedown cruise on 6 January 1928 and five days later Marc A. Mitscher landed the first aircraft on board. Later that month, the rigidairship Los Angeles was refueled and resupplied when she moored to Saratoga's stern on 27 January. That same day, the ship sailed for the Pacific via the Panama Canal, although she was diverted briefly en route to carry Marines to Corinto, Nicaragua, before joining the Battle Fleet at San Pedro, California, on 21 February.[1] On 15 September, Captain John Halligan, Jr. relieved the newly promoted Rear Admiral Yarnell.[38]
In January 1929, Saratoga participated in her first fleet exercise, Fleet Problem IX, a simulated attack on the Panama Canal. These exercises tested the Navy's evolving doctrine and tactics for the use of carriers. The ship was detached from the fleet with only the light cruiser Omaha as escort and made a wide sweep to the south to attack the canal, which was defended by the Scouting Fleet and Lexington, from an unexpected direction. Although the carrier was spotted by two defending ships before she launched her air strike, her aircraft were deemed to have destroyed the canal locks. Saratoga was "sunk" later the same day by an airstrike from Lexington.[39] Captain Frederick J. Horne assumed command on 20 April.[40] The following year, Saratoga and Langley were "disabled" by a surprise attack fromLexington in Fleet Problem X in the Caribbean. Saratoga returned the favor shortly afterward in Fleet Problem XI, further demonstrating the vulnerability of carriers to aerial attack.[41] Following the exercises, Saratoga participated in the Presidential Review atNorfolk, Virginia in May and then returned to San Pedro.[1] Captain Frank McCrary relieved Horne on 5 September 1930.[42]
Saratoga was assigned, together with Lexington, to defend the west coast of Panama against a hypothetical invader during Fleet Problem XII in February 1931. While each carrier was able to inflict some damage on the invasion convoys, the enemy forces succeeded in making a landing. All three carriers then transferred to the Caribbean to conduct further maneuvers, including one in whichSaratoga successfully defended the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal from a staged attack by Lexington. Rear AdmiralJoseph M. Reeves baited a trap for Lexington's captain, Ernest J. King, with a destroyer and scored a kill on Lexington on 22 March while the latter's aircraft were still searching for Saratoga.[43] The 1932 movie Hell Divers was filmed aboard the ship and starred Wallace Beery and a young Clark Gable as a pair of competing aircraft gunners assigned to VF-1B.[44]
During Grand Joint Exercise No. 4, Saratoga and Lexington were able to launch an airstrike against Pearl Harbor on Sunday, 7 February 1932, without being detected. The two carriers were separated for Fleet Problem XIII which followed shortly afterward. Blue Fleet and Saratoga were tasked to attack Hawaii and the West Coast defended by Lexington and the Black Fleet. On 15 March, Lexington caught Saratoga with all of her planes still on deck and was ruled to have knocked out her flight deck and have badly damaged the carrier, which was subsequently judged sunk during a night attack by Black Fleet destroyers.[45] Captain George W. Steele assumed command on 11 July 1932. While en route from San Diego to San Pedro, the ship briefly ran aground off Sunset Beach, California on 17 August. Captain Rufus F. Zogbaum, Jr. (son of the famous illustrator) relieved Steele, who was ordered to immediately retire, on 1 January 1933.[46]
Before Fleet Problem XIV began the following month, the Army and the Navy conducted a joint exercise simulating a carrier attack on Hawaii. Lexington and Saratoga successfully attacked Pearl Harbor at dawn on 31 January without being detected. During the actual fleet problem, the ship successfully attacked targets in and around Los Angeles and San Francisco although she was damaged by opposing ships during the latter attack.[47] Scenes from the 1933 Joe E. Brownfilm comedy Son of a Sailor were filmed aboard Saratoga and featured flight deck musters of the ships' company.[48] Fleet Problem XV returned to the Gulf of Panama and the Caribbean in April–May 1934; the participating ships of the Pacific Fleet remained in the Caribbean and off the East Coast for more training and maneuvers until they returned to their home bases in November.[1] Captain Kenneth Whiting relieved Zogbaum on 12 June, after the conclusion of the fleet problem.[49]
._Aerial,_port_bow,_underway,_launching_aircraft,_05-31-1934_-_NARA_-_520810.jpg)
Captain William F. Halsey assumed command on 6 July 1935 after the conclusion of Fleet Problem XVI.[50] From 27 April to 6 June 1936, she participated in a Fleet Problem in the Panama Canal Zone where she was "sunk" by opposing battlecruisers and later ruled to have been severely damaged by aircraft fromRanger.[51] During Fleet Problem XVIII in 1937, Saratoga, now under the command of naval aviation pioneer John H. Towers, covered an amphibious assault onMidway Atoll and was badly "damaged" by Ranger's aircraft.
The 1938 Fleet Problem again tested the defenses of Hawaii and, again, aircraft from Saratoga and her sister successfully attacked Pearl Harbor at dawn on 29 March. Later in the exercise, the two carriers successfully attacked San Francisco without being spotted by the defending fleet.[52] Captain Albert Cushing Readrelieved Towers in July 1938. During Fleet Problem XX in 1939, the carrier remained off the West Coast as part of Task Force (TF) 7 with the battleship Arizona and escorts under the command of Rear AdmiralChester Nimitz to maintain a presence in the Pacific. From 2 April to 21 June 1940, she participated in Fleet Problem XXI, and her aircraft, together with those from Lexington, "damaged" the carrier Yorktown in an early phase of the exercise.[53]
From 6 January to 15 August 1941, Saratoga underwent a long-deferred modernization at the Bremerton Navy Yard that included the widening of her flight deck at her bow and the installation of additional antiaircraft guns and a CXAM-1 radar. The ship began a refit a few days later that lasted until late November, further revising the anti-aircraft armament and added a FC radar.[54]
World War II[edit]
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Saratoga was entering San Diego Harbor to embark her air group, which had been training ashore while the ship was refitting. This consisted of 11 Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighters of VF-3 (under the command of Lieutenant Jimmy Thach), 43 Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers of VB-3 and VS-3, and 11 Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bombers of VT-3. The ship also was under orders to load 14 Marine Corps Brewster F2A-3 Buffalo fighters of VMF-221 for delivery in Oahu. The following morning the ship, now the flagship of Carrier Division One, commanded by Rear Admiral Aubrey Fitch, sailed for Pearl Harbor. Saratoga arrived at Pearl on 15 December, refueled, and departed for Wake Island the following day. The ship was assigned to Task Force (TF) 14 under the command of Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher; VF-3 had been reinforced by two additional Wildcats picked up in Hawaii, but one SBD had been forced to ditch on 11 December.[55]
She then rendezvoused with the seaplane tender Tangier, carrying reinforcements and supplies, and the slow replenishment oiler Neches. Saratoga's task force was delayed by the necessity to refuel its escorting destroyers on 21 December, before reaching the island. This process was prolonged by heavy weather, although the task force could still reach Wake by 24 December as scheduled. After receiving reports of heavy Japanese carrier airstrikes, and then troop landings, TF 14 was recalled on 23 December, and Wake fell the same day. On the return voyage,Saratoga delivered VMF-221 to Midway on 25 December. The ship arrived at Pearl on 29 December and Fletcher was replaced as commander of Task Force 14 by Rear Admiral Herbert F. Leary the following day. Leary made Saratoga his flagship and Fitch was transferred to a shore command that same day. The task force put to sea on 31 December and patrolled in the vicinity of Midway.[56]
Saratoga, about 420 nautical miles (780 km; 480 mi) southwest of Pearl Harbor on 11 January 1942, was heading towards a rendezvous with USS Enterprise when she was hit by a torpedo fired by the Japanese submarine I-6. The explosion flooded three of her boiler rooms, reduced her speed to a maximum of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) and killed six of her crewmen. The ship's list was soon corrected and she reached Pearl two days later.[57] While undergoing temporary repairs there, her four twin eight-inch gun turrets were removed for installation in shore batteries on Oahu.[58] Saratoga then sailed to the Bremerton Navy Yard on 9 February for permanent repairs. She embarked 10 Wildcats of the VF-2 Detachment and all of VS-3 with its Dauntlesses for self-protection on the voyage.[59]
While under repair, the ship was modernized with an anti-torpedo bulge, her anti-aircraft armament was significantly upgraded and more radars were added.[36] Douglas was relieved on 12 April and Saratoga was temporarily commanded by her executive officer, Commander Alfred M. Pride, until Captain DeWitt Ramsey assumed command a month later.[60]Saratoga departed from Bremerton on 22 May, bound for San Diego. She arrived there on 25 May and began loading aircraft and supplies while waiting for her task force commander, Admiral Fitch, to arrive from the South Pacific. On 30 May Admiral Nimitz, now commander-in-chief of the United States Pacific Fleet, ordered Captain Ramsey to expedite his departure for Pearl Harbor, even if Fitch had not yet arrived. The ship sailed from San Diego on 1 June carrying 14 Wildcats of VF-2 Detachment and 23 Dauntlesses of VS-3; in addition she carried four Wildcats, 43 Dauntlesses and 14 Grumman TBF Avengers as cargo. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 6 June, the final day of the Battle of Midway. After refuelling,Saratoga departed the following day with the mission to ferry replacement aircraft to the carriers that survived the battle. The ship carried a total of 47 Wildcats, 45 Dauntlesses, five Devastators and 10 Avengers, including her own air group.[61]Admiral Fletcher (whose flagship Yorktown had been sunk during the battle) came aboard on 8 June and made Saratogahis flagship.[62] The ship rendezvoused with the other carriers on 11 June and transferred 19 Dauntlesses, the five Devastators and all of the Avengers to them.[63] When the ship reached Pearl on 13 June, Fletcher and his staff disembarked; Admiral Fitch rendezvoused with the ship the next day. He became commander of Task Force 11 on 15 June, when Nimitz reorganized his carriers. From 22 through 29 June, Saratoga ferried 18 Marine Dauntlessess of VMSB-231and 25 Army Air Corps Curtiss P-40 Warhawks to Midway Island to replace the aircraft lost during the battle. Fletcher relieved Fitch as commander of TF 11 the following day.
_in_Puget_Sound,_September_1945.jpg)
USS Enterprise CV-6
| |
| Career (United States) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Enterprise (CV-6) |
| Ordered: | 1933 |
| Builder: | Newport News Shipbuilding |
| Laid down: | 16 July 1934 |
| Launched: | 3 October 1936 |
| Commissioned: | 12 May 1938 |
| Decommissioned: | 17 February 1947 |
| Nickname: |
|
| Honors and awards: |
|
| Fate: | Scrapped 1958–1960 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Yorktown-class aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: |
As built:
From October 1943:
|
| Length: |
As built:
From July 1942:
|
| Beam: |
As built:
From October 1942:
From October 1943:
|
| Draft: | 25 ft 11.5 in (7.912 m) |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 32.5 knots (37.4 mph; 60.2 km/h) |
| Range: | 12,500 nautical miles (23,150 km; 14,380 mi) at 15 knots (17 mph; 28 km/h) |
| Complement: | 2,217 officers and men (1941) |
| Sensors and processing systems: | CXAM-1 RADAR[1] |
| Armament: |
As built:
From April 1942:
From mid-June 1942 to mid-September 1942:
From mid-September 1942:
From October 1943:
From September 1945:
|
| Armor: |
|
| Aircraft carried: | 90 aircraft |
| Aviation facilities: |
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USS Enterprise (CV-6), was the seventh U.S. Navy vessel to bear the name. Colloquially referred to as the "Big E", she was the sixth aircraft carrier of the United States Navy. A Yorktown class carrier, she was launched in 1936 and was one of only three American carriers commissioned prior to World War II to survive the war (the others beingSaratoga and Ranger). She participated in more major actions of the war against Japan than any other US ship. These actions included theBattle of Midway, the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, various other air-sea engagements during theGuadalcanal Campaign, the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. On three separate occasions during the Pacific War, the Japanese announced that she had been sunk in battle, earning her the name "The Grey Ghost". Enterprise earned 20 battle stars, the most for any U.S. warship in World War II and became the most decorated US ship of World War II.
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Construction and commissioning[edit]
The second carrier of the Yorktown-class, Enterprise was launched on 3 October 1936 at Newport News Shipbuilding, sponsored by Lulie Swanson, wife of Secretary of the Navy Claude A. Swanson, andcommissioned on 12 May 1938. Enterprise sailed south on ashakedown cruise which took her to Rio de Janeiro. After her return, she operated along the east coast and in the Caribbean until April 1939, when she was ordered to duty in the Pacific.
Service history[edit]
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Enterprise was one of fourteen ships to receive the early RCACXAM-1 Radar.[1] Based first atSan Diego (where she was used in the filming of Dive Bomber, starring Errol Flynn and Fred MacMurray) and then at Pearl Harbor after President Roosevelt ordered the Fleet to be "forward based," the carrier and her aircraft squadrons trained intensively and transported aircraft among the island bases of the Pacific. Enterprise left Pearl Harbor on 28 November 1941. Enterprise was completing one such mission, returning to Hawaii after delivering Marine Fighter Squadron 211 (VMF-211) toWake Island on 7 December 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
World War II[edit]
Pearl Harbor[edit]
Enterprise was at sea on the morning of 7 December 1941: That evening, Enterprise, screened by six of her Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters, put into Pearl Harbor for fuel and supplies. The aircraft were fired on by Anti-Aircraft defenses, and one pilot radioed in, reporting that his aircraft was an American aircraft.[2] She sailed early the next morning to patrol against possible additional attacks in the Hawaiian Islands. Although the group encountered no surface ships, Enterpriseaircraft sank Japanese submarine I-70 at23°45′N 155°35′W on 10 December 1941.
During the last two weeks of December 1941, Enterprise and her group steamed west of Hawaii to cover the islands while two other carrier groups made a belated attempt to relieve Wake Island. After a brief rest at Pearl Harbor, the Enterprise group sailed on 11 January, protecting convoys reinforcing Samoa.
On 16 Jan 1942, one of her aircraft, piloted by Harold F. Dixon, got lost on patrol, ran out of fuel, and ditched. Dixon and his two crewmates, Anthony J. Pastula and Gene Aldrich, survived for 34 days in a small rubber raft that had no stored food or water, before drifting ashore on the Pukapuka atoll 750 miles away. Dixon was awarded the Navy Crossfor "extraordinary heroism, exceptional determination, resourcefulness, skilled seamanship, excellent judgment and highest quality of leadership."[3][4]
On 1 February, Enterprise's Task Force 8 raided Kwajalein, Wotje, andMaloelap in the Marshall Islands, sinking three ships, damaging eight, and destroying numerous airplanes and ground facilities. Enterprisereceived only minor damage in the Japanese counterattack, as her group retired to Pearl Harbor.
During the next month the Enterprise group swept the central Pacific, attacking enemy installations on Wake and Marcus Islands.
After minor alterations and repairs at Pearl Harbor, Enterprise on 8 April 1942 departed to rendezvous with the carrier Hornet and sail west, escorting Hornet on the mission to launch 16 Army B-25 Mitchells in the "Doolittle Raid" on Tokyo. While Enterprise fighters flew combat air patrol, the B-25s launched on 18 April, and flew undetected the remaining 600 miles (1,000 km) to the target. The task force, its presence known to the enemy after a sighting by small vessels, reversed course and returned to Pearl Harbor on 25 April.
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Hornet shortly after completion
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| Career (United States) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Hornet |
| Operator: |  United States Navy |
| Ordered: | 30 March 1939 |
| Builder: | Newport News Shipbuilding Company |
| Laid down: | 25 September 1939 |
| Launched: | 14 December 1940 |
| Sponsored by: | Mrs. Frank Knox |
| Commissioned: | 20 October 1941 |
| Struck: | 13 January 1943 |
| Honors and awards: | American Defense Service Medal with ("A" device); American Campaign Medal; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with (4 Battle Stars);[1][2] World War II Victory Medal; |
| Fate: | Sunk in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, 27 October 1942 |
| Notes: | Last U.S. fleet carrier lost in action |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Yorktown-class aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: | As built:20,000 long tons (20,000 t) standard (design),26,507 long tons (26,932 t) (full load), 29,114 long tons (29,581 t) (maximum) |
| Length: |
|
| Beam: | As built:83 ft 3 in (25.37 m) (waterline), 114 ft (35 m) (overall) |
| Draft: | 24 ft 4 in (7.42 m) design, 28 ft (8.5 m) full load |
| Installed power: | 120,000 shp (89,000 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 4 × Parsons geared steam turbines 9 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers 4 × shafts |
| Speed: | 32.52 kn (37.42 mph; 60.23 km/h) (design) 33.84 kn (38.94 mph; 62.67 km/h) (builder's trials) |
| Range: | 12,500 nmi (14,400 mi; 23,200 km) at 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h) |
| Complement: | 2,919 officers and enlisted (wartime) |
| Armament: |
As Built:
From July 1942:8 × 5 in (130 mm)/38 cal dual purpose guns 16 × 1.1 in (28 mm)/75 cal anti-aircraft guns (4x4) 24 × .50 in (13 mm) machine guns From February 1942: 8 × 5 in/38 cal dual purpose guns 16 × 1.1 in (28 mm)/75 cal anti-aircraft guns (4x4) 30 × 20 mm anti-aircraft cannons 8 × 5 in (130 mm)/38 cal dual purpose guns 20 × 26 ft 9 in (8.15 m)1.1 in/75 cal 32 × 20 mm anti-aircraft cannons |
| Armor: |
As built:*2.5–4 in (6.4–10.2 cm) belt
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| Aircraft carried: | As built: 90 × aircraft |
| Aviation facilities: | 3 × elevators 3 × hydraulic catapults (2 flight deck, 1 hangar deck) |
USS Hornet CV-8, the seventh ship to carry the name Hornet, was aYorktown-class aircraft carrier of the United States Navy. During World War II in the Pacific Theater, she launched the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo and participated in the Battle of Midway and the Buin-Faisi-Tonolai Raid. In the Solomon Islands campaign she was involved in the capture and defense of Guadalcanal and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands where she was irreparably damaged and sunk. Hornet was in service for a year and six days and was the last US fleet carrier ever sunk by enemy fire. For these actions, she was awarded four service stars, a citation for the Doolittle Raid in 1995, and her Torpedo Squadron 8 received a Presidential Unit Citation for extraordinary heroism for the Battle of Midway.
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World War II[edit]
She was launched on 14 December 1940 by Newport News Shipbuilding of Newport News, Virginia[3](sponsored by Annie Reid Knox,[4] wife of Secretary of the Navy Frank M. Knox), and commissioned at Norfolk on 20 October 1941, with Captain Marc A. Mitscher in command.[5]
During the uneasy period before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hornettrained out of Naval Station Norfolk. Her armament was upgraded in her January 1942 yard period, removing all .50 in (13 mm) machine gunsand replacing them with thirty 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons. A hint of a future mission occurred on 2 February 1942, when Hornetdeparted Norfolk with two Army Air Forces B-25 Mitchell medium bombers on deck. Once at sea, the planes were launched to the surprise and amazement[6] of Hornet's crew. Her men were unaware of the meaning of this experiment, as Hornet returned to Norfolk, prepared to leave for combat, and on 4 March sailed for the West Coast via thePanama Canal.[7]
Doolittle Raid, April 1942[edit]
Main article: Doolittle Raid
Hornet arrived at Naval Air Station Alameda, California on 20 March 1942.[8] With her own planes on the hangar deck, by midafternoon on 1 April she loaded 16 B-25s on the flight deck.[9] Under the command ofLieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle, 70 United States Army Air Corpsofficers and 64 enlisted men reported aboard. In company of her escort,Hornet departed Alameda on 2 April[9] under sealed orders. That afternoon, Captain Marc Mitscher informed his men of their mission: a bombing raid on Japan.
Eleven days later, Hornet joined the aircraft carrier Enterprise offMidway, and Task Force 16 (TF 16)[10] turned toward Japan. WithEnterprise providing combat air cover, Hornet was to steam deep into enemy waters. Originally, the task force intended to proceed to within 400 nmi (460 mi; 740 km) of the Japanese coast; however, on the morning of 18 April, a Japanese patrol boat, No. 23 Nitto Maru, sighted the American task force. Nashville sank the patrol boat.[11] Amid concerns that the Japanese had been made aware of their presence, Doolittle and his raiders were forced to launch prematurely from 600 nmi (690 mi; 1,100 km) out instead of the planned 450 nmi (520 mi; 830 km). Because of this decision, none of the 16 planes made it to their designated landing strip in China. After the war, it was found that Tokyo received the Nitto Maru's message in a garbled form and that the Japanese ship was sunk before it could get a clear message through to the Japanese mainland.[12]
As Hornet swung about and prepared to launch the bombers, which had been readied for take-off the previous day, a gale of more than 40 kn (46 mph; 74 km/h) churned the sea with 30 ft (9.1 m) crests; heavy swells, which caused the ship to pitch violently, shipped sea and spray over the bow, wet the flight deck and drenched the deck crews. The lead plane, commanded by Colonel Doolittle, had only 467 ft (142 m) of flight deck, while the last B-25 hung its twin rudders far out over the fantail. Doolittle, timing himself against the rise and fall of the ship's bow, lumbered down the flight deck, circled Hornet after take-off, and set course for Japan. By 09:20, all 16 were airborne, heading for the first American air strike against the Japanese home islands.[11]
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Hornet brought her own planes on deck as TF 16 steamed at full speed for Pearl Harbor. Intercepted broadcasts, both in Japanese and English, confirmed at 14:46 the success of the raids. Exactly one week to the hour after launching the B-25s, Hornet sailed into Pearl Harbor.[13] Hornet's mission was kept an official secret for a year; until then President Roosevelt referred to the base the bombers started from only as "Shangri-La". Several years later, the USN would give this name to an aircraft carrier.
Hornet steamed from Pearl Harbor on 30 April to aid Yorktown and Lexington[14] at the Battle of the Coral Sea, but the battle ended before she reached the scene. On 4 May Task Force 16 crossed the equator, the first time ever for Hornet.[15]After executing, with Enterprise, a feint towards Nauru and Banaba (Ocean) islands which caused the Japanese to cancel their operation to seize the two islands, she returned to Hawaii on 26 May,[16] and sailed two days later to help repulse an expected Japanese assault on Midway.
| Frank Jack Fletcher | |
|---|---|
 
Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, USN Photographed aboard USS Saratoga (CV-3), September 17, 1942. Official U.S. Navy Photograph
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| Born | April 29, 1885 Marshalltown, Iowa |
| Died | April 25, 1973 (aged 87) Bethesda, Maryland |
| Place of burial | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Allegiance |  United States of America |
| Service/branch |  United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1906-1947 |
| Rank |  Admiral |
| Battles/wars | Mexican Revolution –Battle of Veracruz World War I –Battle of the Atlantic World War II –Battle of the Coral Sea –Battle of Midway –Guadalcanal campaign –Tulagi –Eastern Solomons |
| Awards | Medal of Honor Navy Cross Navy Distinguished Service Medal |
| Relations | Nephew of Frank Friday Fletcher |
Frank Jack Fletcher (April 29, 1885 – April 25, 1973) was an admiral in the United States Navy during World War II. Fletcher was the operational commander at the pivotal Battles of Coral Sea and ofMidway. He was the nephew of Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher.
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[edit]
Fletcher was born in Marshalltown, Iowa on April 29, 1885. Appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy from his native state in 1902, he graduated from Annapolis on February 12, 1906 and commissioned an Ensign on February 13, 1908 following two years at sea.
The early years of his career were spent on the battleships USS Rhode Island (BB-17), USS Ohio (BB-12), and USS Maine (BB-10). He also spent time on USS Eagle (1898) and USS Franklin (1864). In November 1909 he was assigned to USS Chauncey (DD-3), a unit of the Asiatic Torpedo Flotilla. He assumed command of USS Dale (DD-4) in April 1910 and March 1912 returned to Chauncey as Commanding Officer. Transferred to USS Florida in December 1912 he was aboard that battleship during the United States occupation of Veracruz, Mexico, in April 1914. For distinguished conduct in battle at Veracruz he received the Medal of Honor (see citation below).
World War I and post-War period[edit]
Fletcher became Aide and Flag Lieutenant on the staff of the Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet in July 1914. After a year at this post, he returned to the Naval Academy for duty in the Executive Department. Upon the outbreak of World War Ihe served as Gunnery Officer of USS Kearsarge (BB-5) until September 1917, after which he assumed command ofUSS Margaret (SP-527). He was assigned to USS Allen (DD-66) in February 1918 before taking command ofUSS Benham (DD-49) in May 1918. For distinguished service as Commanding Officer USS Benham, engaged in the important, exacting, and hazardous duty of patrolling European waters and protecting vitally important convoys, he was awarded the Navy Cross.
From October 1918 to February 1919 he assisted in fitting out USS Crane (DD-109) at San Francisco. He then became Commanding Officer of USS Gridley (DD-92) upon her commissioning. Returning to Washington, he was head of the Detail Section, Enlisted Personnel Division in the Bureau of Navigation from April 1919 until September 1922.
Interwar service[edit]
He returned to the Asiatic Station, having consecutive command of the USS Whipple (DD-217), USS Sacramento (PG-19),USS Rainbow (AS-7), and Submarine Base, Cavite. He served at the Washington Navy Yards from March 1925 to 1927; became Executive Officer of USS Colorado (BB-45); and completed the Senior Course at the Naval War College, Newport in 1929-30 followed immediately by the Army War College in Washington, D.C., 1930–31, in preparation for strategic leadership responsibilities.
Fletcher became Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief, U.S. Asiatic Fleet in August 1931. In the summer of 1933 he was transferred to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Following this assignment he had duty from November 1933 to May 1936 as Aide to the Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Claude A. Swanson. He assumed command of USS New Mexico, flagship of Battleship Division THREE in June 1936. In December 1937 he became a member of the Naval Examining Board, and became Assistant Chief of Bureau of Navigation in June 1938. Returning to the Pacific between September 1939 and December 1941 he became Commander Cruiser Division THREE; Commander Cruiser Division SIX; Commander Cruiser Scouting Force; and Commander Cruiser Division FOUR.
World War II[edit]
Wake Island — December 8–23, 1941[edit]
Responding to reports from US Marines on Wake Island of Japanese bombardment and a subsequent invasion attempt in the first week after Pearl Harbor, Fletcher was sent west with the carrier Saratoga (Task Force 11) to provide relief. He was one day away when plans were changed and ordered to wait for Lexington (Task Force 12, Vice Admiral Brown).[1] The next day the Japanese successfully invaded Wake Island. The task force was recalled by Admiral Pye, who was "keeping the seat warm" until Admiral Nimitz could arrive at Pearl and take over as Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet.
January - April 1942[edit]
On January 1, 1942, Rear Admiral Fletcher took command of Task Force 17 built around the carrier USS Yorktown (CV-5). He, a surface fleet admiral, was chosen over more senior officers to lead a carrier task force. He learned air operations on the job while escorting troops to the South Pacific. He was junior TF commander under tutelage of the experts: Vice AdmiralWilliam Halsey during the Marshalls-Gilberts raids in February; Vice Admiral Wilson Brown attacking the enemy landings onNew Guinea in March; and had aviation expert Rear Admiral Aubrey Fitch with him during the first battle at Coral Sea.
Coral Sea — May 4–8, 1942[edit]
In May 1942, he commanded the task forces during the Battle of the Coral Sea. This battle is famous as the first carrier-on-carrier battle fought between fleets that never came within sight of each other.
Fletcher with Yorktown, Task Force 17, had been patrolling the Coral Sea and rendezvoused with Rear Admiral Aubrey Fitch with USS Lexington (CV-2), Task Force 11, and a tanker group. Fletcher finished refueling first and headed West. On hearing the enemy was occupying Tulagi, TF 17 attacked the landing beaches, sinking several small ships before rejoiningLexington and an Australian cruiser force under Rear Admiral John Gregory Crace on May 5.
The next day, intelligence reported a Japanese invasion task force headed for Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, and a Carrier Strike Force was in the area. The morning of May 7, Fletcher sent the Australian cruisers to stop the transports while he sought the carriers. His combat pilots sank Japanese aircraft carrier Shōhō, escorting the enemy troop ships, — "Scratch one flat top." radioed Lt. Commander Robert Dixon flying back to the USS Lexington. That same day, Japanese carrier planes of Rear Admiral Chuichi Hara found the American tanker USS Neosho (AO-23). Believing they had found a carrier, they severely damaged her after several all-out attacks, and sank her escorting destroyer, USS Sims (DD-409); on May 11, USS Henley (DD-391) located her, rescued the surviving crew, and sank her by naval gunfire.
On May 8, at first light, "round three opened." Fletcher launched seventy-five aircraft, Hara sixty-nine. Fitch had greater experience in handling air operations, and Fletcher had him direct that function, as he was to do again later with Noyes at Guadalcanal. Shokaku was hit, but not damaged below waterline; it slunk away. Zuikaku had earlier dodged under a squall. The Japanese attack put two torpedoes into Lexington, which was abandoned that evening. Yorktown was hit near her island, but survived. Hara failed to use Zuikaku to achieve victory and withdrew. The invasion fleet without air cover, also withdrew, thereby halting the Port Moresby invasion. Fletcher had achieved the objective of the mission at the cost of a carrier, tanker, and destroyer. In addition, his Wildcats had beaten Japanese air groups, 52 to 35, and had damagedShokaku,; neither Japanese carrier would be able to join the fight at Midway the following month.
This was the first World War II battle in which the Imperial Japanese Navy had been stopped. In battles in Pearl Harbor, East Indies, Australia and Ceylon, they had defeated the British, Dutch, and Asiatic Fleets, and had not lost a fleet ship larger than mine sweepers and submarines.
_Jul1937.jpg)
USS Yorktown in July 1937
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| Career (United States) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Yorktown (CV-5) |
| Namesake: | The Battle of Yorktown |
| Ordered: | 3 August 1933 |
| Builder: | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. |
| Laid down: | 21 May 1934 |
| Launched: | 4 April 1936 |
| Sponsored by: | Eleanor Roosevelt |
| Commissioned: | 30 September 1937 |
| In service: | 1937 |
| Out of service: | 1942 |
| Struck: | 2 October 1942 |
| Honors and awards: | 3 battle stars American Defense Service Medal ("A" device)/American Campaign Medal / Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (3 stars) / World War II Victory Medal |
| Fate: | Sunk 7 June 1942 in the Battle of Midway, 141 men killed. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Yorktown-class aircraft carrier |
| Type: | Aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: | As built: 19,800 long tons (20,100 t) light 25,500 long tons (25,900 t) full load |
| Length: | As built: 770 ft (230 m) (waterline @ design draft) 824 ft 9 in (251.38 m) overall |
| Beam: | As built: 83 ft 3 in (25.37 m) (waterline) 109 ft 6 in (33.38 m) (overall) |
| Draft: | 25 ft 11.5 in (7.912 m) (as built) |
| Propulsion: | 9 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 4 × Parsons geared turbines, 120,000 shp (89 MW) 4 × screws |
| Speed: | 32.5 knots (37.4 mph; 60.2 km/h) |
| Range: | 12,500 nautical miles (23,200 km; 14,400 mi) at 15 knots (17 mph; 28 km/h) |
| Complement: | 2,217 officers and men (1941) |
| Sensors and processing systems: | CXAM RADAR from 1940[1] |
| Armament: |
As built:
From February 1942:
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| Armor: | As built: 2.5-4 inch belt 60 lb protective decks 4 inch bulkheads 4 inch side and 3 inch top round conning tower 4 inch side over steering gear |
| Aircraft carried: | As built: 90 aircraft 3 × elevators 2 × flight deck hydraulic catapults 1 × hangar deck hydraulic catapults |
USS Yorktown (CV-5) was an aircraft carrier commissioned in theUnited States Navy from 1937 until she was sunk at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. She was named after the Battle of Yorktown in 1781 and the lead ship of the Yorktown class which was designed after lessons learned from operations with the large converted battlecruiserLexington class and the smaller purpose-built Ranger. She represented the epitome of U.S. pre-war carrier design.
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Early career[edit]
Yorktown was laid down on 21 May 1934 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.; launched on 4 April 1936; sponsored by Eleanor Roosevelt; and commissioned at the Naval Operating Base(NOB), Norfolk, Virginia, on 30 September 1937, Capt. Ernest D. McWhorter in command.
After fitting out, the aircraft carrier trained in Hampton Roads, Virginiaand in the southern drill grounds off the Virginia capes into January 1938, conducting carrier qualifications for her newly embarked air group.
Yorktown sailed for the Caribbean on 8 January 1938 and arrived atCulebra, Puerto Rico, on 13 January. Over the ensuing month, the carrier conducted her shakedown, touching at Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; Gonaïves, Haiti; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Cristóbal, Panama Canal Zone. Departing Colon Bay, Cristobal, on 1 March, Yorktown sailed for Hampton Roads, arrived on 6 March, and shifted to the Norfolk Navy Yard the next day for post-shakedown availability.
After undergoing repairs through the early autumn of 1938, Yorktownshifted from the navy yard to NOB Norfolk on 17 October and soon headed for the Southern Drill Grounds for training.
Yorktown operated off the eastern seaboard, ranging from Chesapeake Bay to Guantanamo Bay, into 1939. As flagship for Carrier Division 2, she participated in her first war game - Fleet Problem XX - along with her sister-ship USS Enterprise (CV-6) in February 1939. The scenario for the exercise called for one fleet to control the sea lanes in the Caribbean against the incursion of a foreign European power while maintaining sufficient naval strength to protect vital American interests in the Pacific. The maneuvers were witnessed, in part, by PresidentFranklin Delano Roosevelt, embarked in the heavy cruiserUSS Houston (CA-30).
The critique of the operation revealed that carrier operations - a part of the scenarios for the annual exercises since the entry ofUSS Langley (CV-1) into the war games in 1925 - had achieved a new peak of efficiency. Despite the inexperience of Yorktown and Enterprise- comparative newcomers to the Fleet - both carriers made significant contributions to the success of the problem. The planners had studied the employment of carriers and their embarked air groups in connection with convoy escort, antisubmarine defense, and various attack measures against surface ships and shore installations. In short, they worked to develop the tactics that would be used when war actually came.
Pacific Fleet[edit]
Following Fleet Problem XX, Yorktown returned briefly to Hampton Roads before sailing for the Pacific on 20 April 1939. Transiting thePanama Canal a week later, Yorktown soon commenced a regular routine of operations with the Pacific Fleet. The Second World War started on 1 September 1939, but the USA was not yet involved. Operating out of San Diego, California into 1940, the carrier participated in Fleet Problem XXI that April. Yorktown was one of six ships to receive the new RCA CXAMRADAR in 1940.[1]
Fleet Problem XXI - a two-part exercise - included some of the operations that would characterize future warfare in the Pacific. The first part of the exercise was devoted to training in making plans and estimates; in screening and scouting; in coordination of combatant units; and in employing fleet and standard dispositions. The second phase included training inconvoy protection, the seizure of advanced bases, and, ultimately, the decisive engagement between the opposing fleets. The last pre-war exercise of its type, Fleet Problem XXI contained two exercises (comparatively minor at the time) where air operations played a major role. Fleet Joint Air Exercise 114A prophetically pointed out the need to coordinate Army and Navy defense plans for the Hawaiian Islands, and Fleet Exercise 114 proved that aircraft could be used for high altitude tracking of surface forces - a significant role for planes that would be fully realized in the war to come.
With the retention of the Fleet in Hawaiian waters after the conclusion of Fleet Problem XXI, Yorktown operated in the Pacific off the west coast of the United States and in Hawaiian waters until the following spring, when the success of German U-boats preying upon British shipping in the Atlantic required a shift of American naval strength. Thus, to reinforce the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, the Navy transferred a substantial force from the Pacific including Yorktown, Battleship Division Three (the New Mexico-class battleships), three light cruisers, and 12 accompanying destroyers.
Neutrality patrol[edit]
_refueling_USS_Yorktown_(CV-5)_1940.jpg)
Yorktown departed Pearl Harbor on 20 April 1941 in company with destroyersUSS Warrington (DD-383), USS Somers (DD-381), and USS Jouett (DD-396); headed southeast, transited the Panama Canal on the night of 6–7 May, and arrived at Bermuda on 12 May. From that time until the United States entered the war,Yorktown conducted four patrols in the Atlantic, ranging from Newfoundland to Bermuda and logging 17,642 miles (28,392 km) steamed while enforcing American neutrality.
Although Adolf Hitler had forbidden his submarines to attack American ships, the men who manned the American naval vessels were not aware of this policy and operated on a wartime footing in the Atlantic.
On 28 October, while Yorktown, battleship USS New Mexico (BB-40), and other American warships were screening a convoy, a destroyer picked up a submarine contact and dropped depth charges while the convoy itself made an emergency starboard turn, the first of the convoy's three emergency changes of course. Late that afternoon, engine repairs to one of the ships in the convoy, Empire Pintail, reduced the convoy's speed to 11 knots (13 mph; 20 km/h).
During the night, the American ships intercepted strong German radio signals, indicating submarines probably in the vicinity reporting the group. Rear Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, commanding the escort force, sent a destroyer to sweep astern of the convoy to destroy the U-boat or at least to drive him under.
The next day, while cruiser scout planes patrolled overhead, Yorktown andUSS Savannah (CL-42) fueled their escorting destroyers, finishing the task as dusk fell. On 30 October, Yorktown was preparing to fuel three destroyers when other escorts made sound contacts. The convoy subsequently made 10 emergency turns while USS Morris (DD-417) and USS Anderson (DD-411) dropped depth charges, and USS Hughes (DD-410) assisted in developing the contact. Anderson later made two more depth charge attacks, noticing "considerable oil with slick spreading but no wreckage."
The short-of-war period was becoming more like the real thing as each day went on. Elsewhere on 30 October, more than a month before Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor, U-552 torpedoed the destroyer USS Reuben James (DD-245), sinking her with a heavy loss of life, the first loss of an American warship in World War II.
After another Neutrality Patrol stint in November, Yorktown put into Norfolk on 2 December and was there five days later during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 which triggered full US entry into the Second World War.
World War II[edit]
See also: World War II
_during_the_Battle_of_the_Coral_Sea,_April_1942.jpg)
The early news from the Pacific was bleak: the Pacific Fleet had taken a beating. With the battle line crippled, the undamaged American carriers assumed great importance. There were, on 7 December, only three in the Pacific:USS Enterprise (CV-6), USS Lexington (CV-2), and USS Saratoga (CV-3).USS Ranger (CV-4), USS Wasp (CV-7), and the recently commissionedUSS Hornet (CV-8) remained in the Atlantic, Yorktown departed Norfolk on 16 December 1941 for the Pacific, her secondary gun galleries studded with newOerlikon 20 mm guns. She reached San Diego 30 December 1941 and soon became flagship for Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher's newly formed Task Force 17.
The carrier's first mission in her new theater was to escort a convoy carrying Marine reinforcements to American Samoa. Departing San Diego on 6 January 1942, Yorktown and her consorts covered the movement of marines to Pago Pago in Tutuila to augment the garrison already there.
Having safely covered that troop movement, Yorktown, in company with sister ship Enterprise, departed Samoan waters on 25 January. Six days later, Task Force 8 (built around Enterprise), and TF 17 (around Yorktown) parted company. The former headed for the Marshall Islands, the latter for the Gilberts, each to take part in some of the first American offensives of the war, the Marshalls-Gilberts raids.
Yorktown was being screened by USS Louisville (CA-28) and USS St. Louis (CL-49) and four destroyers, seemingly provided by Destroyer Squadron 2. At 05:17, Yorktown launched 11 Douglas TBD-1 Devastators and 17 Douglas SBD-3 Dauntlesses, under the command of Comdr. Curtis W. Smiley. Those planes hit what Japanese shore installations and shipping they could find at Jaluit, but severe thunderstorms hampered the mission, and seven planes were lost. OtherYorktown planes attacked Japanese installations and ships at Makin and Mili Atolls.
The attack on the Gilberts by Task Force 17 had apparently been a complete surprise since the American force encountered no enemy surface ships. A single four-engined Kawanishi H6K "Mavis" patrol flying boat attempted to attack American destroyers sent astern in hope of recovering the crews of planes overdue from the Jaluit mission. Antiaircraft fire from the destroyers drove off the intruder before he could cause any damage.
Later, another "Mavis"—or possibly the same one—came out of low clouds 15,000 yards (14,000 m) distant from Yorktown. The carrier withheld her antiaircraft fire in order not to interfere with the combat air patrol (CAP) fighters. Presently, the "Mavis", pursued by two F4F Wildcats, disappeared behind a cloud. Within five minutes, the enemy patrol plane fell out of the clouds and crashed in the water.
Although TF17 was slated to make a second attack on Jaluit, it was canceled because of heavy rainstorms and the approach of darkness. Therefore, the Yorktown force retired from the area.
Admiral Chester Nimitz later called the Marshalls-Gilberts raids "well conceived, well planned, and brilliantly executed." The results obtained by TFs 8 and 17 were noteworthy, Nimitz continued in his subsequent report, because the task forces had been obliged to make their attacks somewhat blindly, due to lack of hard intelligence data on the Japanese-mandated islands.
Yorktown subsequently put in at Pearl Harbor for replenishment before she put to sea on 14 February, bound for the Coral Sea. On 6 March, she rendezvoused with TF11 - formed around Lexington and under the command of Vice Admiral Wilson Brown - and headed towards Rabaul and Gasmata to attack Japanese shipping there in an effort to check the Japanese advance and to cover the landing of Allied troops at Nouméa, New Caledonia. However, as the two carriers - screened by a powerful force of eight heavy cruisers (including the Australian warships HMAS Australia and HMAS Canberra) and 14 destroyers - steamed toward New Guinea, the Japanese continued their advance toward Australia with a landing on 7 March at the Huon Gulf, in the Salamaua-Lae area on the eastern end of New Guinea.
Word of the Japanese operation prompted Admiral Brown to change the objective of TF11's strike from Rabaul to the Salamaua-Lae sector. On the morning of 10 March 1942, American carriers launched aircraft from the Gulf of Papua.Lexington flew off her air group commencing at 07:49 and, 21 minutes later, Yorktown followed suit. While the choice of the gulf as the launch point for the strike meant the planes would have to fly some 125 miles (200 km) across the Owen Stanley mountains - a range not known for the best flying conditions - that approach provided security for the task force and ensured surprise.
In the attacks that followed, Lexington's SBDs from Scouting Squadron 2 (VS-2) commenced dive-bombing Japanese ships at Lae at 0922. The carrier's torpedo and bomber squadrons (VT-2 and VB-2) attacked shipping at Salamaua at 09:38. Her fighters (VF-2) split up into four-plane attack groups: one strafed Lae and the other, Salamaua. Yorktown's planes followed on the heels of those from "Lady Lex." VB-5 and VT-5 attacked Japanese ships in the Salamaua area at 0950, while VS-5 went after auxiliaries moored close in shore at Lae. The fighters of VF-42 flew CAP over Salamaua until they determined there was no air opposition, then strafed surface objectives and small boats in the harbor.
After carrying out their missions, the American planes returned to their carriers, and 103 planes of the 104 launched were back safely on board by noon. One SBD-2 had been downed by Japanese antiaircraft fire. The raid on Salamaua and Lae was the first attack by many pilots of both carriers; and, while the resultant torpedo and bombing accuracy was inferior to that achieved in later actions, the operation gave the fliers invaluable experience which enabled them to do so well in theBattle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway.
Task Force 11 retired at 20 knots (23 mph; 37 km/h) on a southeasterly course until dark, when the ships steered eastward at 15 knots (17 mph; 28 km/h) and made rendezvous with Task Group 11.7 (TG11.7), three heavy cruisers (USS Chicago, HMAS Australia, and HMAS Canberra) and four destroyers under the Australian Rear Admiral John Crace, which provided cover for the carriers on their approach to New Guinea.
Yorktown resumed her patrols in the Coral Sea area, remaining at sea into April, out of reach of Japanese land-based aircraft and ready to carry out offensive operations whenever the opportunity presented itself. After the Lae-Salamaua raid, the situation in the South Pacific seemed temporarily stabilized, and Yorktown and her consorts in TF17 put into the undeveloped harbor at Tongatabu, in the Tonga Islands, for needed upkeep, having been at sea continuously since departing from Pearl Harbor on 14 February.
However, the enemy was soon on the move. To Admiral Nimitz, there seemed to be "excellent indications that the Japanese intended to make a seaborne attack on Port Moresby the first week in May." Yorktown accordingly departed Tongatapu on 27 April 1942, bound once more for the Coral Sea. TF11 - now commanded by Rear Admiral Aubrey W. Fitch, who had relieved Brown in Lexington - departed Pearl Harbor to join Fletcher's TF 17 and arrived in the vicinity of Yorktown's group, southwest of the New Hebrides Islands, on 1 May.
Battle of the Coral Sea[edit]
Main article: Battle of the Coral Sea
At 15:17 the next afternoon, two Dauntlesses from VS-5 sighted a Japanese submarine, running on the surface. Three Devastators took off from Yorktown, sped to the scene, and carried out an attack that only succeeded in driving the submarine under.
On the morning of 3 May, TF11 and TF17 were some 100 miles (160 km) apart, engaged in fueling operations. Shortly before midnight, Fletcher received word from Australian-based aircraft that Japanese transports were disembarking troops and equipment at Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. Arriving soon after the Australians had evacuated the place, the Japanese landed to commence construction of a seaplane base there to support their southward thrust.
Yorktown accordingly set course northward at 27 knots (31 mph; 50 km/h). By daybreak on 4 May, she was within striking distance of the newly established Japanese beachhead and launched her first strike at 0701-18 F4F-3's of VF-42, 12 TBD's of VT-5, and 28 SBD's from VS and BY-5. Yorktown's air group made three consecutive attacks on enemy ships and shore installations at Tulagi and Gavutu on the south coast of Florida Island in the Solomons. Expending 22 torpedoes and 76 1,000 pound bombs in the three attacks, Yorktown's planes sank the destroyer Kikuzuki, three minecraft and four barges. In addition, Air Group 5 destroyed five enemy seaplanes, all at the cost of two F4F's lost (the pilots were recovered) and one TBD (whose crew was lost).
Meanwhile, that same day, TF 44, a cruiser-destroyer force under Rear Admiral Crace (RN), joined Lexington's TF11, thus completing the composition of the Allied force on the eve of the crucial Battle of the Coral Sea.
Elsewhere, to the northward, eleven troop-laden transports - escorted by destroyers and covered by the light carrier Shōhō, four heavy cruisers, and a destroyer - steamed toward Port Moresby. In addition, another Japanese task force - formed around the two Pearl Harbor veterans, carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku, and screened by two heavy cruisers and six destroyers - provided additional air cover.
On the morning of 6 May, Fletcher gathered all Allied forces under his tactical command as TF17. At daybreak on the 7th, he dispatched Crace, with the cruisers and destroyers under his command, toward the Louisiade archipelago to intercept any enemy attempt to move toward Port Moresby.
While Fletcher moved north with his two flattops and their screens in search of the enemy, Japanese search planes located the oiler USS Neosho (AO-23) and her escort, USS Sims (DD-409) and misidentified the former as a carrier. Two waves of Japanese planes — first high level bombers and then dive bombers — attacked the two ships. Sims, her antiaircraft battery crippled by gun failures, took three direct hits and sank quickly with a heavy loss of life. Neosho was more fortunate in that, even after seven direct hits and eight near-misses, she remained afloat until, on the 11th, her survivors were picked up byUSS Henley (DD-391) and her hulk sunk by the rescuing destroyer.
Neosho and Sims had performed a valuable service, drawing off the planes that might otherwise have hit Fletcher's carriers. Meanwhile, Yorktown and Lexington'splanes found Shōhō and sank her. One of Lexington's pilots reported this victory with the radio message, "Scratch one flattop".
That afternoon, Shōkaku and Zuikaku - still not located by Fletcher's forces - launched 27 bombers and torpedo planes to search for the American ships. Their flight proved uneventful until they ran into fighters from Yorktown and Lexington, who proceeded to down nine enemy planes in the ensuing dogfight.
Near twilight, three Japanese planes incredibly mistook Yorktown for their own carrier and attempted to land. The ship's gunfire, though, drove them off; and the enemy planes crossed Yorktown's bow and turned away out of range. Twenty minutes later, when three more enemy pilots made the mistake of trying to get into Yorktown's landing circle, the carrier's gunners splashed one of the trio.
However, the battle was far from over. The next morning, 8 May, a Lexington search plane spotted Admiral Takeo Takagi's carrier striking force - including Zuikaku and Shōkaku. Yorktown planes scored two bomb hits on Shōkaku, damaging her flight deck and preventing her from launching aircraft; in addition, the bombs set off explosions in gasoline storage tanks and destroyed an engine repair workshop. Lexington's Dauntlesses added another hit. Between the two American air groups, the hits killed 108 Japanese sailors and wounded 40 more.
While the American planes were occupying the Japanese flattops, however, Yorktown and Lexington - alerted by an intercepted message which indicated that the Japanese knew of their whereabouts - were preparing to fight off a retaliatory strike, which came shortly after 11:00.
American CAP Wildcats downed 17 planes, though some managed to slip through the defenses. "Kates" launched torpedoes from both sides of Lexington's bows. Two "fish" tore into "Lady Lex" on the port side; "Val" dive bombers added to the destruction with three bomb hits. Lexington developed a list, with three partially flooded engineering spaces. Several fires raged below decks, and the carrier's elevators were put out of commission.
Meanwhile Yorktown was having problems of her own. Maneuvered by Captain Elliott Buckmaster, her commanding officer, the carrier dodged eight torpedoes. Attacked then by "Vals", the ship managed to evade all but one bomb. That one, however, penetrated the flight deck and exploded below decks, killing or seriously injuring 66 men.
Lexington's damage control parties brought the fires under control, and the ship was still able to continue flight operations despite the damage. The air battle itself ended shortly before noon on the 8th; within an hour, the carrier was on an even keel, although slightly down by the bow. However, an explosion caused by the ignition of gasoline vapors later caused a fire and tore apart the inside. Lexington was abandoned at 17:07, and later sunk by USS Phelps.
The Japanese had won a tactical victory, inflicting comparatively heavier losses on the Allied force, but the Allies, in stemming the tide of Japan's conquests in the South and Southwest Pacific, had achieved a strategic victory. Yorktown had not achieved her part in the victory without cost, and had suffered enough damage to cause experts to estimate that at least three months in a yard would be required to put her back in fighting trim. However, there was little time for repairs, because Allied intelligence - most notably the cryptographic unit at Pearl Harbor - had gained enough information from decoded Japanese naval messages to estimate that the Japanese were on the threshold of a major operation aimed at the northwestern tip of the Hawaiian chain - two islets in a low coral atoll known as Midway.
| Aubrey Wray Fitch | |
|---|---|
VADM Aubrey W. Fitch, USN (March 18, 1946)
| |
| Born | June 11, 1883 Saint Ignace, Michigan |
| Died | May 22, 1978 (aged 94) |
| Place of burial | Maine |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/branch | United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1906-1947 |
| Rank | Admiral |
| Commands held | USS Langley NAS Pensacola Carrier Division Aircraft, South Pacific Force |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | Navy Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Flying Cross Legion of Merit |
| Other work | United States Naval Academy, Superintendent |
Aubrey Wray Fitch (June 11, 1883 – May 22, 1978) was an admiral of the United States Navy during World War II. A naval aviator, he held important aviation-related commands both at sea and on shore from the 1920s onward. He also served as Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy.
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Early life and career[edit]
Fitch was born in Saint Ignace, Michigan, on June 11, 1883. He entered the U.S. Naval Academy in the summer of 1902 and graduated on February 12, 1906. After serving the two years of sea duty then required by law before commissioning in the armored cruiserPennsylvania and the torpedo boat Chauncey Fitch became as ensignon February 13, 1908 and served afloat in Rainbow and Concord before receiving instruction in torpedoes at the Naval Torpedo Station,Newport, R.I., in the school conducted on board the old cruiserMontgomery.
Upon completion of the torpedo course, Fitch helped to fit out thebattleship Delaware, which commissioned on April 4, 1910 before returning to Annapolis for consecutive tours of duty at the Naval Academy, first as assistant discipline officer between 1911 and 1912 and later as an instructor of physical training from 1912 to 1913. Service in the destroyers Balch and Duncan followed before he received his first sea command, the destroyer Terry, with the 2nd Division, Reserve Torpedo Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet.
After serving on the staff of the Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet, Fitch assumed command of the yacht Yankton in January 1915, with additional duty as aide to the Commander in Chief.
World War I and afterward[edit]
Relieved of command of Yankton shortly after the United States entered World War I in the spring of 1917, Fitch continued his staff duties for another five months before joining Wyoming to serve as her gunnery officer for the remainder of hostilities, as that dreadnought operated with the 6th Battle Squadron, Grand Fleet.
After the armistice, Fitch again served at the Naval Academy once more before becoming, concurrently, inspector of ordnance in charge of the Hingham Naval Ammunition Depot in Hingham, MA, and naval inspector of ordnance in charge at the Naval Coaling Station, Frenchman Bay, Maine. From August 1920, Fitch commanded a division of fast minelayers, while also commanding in turn Luce and Mahan.
Detached from Mahan in December 1922, Fitch served at Rio de Janeiro until March 1927 as a member of the United States mission to Brazil before reporting back to the Navy Department for a brief tour of duty in Washington, D.C. Going to sea as executive officer of Nevada in May 1927, Fitch assumed command of Arctic (a type of ship sometimes known uncomplimentarily as a "beef boat") in November of that year.
Aviation[edit]
He reported for aviation instruction at the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, in June 1929 and there won his wings as a naval aviator on February 4, 1930. Following brief duty at NAS San Diego, California, Fitch assumed command of Wright in the spring of 1930. Relieved in that billet a little over a year later (July 1931), he then began a year as commanding officer of the Navy's first aircraft carrier, Langley.
After commanding NAS Hampton Roads, Virginia, until June 1935 Fitch reported as chief of staff to Commander, Aircraft, Battle Force, and remained in that billet until assuming command of Lexington (CV-2) in April 1936. Subsequently attending the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, from June 1937 to May 1938, Fitch completed the senior course there before assuming command of NAS Pensacola, in June 1938. In the spring of 1940, he took over the reins of Patrol Wing 2, based at Pearl Harbor, and seven months later, broke his flag in Saratoga as Commander, Carrier Division 1. The outbreak of hostilities in the Pacific in December 1941 thus found Fitch one of the most experienced carrier commanders afloat.
World War II[edit]
Fitch's flagship, Saratoga, figured prominently in the abortive attempt to reinforce Wake Island in December 1941 and was later torpedoed off Oahu in late January 1942, seriously cutting American carrier strength in the Pacific at a critical period.
Rear Admiral Fitch relieved Vice Admiral Wilson Brown on April 3, 1942, breaking his flag in Lexington, his former command. During the Battle of the Coral Sea, Fitch served as Commander Task Group 17.5, consisting of "Lady Lex" andYorktown (CV-5), and was named Officer in Tactical Command (O.T.C.) by Task Force commander Admiral Frank J. Fletcher. That engagement, the first in history where neither side came within surface gun range of the other, effectively stopped the Japanese thrust at strategic Port Moresby, but resulted in the first loss of an American aircraft carrier in the war—Lexington, sunk on May 8, 1942.
The admiral then shifted his flag to Minneapolis, which was also flagship of Task Force 17 (TF 17). Fitch together with Captain Sherman and Lexington's executive officer Commander Morton T. Seligman, visited "Lady Lex"'s wounded inMinneapolis' sickbay—an action that "contributed in no small measure to the patients' well-being." For the leadership he exhibited during the Battle of the Coral Sea, Fitch was awarded his first Distinguished Service Medal.
Aerial view of Lexington on 14 October 1941
| |
| Career (United States) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Lexington |
| Namesake: | Battle of Lexington |
| Ordered: | 1916 (as battlecruiser) 1922 (as aircraft carrier) |
| Builder: | Fore River Ship and Engine Building Co., Quincy, Massachusetts |
| Laid down: | 8 January 1921 |
| Launched: | 3 October 1925 |
| Christened: | Mrs. Theodore Douglas Robinson |
| Commissioned: | 14 December 1927 |
| Reclassified: | As aircraft carrier, 1 July 1922 |
| Struck: | 24 June 1942 |
| Identification: | Hull number: CC-1, then CV-2 |
| Nickname: | "Lady Lex" |
| Fate: | Sunk during the Battle of the Coral Sea, 8 May 1942 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class & type: | Lexington-class aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: | 36,000 long tons (37,000 t) (standard) 47,700 long tons (48,500 t) (deep load) |
| Length: | 888 ft (270.7 m) |
| Beam: | 107 ft 6 in (32.8 m) |
| Draft: | 32 ft 6 in (9.9 m) (deep load) |
| Installed power: | 180,000 shp (130,000 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 4 shafts, 4 sets turbo-electric drive 16 water-tube boilers |
| Speed: | 33.25 knots (61.58 km/h; 38.26 mph) |
| Range: | 10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 2,791 (including aviation personnel) in 1942 |
| Armament: | 4 × 2 – 8-inch guns 12 × 1 – 5-inch anti-aircraft guns |
| Armor: | Belt: 5–7 in (127–178 mm) Deck: .75–2 in (19–51 mm) Gun turrets: .75 in (19 mm) Bulkheads: 5–7 in (127–178 mm) |
| Aircraft carried: | 78 |
| Aviation facilities: | 1 Aircraft catapult |
USS Lexington (CV-2), nicknamed "Lady Lex",[1] was an early aircraft carrier built for the United States Navy. She was the lead ship of theLexington class; her only sister ship, Saratoga, was commissioned a month earlier. Originally designed as a battlecruiser, she was converted into one of the Navy's first aircraft carriers during construction to comply with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, which essentially terminated all new battleship and battlecruiser construction. The ship entered service in 1928 and was assigned to the Pacific Fleetfor her entire career. Lexington and Saratoga were used to develop and refine carrier tactics in a series of annual exercises before World War II. On more than one occasion these included successfully staged surprise attacks on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The ship's turbo-electric propulsion system allowed her to supplement the electrical supply of Tacoma, Washington, during a drought in late 1929 to early 1930. She also delivered medical personnel and relief supplies to Managua, Nicaragua, after an earthquake in 1931.
Lexington was at sea when the Pacific War began on 7 December 1941, ferrying fighter aircraft to Midway Island. Her mission was cancelled and she returned to Pearl Harbor a week later. After a few days, she was sent to create a diversion from the force en route to relieve thebesieged Wake Island garrison by attacking Japanese installations in the Marshall Islands. The island was forced to surrender before the relief force got close enough, and the mission was cancelled. A planned attack on Wake Island in January 1942 had to be cancelled when a submarine sank the oiler required to supply the fuel for the return trip.Lexington was sent to the Coral Sea the following month to block any Japanese advances into the area. The ship was spotted by Japanese search aircraft while approaching Rabaul, New Britain, and her aircraft shot down most of the Japanese bombers that attacked her. Together with the carrier Yorktown, she successfully attacked Japanese shipping off the east coast of New Guinea in early March.
Lexington was briefly refitted in Pearl Harbor at the end of the month and rendezvoused with Yorktown in the Coral Sea in early May. A few days later the Japanese began Operation Mo, the invasion of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, and the two American carriers attempted to stop the invasion forces. They sank the light aircraft carrier Shōhō on 7 May during the Battle of the Coral Sea, but did not encounter the main Japanese force of the carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku until the next day. Aircraft from Lexington and Yorktown succeeded in badly damagingShōkaku, but the Japanese aircraft crippled Lexington. Vapors from leaking aviation gasoline tanks sparked a series of explosions and fires that could not be controlled, and Lexington had to be scuttled by an American destroyer during the evening of 8 May to prevent her capture.
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Design and construction[edit]
Lexington was the fourth US Navy ship named after the 1775 Battle of Lexington, the first battle of the Revolutionary War.[2]She was originally authorized in 1916 as a Lexington-class battlecruiser, but construction was delayed so that higher-priorityanti-submarine vessels and merchant ships, needed to ensure the safe passage of personnel and materiel to Europe during Germany's U-boat campaign, could be built. After the war the ship was extensively redesigned, partially as a result of British experience.[3] Given the hull number of CC-1, Lexington was laid down on 8 January 1921 by Fore River Shipbuilding Company of Quincy, Massachusetts.[2]
Before the Washington Naval Conference concluded, the ship's construction was suspended in February 1922,[4] when she was 24.2 percent complete.[5] She was re-designated and re-authorized as an aircraft carrier on 1 July 1922.[2] Her displacement was reduced by a total of 4,000 long tons (4,100 t), achieved mainly by the elimination of her main armament of eight 16-inch (406 mm) guns in four twin turrets (including their heavy turret mounts, their armor, and other equipment).[6][7] The main armor belt was retained, but was reduced in height to save weight.[8] The general line of the hull remained unaltered, as did the torpedo protection system, because they had already been built, and it would have been too expensive to alter them.[9]
The ship had an overall length of 888 feet (270.7 m), a beam of 106 feet (32.3 m), and a draft of 30 feet 5 inches (9.3 m) atdeep load. Lexington had a standard displacement of 36,000 long tons (36,578 t) and 43,056 long tons (43,747 t) at deep load. At that displacement, she had a metacentric height of 7.31 feet (2.2 m).[6]
Christened by Mrs. Theodore Douglas Robinson, the wife of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Lexington was launched on 3 October 1925. She was commissioned on 14 December 1927 with Captain Albert Marshall in command.[2] By 1942, the ship had a crew of 100 officers and 1,840 enlisted men and an aviation group totaling 141 officers and 710 enlisted men.[6]
Flight deck arrangements[edit]
The ship's flight deck was 866 feet 2 inches (264.01 m) long and had a maximum width of 105 feet 11 inches (32.28 m).[6] When built, her hangar "was the largest single enclosed space afloat on any ship"[10] and had an area of 33,528 square feet (3,114.9 m2). It was 424 feet (129.2 m) long and 68 feet (20.7 m) wide. Its minimum height was 21 feet (6.4 m), and it was divided by a single fire curtain just forward of the aft aircraft elevator. Aircraft repair shops, 108 feet (32.9 m) long, were aft of the hangar, and below them was a storage space for disassembled aircraft, 128 feet (39.0 m) long. Lexington was fitted with two hydraulically powered elevators on her centerline. The forward elevator's dimensions were 30 by 60 feet (9.1 m × 18.3 m) and it had a capacity of 16,000 pounds (7,300 kg). The aft elevator had a capacity of only 6,000 pounds (2,700 kg) and measured 30 by 36 feet (9.1 m × 11.0 m).[10] Avgas was stored in eight compartments of the torpedo protection system, and their capacity has been quoted as either 132,264 US gallons (500,670 l; 110,133 imp gal) or 163,000 US gallons (620,000 l; 136,000 imp gal).[11]
Lexington was initially fitted with electrically operated arresting gear designed by Carl Norden that used both fore-and-aft and transverse wires. The longitudinal wires were intended to prevent aircraft from being blown over the side of the ship while the transverse wires slowed them to a stop. This system was authorized to be replaced by the hydraulically operated Mk 2 system, without longitudinal wires, on 11 August 1931. Four improved Mk 3 units were added in 1934, giving the ship a total of eight arresting wires and four barriers intended to prevent aircraft from crashing into parked aircraft on the ship's bow. After the forward flight deck was widened in 1936, an additional eight wires were added there to allow aircraft to land over the bow if the landing area at the stern was damaged.[12] The ship was built with a 155-foot (47.2 m), flywheel-powered, F Mk II aircraft catapult, also designed by Norden, on the starboard side of the bow.[6][10] This catapult was strong enough to launch a 10,000-pound (4,500 kg) aircraft at a speed of 48 knots (89 km/h; 55 mph). It was intended to launch seaplanes, but was rarely used; a 1931 report tallied only five launches of practice loads since the ship had been commissioned. It was removed during the ship's 1936 refit.[13]
Lexington was designed to carry 78 aircraft, including 36 bombers,[14] but these numbers increased once the Navy adopted the practice of tying up spare aircraft in the unused spaces at the top of the hangar.[15] In 1936, her air group consisted of 18 Grumman F2F-1 and 18 Boeing F4B-4 fighters, plus an additional nine F2Fs in reserve. Offensive punch was provided by 20 Vought SBU Corsair dive bombers with 10 spare aircraft and 18 Great Lakes BG torpedo bombers with nine spares. Miscellaneous aircraft included two Grumman JF Duck amphibians, plus one in reserve, and three active and one spareVought O2U Corsair observation aircraft. This amounted to 79 aircraft, plus 30 spares.[6]
Propulsion[edit]
The Lexington-class carriers used turbo-electric propulsion; each of the four propeller shafts was driven by two 22,500-shaft-horsepower (16,800 kW) electric motors. They were powered by four General Electric turbo generators rated at 35,200 kilowatts (47,200 hp). Steam for the generators was provided by sixteen Yarrow boilers, each in its own individual compartment.[16] Six 750-kilowatt (1,010 hp) electric generators were installed in the upper levels of the two main turbine compartments to provide power to meet the ship's hotel load (minimum electrical) requirements.[17]
The ship was designed to reach 33.25 knots (61.58 km/h; 38.26 mph),[6] but Lexington achieved 34.59 knots (64.06 km/h; 39.81 mph) from 202,973 shp (151,357 kW) during sea trials in 1928.[16] She carried a maximum of 6,688 long tons (6,795 t) of fuel oil, but only 5,400 long tons (5,500 t) of that was usable, as the rest had to be retained as ballast in the port fuel tanks to offset the weight of the island and main guns.[18] Designed for a range of 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph),[6] the ship demonstrated a range of 9,910 nmi (18,350 km; 11,400 mi) at a speed of 10.7 knots (19.8 km/h; 12.3 mph) with 4,540 long tons (4,610 t) of oil.[18]
Armament[edit]
_firing_203mm_guns_1928.jpg)
The Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair was not convinced when the class was being designed that aircraft could effectively substitute as armament for a warship, especially at night or in bad weather that would prevent air operations.[19]Thus the carriers' design included a substantial gun battery of eight 55-caliber Mk 9 eight-inch guns in four twin gun turrets. These turrets were mounted above the flight deck on the starboard side, two before the superstructure, and two behind the funnel, numbered I to IV from bow to stern.[20] In theory the guns could fire to both sides, but it is probable that if they were fired to port (across the deck) the blast would have damaged the flight deck.[21] They could be depressed to −5° and elevated to +41°.[22]
The ship's heavy anti-aircraft (AA) armament consisted of twelve 25-caliber Mk 10 five-inch guns which were mounted on single mounts, three each fitted on sponsons on each side of the bow and stern.[23]No light AA guns were initially mounted on Lexington, but two sextuple .30-caliber (7.62 mm) machine gun mounts were installed in 1929.[24] They were unsuccessful and were replaced by two .50-caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns by 1931, one each on the roof of the superfiring eight-inch turrets. During a refit in 1935, platforms mounting four .50-caliber machine guns were installed on each corner of the ship, and an additional platform was installed that wrapped around the funnel. Six machine guns were mounted on each side of this last platform. In October 1940, four 50-caliber Mk 10 three-inch AA guns were installed in the corner platforms; they replaced two of the .50-caliber machine guns which were remounted on the tops of the eight-inch gun turrets. Another three-inch gun was added on the roof of the deckhouse between the funnel and the island. These guns were just interim weapons until the quadruple 1.1-inch gun mount could be fielded, which occurred in August 1941.[25]
In March 1942, Lexington's eight-inch turrets were removed at Pearl Harbor and replaced by seven quadruple 1.1-inch gun mounts. In addition 22 Oerlikon 20 mm cannon were installed, six in a new platform at the base of the funnel, 12 in the positions formerly occupied by the ship's boats in the sides of the hull, two at the stern and a pair on the aft control top. When the ship was sunk in May 1942, her armament consisted of 12 five-inch, 12 quadruple 1.1-inch, 22 Oerlikons and at least two dozen .50-caliber machine guns.[26]
Fire control and electronics[edit]
Each eight-inch turret had a Mk 30 rangefinder at the rear of the turret for local control, but they were normally controlled by two Mk 18 fire-control directors, one each on the fore and aft spotting tops.[20] A 20-foot (6.1 m) rangefinder was fitted on top of the pilothouse to provide range information for the directors.[22] Each group of three five-inch guns was controlled by a Mk 19 director, two of which were mounted on each side of the spotting tops.[23] Lexington received a RCA CXAM-1 radarin June 1941 during a brief refit in Pearl Harbor. The antenna was mounted on the forward lip of the funnel with its control room directly below the aerial, replacing the secondary conning station formerly mounted there.[27]
Armor[edit]
The waterline belt of the Lexington-class ships tapered 7–5 inches (178–127 mm) in thickness from top to bottom and angled 11° outwards at the top. It covered the middle 530 feet (161.5 m) of the ships. Forward, the belt ended in a bulkheadthat also tapered from seven to five inches in thickness. Aft, it terminated at a seven-inch bulkhead. This belt had a height of 9 feet 4 inches (2.8 m). The third deck over the ships' machinery and magazine was armored with two layers of special treatment steel (STS) totaling 2 inches (51 mm) in thickness. The steering gear, however, was protected by two layers of STS that totaled 3 inches (76 mm) on the flat and 4.5 inches (114 mm) on the slope.[28]
The gun turrets were protected only against splinters with .75 inches (19 mm) of armor. The conning tower was 2–2.25 inches (51–57 mm) of STS, and it had a communications tube with two-inch sides running from the conning tower down to the lower conning position on the third deck. The torpedo defense system of the Lexington-class ships consisted of three to six medium steel protective bulkheads that ranged from .375 to .75 inches (10 to 19 mm) in thickness. The spaces between them could be used as fuel tanks or left empty to absorb the detonation of a torpedo's warhead.[28]
Service history[edit]
After fitting out and shakedown cruises, Lexington was transferred to the West Coast of the United States and arrived atSan Pedro, California, part of Los Angeles, on 7 April 1928. She was based there until 1940 and mainly stayed on the West Coast, although she did participate in several Fleet Problems (training exercises) in the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.[2] These exercises tested the Navy's evolving doctrine and tactics for the use of carriers. During Fleet Problem IX in January 1929, Lexington and the Scouting Force failed to defend the Panama Canal against an aerial attack launched by her sister ship Saratoga.[29] Future science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein reported aboard on 6 July as a newly mintedensign under Captain Frank Berrien.[30] Heinlein experienced his first literary rejection when his short story about a case of espionage discovered at the Naval Academy failed to win a shipboard writing contest.[31]
In 1929, western Washington state suffered a drought which resulted in low levels in Lake Cushman that provided water forCushman Dam No. 1. The hydro-electric power generated by this dam was the primary source for the city of Tacoma and the city requested help from the federal government once the water in the lake receded below the dam's intakes during December. The U.S. Navy sent Lexington, which had been at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, to Tacoma, and heavy electric lines were rigged into the city's power system. The ship's generators provided a total of 4,520,960 kilowatt hours from 17 December to 16 January 1930 until melting snow and rain brought the reservoirs up to the level needed to generate sufficient power for the city.[18] Two months later, she participated in Fleet Problem X, which was conducted in the Caribbean. During the exercise, her aircraft were judged to have destroyed the flight decks and all the aircraft of the opposing carriers Saratoga and Langley. Fleet Problem XI was held the following month and Saratoga returned the favor, knocking out Lexington's flight deck for 24 hours, just as the exercise came to a climax with a major surface engagement.[32]
Captain Ernest J. King, who later rose to serve as the Chief of Naval Operations during World War II, assumed command on 20 June 1930. Lexington was assigned, together with Saratoga, to defend the west coast of Panama against a hypothetical invader during Fleet Problem XII in February 1931. While each carrier was able to inflict some damage on the invasion convoys, the enemy forces succeeded in making a landing. Shortly afterward, all three carriers transferred to the Caribbean to conduct further maneuvers. The most important of these was when Saratoga successfully defended the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal from an attack by Lexington. Rear Admiral Joseph M. Reeves baited a trap for King with a destroyer and scored a kill on Lexington on 22 March while the latter's aircraft were still searching for Saratoga.[33]
On 31 March 1931, Lexington, which had been near Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba, was ordered to aid survivors of an earthquake that devastated Managua, Nicaragua.[34] By the following day, the ship was close enough to launch aircraft carrying supplies and medical personnel to Managua.[35] During Grand Joint Exercise No. 4, Lexington and Saratoga were able to launch a massive airstrike against Pearl Harbor on Sunday, 7 February 1932 without being detected. The two carriers were separated for Fleet Problem XIII which followed shortly afterward.Lexington was assigned to Black Fleet, defending Hawaii and the West Coast against Blue Fleet and Saratoga. On 15 March, Lexington caught Saratoga with all of her planes still on deck and was ruled to have knocked out her flight deck and have badly damaged the carrier, which was subsequently ruled sunk during a night attack by Black Fleet destroyers shortly afterward. Lexington's aircraft were judged to have badly damaged two of Blue Fleet's battleships.[36]
Before Fleet Problem XIV began in February 1933, the Army and the Navy conducted a joint exercise simulating a carrier attack on Hawaii. Lexington and Saratoga successfully attacked Pearl Harbor at dawn on 31 January without being detected. During the actual fleet problem, the ship attempted to attack San Francisco, but was surprised in heavy fog by several defending battleships at close range and sunk. Fleet Problem XV returned to the Gulf of Panama and the Caribbean in April–May 1934, but the participating ships of the Pacific Fleet remained in the Caribbean and off the East Coast for more training and maneuvers until they returned to their home bases in November. Most notably during Fleet Problem XVI, April–June 1935, Lexington ran low on fuel after five days of high-speed steaming and this led to experiments with underway replenishment that later proved essential to combat operations during the Pacific War. During Fleet Problem XVII in 1936,Lexington and the smaller carrier Ranger routinely refueled their plane guard destroyers.[37]
Admiral Claude C. Bloch limited Lexington to support of the battleships during Fleet Problem XVIII in 1937 and consequently the carrier was crippled and nearly sunk by surface gunfire and torpedoes.[38] The following July, the ship participated in the unsuccessful search for Amelia Earhart.[39] The 1938 Fleet Problem again tested the defenses of Hawaii and, again, aircraft from Lexington and her sister successfully attacked Pearl Harbor at dawn on 29 March. Later in the exercise, the two carriers successfully attacked San Francisco without being spotted by the defending fleet. Fleet Problem XX, held in the Caribbean in March–April 1939, was the only time before October 1943 that the Navy concentrated four carriers (Lexington,Ranger, Yorktown, and Enterprise) together for maneuvers. This exercise also saw the first attempts to refuel carriers and battleships at sea. During Fleet Problem XXI in 1940, Lexington caught Yorktown by surprise and crippled her, althoughYorktown's aircraft managed to knock out Lexington's flight deck. The fleet was ordered to remain in Hawaii after the conclusion of the exercise in May.[40]
World War II[edit]
Admiral Husband Kimmel, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet, ordered Task Force (TF) 12—Lexington, three heavy cruisers and five destroyers—to depart Pearl Harbor on 5 December 1941 to ferry 18 U.S. Marine Corps Vought SB2U Vindicator dive bombers of VMSB-231 to reinforce the base at Midway Island.[41] At this time she embarked 65 of her own aircraft, including 17 Brewster F2A Buffalo fighters. On the morning of 7 December, the Task Force was about 500 nautical miles (930 km; 580 mi) southeast of Midway when it received news of the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor. Several hours later, Rear Admiral John H. Newton, commander of the Task Force, received orders that cancelled the ferry mission and ordered him to search for the Japanese ships while rendezvousing with Vice Admiral Wilson Brown's ships 100 miles (160 km) west of Niihau Island. Captain Frederick Sherman needed to maintain a continuous Combat Air Patrol (CAP) and recover the fuel-starved fighters which were on patrol. With the Marine aircraft aboard, Lexington's flight deck was very congested and he decided to reverse the phase of the ship's electric propulsion motors and steam full speed astern in order to launch a new CAP and then swap back to resume forward motion to recover his current CAP. This unorthodox action allowed him to maintain a continuous CAP and recover his aircraft without the lengthy delay caused by moving the aircraft on the flight deck from the bow to the stern and back to make space available for launch and recovery operations.Lexington launched several scout planes to search for the Japanese that day and remained at sea between Johnston Islandand Hawaii, reacting to several false alerts, until she returned to Pearl Harbor on 13 December.[42] Kimmel had wanted to keep the ships at sea for longer, but difficulties refueling at sea on 11 and 12 December meant that the task force was low on fuel and was forced to return to port.[43]
Re-designated as Task Force 11, and reinforced by four destroyers, Lexington and her consorts steamed from Pearl Harbor the next day to raid the Japanese base onJaluit in the Marshall Islands to distract the Japanese from the Wake Island relief force led by Saratoga. For this operation, Lexington embarked 21 Buffalos, 32Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers, and 15 Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bombers, although not all aircraft were operational. Vice Admiral William S. Pye, acting commander of the Pacific Fleet, canceled the attack on 20 December and ordered the Task Force northwest to cover the relief force. The Japanese, however, landed on Wake and forced it to surrender on 23 December before Saratoga and her consorts could get there. Pye, reluctant to risk any carriers against a Japanese force of unknown strength, ordered both task forces to return to Pearl.[44]
Lexington arrived back at Pearl Harbor on 27 December, but was ordered back to sea two days later. She returned on 3 January, needing repairs to one of her main generators. It was repaired four days later when TF 11 sailed with the carrier as Brown's flagship. The Task Force's mission was to patrol in the direction ofJohnston Atoll. It was spotted by the submarine I-18 on 9 January and several other submarines were vectored to intercept the Task Force. Another submarine was spotted on the surface the following morning about 60 nautical miles (110 km; 69 mi) south of the carrier by two Buffalos who reported it without alerting the submarine to their presence. That afternoon it was spotted again, further south, by a different pair of fighters, and two Devastators carrying depth charges were vectored to the submarine's position. They claimed to have damaged it before it could fully submerge, but the incident is not mentioned in Japanese records. The putative victim was most likely I-19, which arrived at Kwajalein Atoll on 15 January.Lexington and her consorts returned to Pearl Harbor on the following day without further incident.[45]
Task Force 11 sailed from Pearl Harbor three days later to conduct patrols northeast of Christmas Island. On 21 January, Admiral Chester Nimitz, the new commander of the Pacific Fleet, ordered Brown to conduct a diversionary raid on Wake Island on 27 January after refueling from the only available tanker, the elderly and slow oiler Neches en route to Brown. The unescorted tanker was torpedoed and sunk by I-72 on 23 January, forcing the cancellation of the raid. The task force arrived back in Pearl two days later. Brown was ordered back to sea on 31 January to escort the fast oiler Neosho to its rendezvous with Halsey's task force returning from its attack on Japanese bases in the Marshall Islands. He was then supposed to patrol near Canton Island to cover a convoy arriving there on 12 February. The task force was reconfigured with only two heavy cruisers and seven destroyers; the eighteen Grumman F4F Wildcats of VF-3, redeployed from the torpedoed Saratoga, replaced VF-2 to allow the latter unit to convert to the Wildcat. One of the Wildcats was severely damaged upon landing on the carrier. Nimitz cancelled the rendezvous on 2 February after it became apparent that Halsey did not need Neosho's fuel and ordered Brown to proceed to Canton Island. On 6 February, Nimitz ordered him to rendezvous with the ANZAC Squadron in the Coral Sea to prevent Japanese advances that might interfere with the sea-lanes connecting Australia and the United States. In addition, he was to protect a troop convoy bound for New Caledonia.[46]
Attempted raid on Rabaul[edit]
For more details on this topic, see Action off Bougainville.
The heavy cruiser San Francisco and two destroyers reinforced the task force on 10 February and Brown rendezvoused with the ANZAC Squadron six days later. Even after emptying Neosho of her oil there was not enough fuel for the ANZAC Squadron to join Brown's proposed raid on Rabaul and they were forced to remain behind. Brown was reinforced by the heavy cruiser Pensacola and two destroyers on 17 February and tasked these ships to bombard Rabaul in addition to the attack by Lexington's aircraft. While still some 453 nautical miles (839 km; 521 mi) northeast of Rabaul, the task force was spotted by a Kawanishi H6K "Mavis" flying boat on the morning of 20 February. The snooper was detected by Lexington's radar and was shot down by Lieutenant Commander Jimmy Thach and his wingman, but not before it radioed its spot report. Another H6K was vectored in to confirm the first aircraft's report, but it was detected and shot down before it could radio its report. Brown's plan had depended on the element of surprise and he canceled the raid, although he decided to proceed toward Rabaul to lure Japanese aircraft into attacking him.[47]
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Rear Admiral Eiji Gotō, commander of the 24th Air Flotilla, launched all 17 of his long-range Mitsubishi G4M1 "Betty" torpedo bombers, although no torpedoes were available at Rabaul and they made do with a pair of 250-kilogram (550 lb) bombs apiece. To better search for the Americans, the Japanese split their aircraft into two groups and Lexington's radar acquired one of these at 16:25. At this time, the ship was rotating its CAP aircraft and the newly launched aircraft barely had time to reach the altitude of the Japanese before they arrived. Lexington had 15 fully fueled Wildcats and Dauntlesses on her forward flight deck that had been moved forward to allow the CAP fighters to land. They represented a serious fire hazard, but they could not be launched until all aircraft on the flight deck were moved aft. Cognizant of the danger, the deck crews succeeded in respotting the aircraft and the fueled aircraft were able to take off before the Japanese attacked.[48] Per Commander Herbert Duckworth, "It was as if some great hand moved all the planes aft simultaneously."[49] Only four of the nine G4Ms in the first wave survived to reach Lexington, but all of their bombs missed and they were all shot down afterward, including one by a Dauntless. The honors were not all one-sided as they shot down two of the defending Wildcats. The second wave of eight bombers was spotted at 16:56, while all but two of the Wildcats were dealing with the first wave. Lieutenant Edward O'Hare and his wingman, Lieutenant (junior grade) Marion Dufilho, were able to intercept the bombers a few miles short of Lexington, but Dufilho's guns jammed before he could fire a shot. O'Hare was able to shoot down three G4Ms and damage two others before the bombers were able to drop their bombs, none of which struck the wildly maneuvering carrier. Only three of the G4Ms reached base as those Wildcats and Dauntlesses with enough fuel pursued and shot down several others.[50]
Lae-Salamaua Raid[edit]
The task force changed course after dark for its rendezvous with the tanker Platte, scheduled for 22 February. One Japanese Aichi E13A "Jake" floatplane succeeded in tracking the task force for a short time after dark, but six H6Ks launched after midnight were unable to locate the American ships. Brown rendezvoused with Platte and the escorting ANZAC Squadron on schedule and he requested reinforcement by another carrier if another raid on Rabaul was desired.[51]Nimitz promptly responded by ordering Yorktown's Task Force 17, under the command of Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, to rendezvous with Brown north of New Caledonia on 6 March to allow the latter to attack Rabaul. The initial plan was to attack from the south in the hope of avoiding Japanese search aircraft, but this was changed on 8 March when word was received that Rabaul harbor was empty as the Japanese had invaded Papua New Guinea and all the shipping was anchored off the villages of Lae and Salamaua. The plan was changed to mount the attack from a position in the Gulf of Papua, even though this involved flying over the Owen Stanley Mountains. The two carriers reached their positions on the morning of 10 March and Lexington launched eight Wildcats, 31 Dauntlesses and 13 Devastators. They were the first to attack the 16 Japanese ships in the area and sank three transports and damaged several other ships before Yorktown's aircraft arrived 15 minutes later. One Dauntless was shot down by anti-aircraft fire while a Wildcat shot down a Nakajima E8N floatplane. A H6K spotted one carrier later that afternoon, but the weather had turned bad and the 24th Air Flotilla decided not to attack. Task Force 11 was ordered to return to Pearl and Lexington exchanged six Wildcats, five Dauntlesses and one Devastator for two Wildcats from Yorktown that needed overhaul before she left. The task force arrived at Pearl Harbor on 26 March.[52]
The ship was given a short refit, during which her eight-inch gun turrets were removed and replaced by quadruple 1.1-inch (28 mm) anti-aircraft guns. Rear Admiral Aubrey Fitch assumed command of Task Force 11 on 1 April and it was reorganized to consist of Lexington and the heavy cruisers Minneapolis and New Orleans as well as seven destroyers. The task force sortied from Pearl Harbor on 15 April, carrying 14 Buffalos of VMF-211 to be flown off at Palmyra Atoll. After flying off the Marine fighters, the task force was ordered to train with the battleships of Task Force 1 in the vicinity of Palmyra and Christmas Island. Late on 18 April, the training was cancelled as Allied codebreakers had figured out that the Japanese intended to invade and occupy Port Moresby and Tulagi in the southeastern Solomon Islands (Operation Mo). Therefore, Fitch's ships, acting on a command from Nimitz, rendezvoused with TF 17 north of New Caledonia on 1 May, after refueling from the tanker Kaskaskia on 25 April to thwart the Japanese offensive. At this time, Lexington's air group consisted of 21 Wildcats, 37 Dauntlesses and 12 Devastators.[53]
Battle of the Coral Sea[edit]
Main article: Battle of the Coral Sea
Preliminary actions[edit]
Both Task Forces needed to refuel, but TF 17 finished first and Fletcher took Yorktown and her consorts northward toward the Solomon Islands on 2 May. TF 11 was ordered to rendezvous with TF 17 and TF 44, the old ANZAC Squadron, further west into the Coral Sea on 4 May.[54] The Japanese opened Operation Mo by occupying Tulagi on 3 May. Alerted by Allied reconnaissance aircraft, Fletcher decided to attack Japanese shipping there the following day. The air strike on Tulagi confirmed that at least one American carrier was in the vicinity, but the Japanese had no idea of its location.[55] They launched a number of reconnaissance aircraft the following day to search for the Americans, but without result. One H6K flying boat spotted Yorktown, but was shot down by one of Yorktown's Wildcat fighters before she could radio a report. US Army Air Force (USAAF) aircraft spotted Shōhō[Note 1] southwest of Bougainville Island on 5 May, but she was too far north to be attacked by the American carriers, which were refueling.[57] That day, Fletcher received Ultra intelligence that placed the three Japanese carriers known to be involved in Operation Mo near Bougainville Island, and predicted 10 May as the date of the invasion. It also predicted airstrikes by the Japanese carriers in support of the invasion several days before 10 May. Based on this information, Fletcher planned to complete refueling on 6 May and to move closer to the eastern tip of New Guinea to be in a position to locate and attack Japanese forces on 7 May.[58]
Another H6K spotted the Americans during the morning of 6 May and successfully shadowed them until 1400. The Japanese, however, were unwilling or unable to launch air strikes in poor weather or without updated spot reports.[59] Both sides believed they knew where the other force was, and expected to fight the next day.[60] The Japanese were the first to spot the Americans when one aircraft found the oiler Neosho escorted by the destroyer Sims at 0722, south of the Strike Force. They were misidentified as a carrier and a cruiser so the fleet carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku launched an airstrike forty minutes later that sank Sims and damaged Neosho badly enough that she had to be scuttled a few days later. The American carriers were west of the Japanese carriers, not south, and they were spotted by other Japanese aircraft shortly after the carriers had launched their attack on Neosho and Sims.[61]
American reconnaissance aircraft reported two Japanese heavy cruisers northeast of Misima Island in the Louisiade Archipelago off the eastern tip of New Guinea at 07:35 and two carriers at 08:15. An hour later Fletcher ordered an airstrike launched, believing that the two carriers reported were Shōkaku and Zuikaku. Lexington and Yorktown launched a total of 53 Dauntlessess and 22 Devastators escorted by 18 Wildcats. The 08:15 report turned out to be miscoded, as the pilot had intended to report two heavy cruisers, but USAAF aircraft had spotted Shōhō, her escorts and the invasion convoy in the meantime. As the latest spot report plotted only 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 mi) away from the 08:15 report, the aircraft en route were diverted to this new target.[62]
Shōhō and the rest of the Main Force were spotted by aircraft from Lexington at 10:40. At this time, Shōhō's CAP consisted of two Mitsubishi A5M "Claudes" and oneMitsubishi A6M Zero. The dive bombers of VS-2 began their attack at 1110 as the three Japanese fighters attacked the Dauntlesses in their dive. None of the dive bombers hit Shōhō, which was maneuvering to avoid their bombs; one Dauntless was shot down by the Zero after it had pulled out of its dive; several other Dauntlesses were also damaged. The carrier launched three more Zeros immediately after this attack to reinforce its CAP. The Dauntlesses of VB-2 began their attack at 11:18 and they hit Shōhō twice with 1,000-pound (450 kg) bombs. These penetrated the ship's flight deck and burst inside her hangars, setting the fueled and armed aircraft there on fire. A minute later the Devastators of VT-2began dropping their torpedoes from both sides of the ship. They hit Shōhō five times and the damage from the hits knocked out her steering and power. In addition, the hits flooded both the engine and boiler rooms. Yorktown's aircraft finished the carrier off and she sank at 11:31. After his attack, Lieutenant CommanderRobert E. Dixon, commander of VS-2, radioed his famous message to the American carriers: "Scratch one flat top!"[63]
After Shōkaku and Zuikaku had recovered the aircraft that had sunk Neosho and Sims, Rear Admiral Chūichi Hara, commander of the 5th Carrier Division, ordered that a further air strike be readied as the American carriers were believed to have been located. The two carriers launched a total of 12 Aichi D3A "Val" dive bombers and 15 Nakajima B5N "Kate" torpedo bombers late that afternoon. The Japanese had mistaken Task Force 44 for Lexington and Yorktown, which were much closer than anticipated, although they were along the same bearing. Lexington's radar spotted one group of nine B5Ns at 17:47 and half the CAP was directed to intercept them while additional Wildcats were launched to reinforce the CAP. The intercepting fighters surprised the Japanese bombers and shot down five while losing one of their own. One section of the newly launched fighters spotted the remaining group of six B5Ns, shooting down two and badly damaging another bomber, although one Wildcat was lost to unknown causes. Another section spotted and shot down a single D3A. The surviving Japanese leaders cancelled the attack after such heavy losses and all aircraft jettisoned their bombs andtorpedoes. They had still not spotted the American carriers and turned for their own ships, using radio direction finders to track the carrier's homing beacon. The beacon broadcast on a frequency very close to that of the American ships and many of the Japanese aircraft confused the ships in the darkness. A number of them flew right beside the American ships, flashing signal lights in an effort to confirm their identity, but they were not initially recognized as Japanese because the remaining Wildcats were attempting to land aboard the carriers. Finally they were recognized and fired upon, by both the Wildcats and the anti-aircraft guns of the task force, but they sustained no losses in the confused action. One Wildcat lost radio contact and could not find either of the American carriers; the pilot was never found. Only 18 Japanese aircraft successfully returned to their carriers, beginning at 20:00.[64]
8 May[edit]
On the morning of 8 May, both sides spotted each other about the same time and began launching their aircraft about 09:00. The Japanese carriers launched a total of 18 Zeros, 33 D3As and 18 B5Ns. Yorktown was the first American carrier to launch her aircraft and Lexington began launching hers seven minutes later. These totaled nine Wildcats, 15 Dauntlesses and 12 Devastators. Yorktown's dive bombers disabled Shōkaku's flight deck with two hits and Lexington's aircraft were only able to further damage her with another bomb hit. None of the torpedo bombers from either carrier hit anything. The Japanese CAP was effective and shot down three Wildcats and two Dauntlesses for the loss of one Zero.[65]
The Japanese aircraft spotted the American carriers around 11:05 and the B5Ns attacked first because the D3As had to circle around to approach the carriers from upwind. The CAP shot down three of the torpedo bombers before they could drop their torpedoes, but 11 survived long enough to hit Lexington twice on the port side at 11:20, although two of the B5Ns were shot down by anti-aircraft fire after dropping their torpedoes. The shock from the first torpedo hit at the bow jammed both elevators in the up position and started small leaks in the port avgas storage tanks. The second torpedo hit her opposite the bridge, ruptured the primary port water main, and started flooding in three port fire rooms. The boilers there had to be shut down, which reduced her speed to a maximum of 24.5 knots (45.4 km/h; 28.2 mph), and the flooding gave her a 6–7° list to port. Shortly afterward,Lexington was attacked by 19 D3As. One was shot down by the CAP before it could drop its bomb and another was shot down by the carrier. She was hit by two bombs, the first of which detonated in the port forward five-inch ready ammunition locker, killing the entire crew of one 5-inch AA gun and starting several fires. The second hit struck the funnel, doing little significant damage although fragments killed many of the crews of the .50-caliber machine guns positioned near there. The hit also jammed the ship's siren in the "on" position. The remaining bombs detonated close alongside and some of their fragments pierced the hull, flooding two compartments.[66]
Fuel was pumped from the port storage tanks to the starboard side to correct the list and Lexington began recovering damaged aircraft and those that were low on fuel at 11:39. The Japanese had shot down three of Lexington's Wildcats and five Dauntlesses, plus another Dauntless crashed on landing. At 12:43, the ship launched five Wildcats to replace the CAP and prepared to launch another nine Dauntlesses. A massive explosion at 12:47 was triggered by sparks that ignited gasoline vapors from the cracked port avgas tanks. The explosion killed 25 crewmen and knocked out the main damage control station. The damage did not interfere with flight deck operations, although the refueling system was shut down. The fueled Dauntlesses were launched and six Wildcats that were low on fuel landed aboard. Aircraft from the morning's air strike began landing at 13:22 and all surviving aircraft had landed by 14:14. The final tally was three Wildcats shot down, plus one Wildcat, three Dauntlesses and one Devastator that were forced to ditch.[67]
Another serious explosion occurred at 14:42 that started severe fires in the hangar and blew the forward elevator 12 inches (300 mm) above the flight deck. Power to the forward half of the ship failed shortly afterward. Fletcher sent three destroyers to assist, but another major explosion at 15:25 knocked out water pressure in the hangar and forced the evacuation of the forward machinery spaces. The fire eventually forced the evacuation of all compartments below the waterline at 16:00 andLexington eventually drifted to a halt. Evacuation of the wounded began shortly afterward and Sherman ordered "abandon ship" at 17:07. A series of large explosions began around 18:00 that blew the aft elevator apart and threw aircraft into the air. Sherman waited until 18:30 to ensure that all of his crewmen were off the ship before leaving himself. Some 2,770 officers and men were rescued by the rest of the task force. The destroyer Phelps was ordered to sink the ship and fired a total of five torpedoes between 19:15 and 19:52. Immediately after the last torpedo hit, Lexington, down by the bow but nearly on an even keel finally sank[68] at 15°20′S 155°30′E
.[2] Some 216 crewmen were killed and 2,735 were evacuated.[69]
.[2] Some 216 crewmen were killed and 2,735 were evacuated.[69]
Honors and legacy[edit]
Lexington received two battle stars for her World War II service.[2] She was officially struck from the naval register on 24 June 1942.
In June 1942, shortly after the Navy's public acknowledgment of the sinking, workers at the Quincy shipyard, where the ship had been built twenty-one years earlier, cabled Navy Secretary Frank Knox and proposed a change in the name of one of the new Essex-class fleet carriers currently under construction there to Lexington (from Cabot).[70] Knox agreed to the proposal and the carrier was renamed as the fifth Lexington on 16 June 1942.[71] On 17 February 1943, her successor was formally commissioned as USS Lexington (CV-16), which served as the flagship of Task Force 58 (TF 58) during the Battle of the Philippine Sea and remained in service until 1991.
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