| Maxwell Franklin Leslie | |
|---|---|
Maxwell F. Leslie in April 1942
| |
| Born | October 24, 1902 Seattle, Washington |
| Died | September 26, 1985 (aged 82) San Diego, California |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service/branch | United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1926–1956 |
| Rank | Rear Admiral |
| Commands held | VB-3 Carrier Air Wing 3 |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | Navy Cross Bronze Star Presidential Unit Citation |
Maxwell Franklin Leslie (24 October 1902 – 26 September 1985) was a naval aviator in the United States Navy during World War II. He is credited with playing a major part in the Battle of Midway.
Early life[edit]
Born in Seattle on 24 October 1902, Leslie attended the University of Washington before entering the U.S. Naval Academy in 1922, graduating in 1926, the same class as Wade McClusky.
Military career[edit]
Leslie was commissioned ensign in 1926, and received flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola in 1929. He qualified as a naval aviator in 1930. When the United State entered World War II, he was executive officer of Bombing Squadron 3 (VB-3) aboard USS Saratoga. He flew with his squadron off USS Enterprise, while escorting USS Hornet on theDoolittle Raid.
Battle of Midway[edit]
Leslie was in command of VB-3, operating off USS Yorktown during Midway. Following the Japanese destroyerArashi that had been counterattacking USS Nautilus, Leslie and Lieutenant Commander Wade McClusky, from Enterprise, managed to arrive above the Japanese task force at the precise moment its combat air patrol had been drawn down to the deck to repel Yorktown's torpedo bombers, and at the moment of the First Air Fleet's maximum vulnerability. With the Japanese Zeros too low to be effective, the SBD Dauntlesses of McClusky and Leslie's squadrons poured down through the miraculously open sky to unload their bombs on the Japanese carriers, their hangar decks cluttered with confused ranks of recovered and warming up aircraft, snaking fuel hoses, and stacks of munitions from the various rearmament operations.
In just five minutes, Enterprise's Scouting Squadron Six and Bombing Squadron Six destroyed two Japanese fleet carriers.Kaga was abandoned at 1700 and sank at 1925. Akagi was abandoned just after Kaga went down, and was scuttled before dawn June 5. Attacking nearly simultaneously with McClusky's SBDs,Yorktown's VB-3, led by Leslie, inflicted heavy damage on Sōryū, and she also sank that evening. After successfully attacking Sōryū Leslie and his wingman Lt(jg) P.A. Holmberg ditched near USS Astoria due to fuel exhaustion, after their parent carrier Yorktown was under attack by Japanese planes when they returned. Leslie, Holmberg, and their gunners were rescued by one of the cruiser's whaleboats.
A single carrier, Hiryū, which was ten miles to the north of the other three carriers, escaped damage the morning of June 4, but was sunk on June 5. For heroism at the battle, Leslie was awarded the Navy Cross.
Leslie continued to serve overseas during World War II:[1]
| from | to | rank | position | ship/station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1940 | December 1941 | LT/LCDR | XO Bombing Squadron 3 | NAS North Island |
| December 1941 | February 1942 | LCDR | XO Bombing Squadron 3 | USS Saratoga (CV-3) |
| February 1942 | April 1942 | LCDR | CO Bombing Squadron 3 | NAS Kaneohe Bay |
| April 1942 | June 1942 | LCDR | CO Bombing Squadron 3 | USS Enterprise (CV-6) |
| June 1942 | November 1942 | CDR | Commander, Enterprise Air Group | USS Enterprise (CV-6) |
| November 1942 | January 1943 | CDR | staff | NAS Jacksonville |
| January 1943 | March 1943 | CDR | CO | NAS Daytona Beach |
| March 1943 | November 1943 | CDR | CO | Naval Air Gunnery School, Hollywood, Florida |
| November 1943 | April 1944 | CDR | student | Army and Navy Staff College |
| April 1944 | June 1944 | CDR | instructor | Command and General Staff College |
| June 1944 | August 1944 | CAPT | Operations Officer | ComAirForWestCarolines |
| August 1944 | December 1944 | CAPT | Operations Officer, 2nd MAW | Naval Operating Base Espiritu Santo |
| December 1944 | August 1945 | CAPT | OIC Air Support Control | ComPhibForPac |
| August 1945 | September 1945 | CAPT | CO Air Support Control 8 | ComPhibForPac |
Max Leslie spent the rest of his career after the war in various ships and shore stations and retired in 1956. In addition to the Navy Cross, he was presented the Bronze Star Medal with combat "V" and the Commendation Ribbon, the Presidential Unit Citation to Enterprise, American Defense Service Medal, Fleet Clasp, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal and the National Defense Service Medal.[citation needed]
Leslie died 26 Sept 1985 in San Diego, California.
| Chūichi Nagumo | |
|---|---|
Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo
| |
| Born | March 25, 1887 Yonezawa, Yamagata Japan |
| Died | July 6, 1944 (aged 57)[1] Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands |
| Allegiance |  Empire of Japan |
| Service/branch |  Imperial Japanese Navy |
| Years of service | 1908-1944 |
| Rank | Admiral |
| Unit | Kido Butai |
| Commands held | Aki, Hatsuyuki, Kirishima, Sugi,Kisaragi, Momi, Naka, Takao,Yamashiro 11th Destroyer Division, 8th Cruiser Division, 3rd Cruiser Division, Kido Butai, 1st Carrier Division, First Air Fleet, IJN 3rd Fleet, Sasebo Naval District,Kure Naval District, First Fleet,Central Pacific Area Fleet,Fourteenth Air Fleet[2] |
| Battles/wars | World War II Attack on Pearl Harbor Bombing of Darwin Indian Ocean Raid Battle of Midway Battle of the Eastern Solomons Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands |
| Awards | Order of the Rising Sun (3rd class) Order of the Rising Sun (4th class) Order of the Golden Kite (3rd class) Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure (1st class)[2] |
In this Japanese name, the family name is "Nagumo".
Chūichi Nagumo (南雲 忠一 Nagumo Chūichi?, March 25, 1887 – July 6, 1944) was a Japanese admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II and onetime commander of the Kido Butai (thecarrier battle group).[3] He committed suicide during the Battle of Saipan.
Biography[edit]
Early life[edit]
Nagumo was born in the city ofYonezawa, Yamagata Prefecture in northern Japan in 1887. He graduated from the 36th class of theIJN Academy in 1908, with a ranking of 8 out of a class of 191 cadets. As amidshipman, he served in theprotected cruisers Soya and Niitakaand the armored cruiser Nisshin. After his promotion to ensign in 1910, he was assigned to cruiserAsama.
After attending torpedo and naval artillery schools, he was promoted to sub-lieutenant and served in the battleship Aki, followed by thedestroyer Hatsuyuki. In 1914, he was promoted to lieutenant and was assigned to the battlecruiser Kirishima, followed by the destroyer Sugi. He was assigned his first command, the destroyer Kisaragi, on 15 December 1917.
Nagumo graduated from the Naval War College, and was promoted tolieutenant commander in 1920. His specialty was torpedo and destroyer tactics. From 1920 to 1921, he was captain of the destroyer Momi, but was soon sent to shore duty with various assignments by the IJN General Staff. He became a commander in 1924. From 1925 to 1926, Nagumo accompanied a Japanese mission to study naval warfare strategy, tactics, and equipment in Europe and the United States.
After his return to Japan, Nagumo was appointed captain of the river gunboat Saga from 20 March 1926 to 15 October 1926, followed by the gunboat Uji from 15 October 1926 to 15 November 1927. He then served as an instructor at the IJN Academy from 1927 to 1929. Nagumo was promoted to captain in November 1929 and assumed command of the light cruiser Naka and from 1930 to 1931 was commander of the 11th Destroyer Division. After serving in administrative positions from 1931 to 1933, he assumed command of the heavy cruiser Takao from 1933 to 1934, and the battleship Yamashirofrom 1934 to 1935. He was promoted to rear admiral on 1 November 1935.
As a Rear Admiral, Nagumo commanded the 8th Cruiser Division to support Imperial Japanese Army movements in China from the Yellow Sea. As a leading officer of the militaristic Fleet Faction, he also received a boost in his career from political forces.
From 1937 to 1938, he was Commandant of the Torpedo School, and from 1938 to 1939, he was commander of the 3rd Cruiser Division. Nagumo was promoted to vice admiral on 15 November 1939. From November 1940-April 1941, Nagumo was Commandant of the Naval War College.
World War II[edit]
On 10 April 1941, Nagumo was appointed commander-in-chief of the First Air Fleet, the IJN′s main aircraft carrier force, largely due to his seniority. Many contemporaries and historians have doubted his suitability for this command, given his lack of familiarity with naval aviation.[citation needed]
By this time, he had visibly aged, physically and mentally. Physically, he suffered from arthritis, perhaps from his younger days as a kendoka.[4] Mentally, he had become a cautious officer who worked much going over tactical plans of every operation he was involved in.[citation needed]
Admiral Nishizo Tsukahara had doubts about Nagumo's appointment, and commented, "Nagumo was an officer of the old school, a specialist of torpedo and surface maneuvers.... He did not have any idea of the capability and potential of naval aviation." One son of Nagumo described him as a brooding father, obsessed with and later regretful about pressuring his sons into the UJN. By contrast, Nagumo's junior naval officers thought of him as a father figure.[4]
Despite his limited experience, he was a strong advocate of combining sea and air power although he was opposed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's plan to attack the U.S. Naval installation at Pearl Harbor.[5] While commanding the First Air Fleet, Nagumo oversaw the attack on Pearl Harbor, but he was later criticized for his failure to launch a third attack,[6] which might have destroyed the fuel oil storage and repair facilities. This could have rendered the most important US naval base in the Pacific useless, especially as the use of the submarine base and intelligence station at the installation were critical factors in Japan's defeat.[7]
Nagumo was surrounded by able lieutenants such as Minoru Genda and Mitsuo Fuchida. He also fought well in the early 1942 campaigns. The success while fleet commander, the Bombing of Darwin and the Indian Ocean raid on the British Eastern Fleet sank an aircraft carrier, two cruisers and two destroyers, and caused Admiral Sir James Somerville to retreat to East Africa.
At the end of his deployment into the Indian Ocean, Nagumo's military strike score card saw five battleships, one carrier, two cruisers, seven destroyers, dozens of merchantmen, transports, and various other vessels disabled or destroyed; He also oversaw the downing of hundreds of aircraft from six Allied nations. Allied ports were also disabled or destroyed and hindered Allied operations. All this and his losses were no more than a few dozen pilots[4] by the time of the Battle of Midway.
Midway brought Nagumo's near-perfect record to an end. His Carrier Striking Task Force lost four carriers during the turning point of the Pacific War, and the massive losses of carrier aircraft maintenance personnel would prove detrimental to the performance of the IJN in later engagements. It was the loss of the four carriers, their aircraft, and the maintenance crew that was more cataclysmic than the 110 carrier aircrew who were lost during the battle.[citation needed]
Afterwards, Nagumo was reassigned as commander-in-chief of the Third Fleet and commanded aircraft carriers in theGuadalcanal campaign, although there his actions were largely indecisive and slowly frittered away much of Japan's maritime strength.
Final days[edit]
On 11 November 1942, Nagumo was reassigned to Japan, where he was given command of the Sasebo Naval District. He transferred to the Kure Naval District on 21 June 1943. From October 1943 to February 1944, Nagumo was again commander-in-chief of First Fleet, which was by that time largely involved in only training duties.[citation needed]
As Japan's military situation deteriorated, Nagumo was deployed on 4 March 1944 for the short-lived commander-in-chief in the Mariana Islands of the Fourteenth Air Fleetand the Central Pacific Area Fleet.
The Battle of Saipan began on 15 June 1944. The IJN, under Vice Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa, was overwhelmed within days by the U.S. 5th Fleet in the decisive Battle of the Philippine Sea; Japan's loss was about 500 aircraft. Nagumo and his Army peer General Yoshitsugu Saito then were on their own to keep control of Saipan. On 6 July, Nagumo committed suicide with a pistol to the temple rather than the traditional seppuku. His remains were recovered by the U.S. Marines in the cave where he spent his last days as the Japanese commander of Saipan.[8] He was posthumously promoted to admiral.
Promotions[edit]
| IJN Insignia | Rank | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 海軍少尉候補生 Kaigun Shōi Kōhōsei (Midshipman) | 21 November 1908 | |
.gif) | 海軍少尉 Kaigun Shōi (Ensign) | 15 January 1910 |
.gif) | 海軍中尉 Kaigun Chūi (Sub-Lieutenant/Lieutenant Junior Grade) | 1 December 1911 |
 | 海軍大尉 Kaigun Daii (Lieutenant) | 1 December 1914 |
.gif) | 海軍少佐 Kaigun Shōsa (Lieutenant-Commander) | 1 December 1920 |
 | 海軍中佐 Kaigun Chūsa (Commander) | 1 December 1924 |
 | 海軍大佐 Kaigun Daisa (Captain) | 30 November 1929 |
 | 海軍少将 Kaigun Shōshō (Rear-Admiral) | 15 November 1935 |
 | 海軍中将 Kaigun Chūjō (Vice-Admiral) | 15 November 1939 |
 | 海軍大将 Kaigun Taishō (Admiral) | 8 July 1944 (Posthumous)[1] |
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.
USS Ranger underway at sea, 1930s
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Operators: |  United States Navy |
| Preceded by: | Lexington class |
| Succeeded by: | Yorktown class |
| Built: | 1931–34 |
| In commission: | 1934–46 |
| Completed: | 1 |
| Scrapped: | 1 |
| Career (United States) | |
| Name: | USS Ranger |
| Ordered: | 1 November 1930 |
| Builder: | Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.[1] |
| Laid down: | 26 September 1931[2] |
| Launched: | 25 February 1933[2] |
| Sponsored by: | Lou Henry Hoover (the wife of the President of the United States)[3] |
| Commissioned: | 4 June 1934[4] |
| Decommissioned: | 18 October 1946[5] |
| Struck: | 29 October 1946[5] |
| Honors and awards: | American Defense Service Medal ("A" device) American Campaign Medal European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (2 stars)[6][7] Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal World War II Victory Medal |
| Fate: | Acquired for scrap for $259K on 31 January 1947[5] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: | As built: 14,576 long tons (14,810 t) (standard) 17,577 long tons (17,859 t) (full load) |
| Length: | 730 ft (222.5 m) (w/l) 769 ft (234.4 m) (o/a) |
| Beam: | 80 ft (24.4 m) (waterline)[8] 109 ft 5 in (33.4 m) (overall) |
| Draft: | 22 ft 4.875 in (6.8 m) |
| Installed power: | 53,500 shp (39,900 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × steam turbines 6 × boilers 2 × shafts |
| Speed: | 29.3 kn (33.7 mph; 54.3 km/h)[8] |
| Range: | 10,000 nmi (12,000 mi; 19,000 km) at 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h) |
| Complement: | 216 officers and 2,245 enlisted men including embarked air group(as built)[8] 2,148 (1941) |
| Sensors and processing systems: | CXAM-1 RADAR[9] |
| Armament: | 8 × 5 in (127 mm)/25 cal anti-aircraft guns 40 × .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns |
| Armor: | |
| Aircraft carried: | 86 (maximum) 76 (normal) |
| Aviation facilities: | 3 × elevators 3 × catapults |
USS Ranger (CV-4) was the first ship of the United States Navy to be designed and built from the keel up as an aircraft carrier. Ranger was a relatively small ship, closer in size and displacement to the first US carrier—Langley—than later ships. An island superstructure was not included in the original design, but was added after completion. Of the eight pre-war US aircraft carriers CV-1 through CV-8, Ranger was one of only three to survive World War II, the others being Enterprise andSaratoga. Deemed too slow for use with the Pacific Fleet's carrier task forces,[10] the ship spent most of the war in the Atlantic Ocean.
World War II[edit]
1942[edit]
In December 1941, she was returning to Norfolk from an ocean patrol extending to Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.[23] Arriving in Norfolk on 8 December,[24] she sailed on the 21st for patrol in the South Atlantic. She then entered the Norfolk Navy Yard for repairs on 21 March 1942.[25] Ranger was one of 14 ships to receive the early RCA CXAM-1 radar.[9]
Ranger served as flagship of Rear Admiral A. B. Cook, Commander, Carriers, Atlantic Fleet—until 6 April 1942, when he was relieved by Rear Admiral Ernest D. McWhorter, who also broke his flag inRanger.[26]
Steaming to Naval Air Station Quonset Point, Rhode Island, Ranger loaded 68 Curtiss P-40Es and put to sea on 22 April, launching the Army planes on 10 May to land at Accra, on the Gold Coast of Africa (Ghana).[27] She returned to Quonset Point on 28 May, made a patrol to Argentia, then steamed out of Newport on 1 July with another 72 Army P-40s, which she launched off the coast of Africa for Accra on 19 July. Both groups of P-40Es were en route to augment the American Volunteer Group Flying Tigers (soon to be redesignated as the Army Air Forces' 23rd Fighter Group) in China, to replenish their losses as well as forming a second unit, the 51st Fighter Group.[28] After calling at Trinidad,[29] she returned to Norfolk for local battle practice until 1 October, then based her training at Bermuda,[30] in the company of four new Sangamon-classescort carriers: ships converted from oil tankers to increase U.S. air power in the Atlantic Ocean.
_flight_deck_Torch.jpg)
As the largest carrier in the Atlantic Fleet, Ranger led the task force that comprised herself and the four escort carriers. These provided air superiority during the amphibious invasion of Vichy-ruled French Morocco and the resulting Naval Battle of Casablanca, beginning on 8 November.[31]
It was still dark at 06:15 that day, when Ranger—stationed 30 mi (48 km) northwest of Casablanca—began launching her aircraft to support the landings made at three points on the Atlantic coast of North Africa (Operation Torch).[32] Nine of herGrumman F4F Wildcat fighters attacked the Rabat and Rabat-Sale aerodromes, headquarters of the French air forces in Morocco. Without loss to themselves, they destroyed seven planes at one field, and fourteen bombers at the other. Another flight destroyed seven planes on the Port Lyautey field. Some of Ranger's planes strafed four French destroyers in Casablanca Harbor, while others strafed and bombed nearby shore batteries.
The carrier launched 496 combat sorties in the three-day operation. Her attack aircraft scored two direct bomb hits on the French destroyer leader Albatros, completely wrecking her forward half and causing 300 casualties. They also attacked the French cruiser Primauguet as she sortied from Casablanca Harbor and dropped depth charges within lethal distance of twosubmarines.[clarification needed] They knocked out coastal defense and anti-aircraft batteries, destroyed more than 70 enemy aircraft on the ground, and shot down 15 aircraft in aerial combat. However, 16 planes from Ranger were lost or damaged beyond repair. It was estimated that 21 enemy light tanks were immobilized and some 86 military vehicles destroyed – most of them troop-carrying trucks.
Casablanca capitulated to the American forces on 11 November.[33] Ranger departed from the Moroccan coast on 12 November,[34] returning to Hampton Roads on 24 November and Norfolk on 14 December 1942.[35]
1943[edit]
Following training in Chesapeake Bay, Ranger underwent an overhaul at the Norfolk Navy Yard from 16 December 1942 – 7 February 1943. She next transported 75 P-40L fighters of the Army Air Forces' 58th Fighter Group to Africa, arriving at Casablanca on 23 February.[36] Next, she patrolled and trained pilots along the New England coast steaming as far north as Halifax, Nova Scotia.[37] Departing from Halifax on 11 August,[38] she joined the British Home Fleet at Scapa Flow, Scotland on 19 August, with which she patrolled the approaches to the British Isles.[38]
Ranger departed from Scapa Flow with the Home Fleet on 2 October to attackGerman shipping in Norwegian waters (Operation Leader).[39] The objective of the force was the northern Norwegian port of Bodø.[39] The task force reached launch position off Vestfjorden before dawn on 4 October[39] completely undetected. At 06:18, Ranger launched 20 SBD Dauntlessdive bombers and an escort of eight Wildcats. One division of dive bombers attacked the 8,000-long-ton (8,100 t) freighterLaPlata, while the rest continued north to attack a German ship convoy. The bombers severely damaged a 10,000-long-ton (10,000 t) tanker and a smaller troop transport. They also sank two of four small German merchant ships in the Bodø roadstead.[40]
A second attack group from Ranger—consisting of 10 Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers and six Wildcats—destroyed a German freighter and a small coastal ship, and bombed a troop-laden transport. Three of the aircraft were lost to anti-aircraft fire. On the afternoon of 4 October, Ranger was located by three German aircraft; her combat air patrol shot down two of the enemy planes and chased away the third.[40]
Ranger returned to Scapa Flow on 6 October.[41] She patrolled with the British 2nd Battle Squadron in waters extending northwestward to Iceland,[42] and then she departed from Hvalfjord on 26 November,[42] arriving at Boston on 3 December.[42]
1944–45[edit]
On 3 January 1944, Ranger became a training carrier out of Quonset Point, Rhode Island. This duty was interrupted on 20 April when she steamed to Staten Island, New York to take on 76 Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighters—together with Army, Navy, and French Navy personnel—for transportation to Casablanca.[43] Steaming out on 24 April, she arrived at Casablanca on 4 May.[44] The new aircraft were replaced with damaged U.S. Army aircraft marked for repair in the U.S., while military passengers were embarked for the return to New York City.
_in_Panama_Canal_1945.jpeg)
Prior to her returning to the U.S., Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Ernest King had planned to overhaul the carrier by lengthening the hull and installing new engines.Ranger had been designed in the late 1920s, and consequently was smaller, slower, less armored, and carried fewer aircraft and ammunition supplies than the rest of the U.S. carrier fleet. Admiral King favored having the conversions done, but his staff officers pointed out that the resources required to accomplish this would impact on the construction and repair of newer, larger, and more capable aircraft carriers. Based on this information, the full project was canceled.[45] After arriving at New York Harbor on 16 May, Ranger entered the Norfolk Navy Yard to have her flight deck strengthened, new aircraft catapults installed, and radar equipment updated.[46] This provided her with the capability of night fighter-interceptor training. On 11 July, she departed from Norfolk and headed for Panama. She transited the Panama Canal five days later, embarked several hundred U.S. Army passengers at Balboa, Panama,[46] then sailed to San Diego, arriving there on 25 July.[47] After embarking the men and aircraft of Night Fighting Squadron 102 and nearly 1,000 U.S. Marines, Ranger steamed for Hawaiian waters on 28 July, reaching Pearl Harbor on 3 August.[47] During the next three months, Ranger conducted night carrier flight training operations out of Pearl Harbor.[47]
Ranger departed from Pearl Harbor on 13 October[48] to train new naval pilots for combat duty. Operating out of San Diego under the Commander, Fleet Air, Alameda, California, Ranger continued training air groups and squadrons along the California coast throughout the remainder of the war. Ranger was the only pre-war U.S. carrier to have never engaged Japanese forces in battle.
Final operations[edit]
Departing San Diego on 30 September 1945,[49] she embarked civilian and military passengers at Balboa[49] and then steamed for New Orleans, Louisiana, arriving on 18 October. Following Navy Day celebrations there, she sailed on 30 October[49] for brief operations at Pensacola, Florida. After calling at Norfolk, she entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyardon 19 November for overhaul. She remained on the eastern seaboard until decommissioned at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard on 18 October 1946.[50] Struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 29 October,[51] she was sold for scrap to Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Chester, Pennsylvania on 31 January 1947.[51]
Awards[edit]
For her service Ranger was awarded two Service stars and the following ribbons/awards. The 2 Service stars awarded toRanger were awarded based on her participation in the operations detailed below.
   | ||
  |  |  |
| American Defense Service Medal with "A" Device | American Campaign Medal | ||
| European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 2 stars | Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal | World War II Victory Medal |
| Action No. | Operation:Action | Operation Period | Period of CV-4 Participation | Battle Stars Awarded | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (1) (2) | North African occupation: Algeria-Morocco landings North African occupation: Actions off Casablanca | 8–11 Nov 42 8 Nov 42 | 8 Nov 42 – 11 Nov 42 8 Nov 42 | 1 | One battle star awarded for participation in 1 or more of the North African occupation actions.Rangerparticipated in 2 actions (Actions No. (1) and (2)) out of 3 total actions that took place during the North African occupation and thus was awarded 1 star. The North African occupation was code named Torch. |
| (3) | Norway raid | 2–6 Oct 43 | 2 Oct 43 – 6 Oct 43 | 1 | Operation was code named Leader. |
| Total Battle Stars | 2 |
_in_Puget_Sound,_September_1945.jpg)
Aerial view of Enterprise at sea in 1945
| |
| 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: |
|
.svg){kind=small}
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.
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 [2] and received a radio message from Pearl Harbor, reporting that the base was under attack. 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.[3]She sailed early the next morning to patrol against possible additional attacks in the Hawaiian Islands. Although the group encountered no surface ships, Enterprise aircraft 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 layover 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."[4][5]
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 her sister ship Hornet and sail west, escorting Hornet on the mission to launch 16 Army B-25 Mitchells in the "Doolittle Raid" on Tokyo. While fighters from Enterprise 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.
The Battle of Midway[edit]
Five days later, the "Big E" sortied toward the South Pacific to reinforce U.S. carriers operating in the Coral Sea. However, the Battle of the Coral Sea was over before Enterprise arrived. After executing, withHornet, a feint towards Nauru and Banaba (Ocean) islands which caused the Japanese to cancel their operation to seize the two islands,Enterprise returned to Pearl Harbor on 26 May, and began intensive preparation to meet the expected Japanese thrust at Midway Island.
On 28 May, Enterprise sortied as Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance's flagship with orders "to hold Midway and inflict maximum damage on the enemy by strong attrition tactics". With Enterprise in CTF 16 were Hornet, sixcruisers, and 10 destroyers. On 30 May, Task Force 17 (TF17), with Rear AdmiralFrank J. Fletcher in Yorktown, left Pearl with two cruisers and six destroyers as CTF-17; as senior officer present, Rear Admiral Fletcher became "Officer in Tactical Command." The usual commander of the Enterprise task force, Vice Admiral William F. "Bull" Halsey, was kept in hospital at Pearl with a stress-related skin condition.
Each side launched air attacks during the day in a decisive battle. Though the forces were in contact until 7 June, by 10:45am on 4 June the outcome had been decided. Three Japanese carriers were burning and it was only a matter of time until a fourth was caught and knocked out. The Battle of Midway began on the morning of 4 June 1942, when four Japanese carriers, unaware of the presence of U.S. naval forces, launched attacks on Midway Island. Shortly after the first bomb fell on Midway, the first wave of planes from Midway Island attacked, unsuccessfully. Several more groups attacked, again failing to damage their targets. Planes from the U.S. carriers attacked next. Enterprise torpedo bombers attacked first, scoring no hits and suffering heavy losses, soon after Enterprise dive bombers attacked and disabled the Japanese carriersKaga and Akagi, leaving them ablaze. Within an hour, the one remaining Japanese carrier, Hiryu, launched air strikes that crippled the Yorktown with three bombs and two torpedoes striking home during two separate attacks. In late afternoon, a mixed squadron of Enterprise and Yorktown bombers, flying from the Enterprise, disabled Hiryu,leaving her burning (aircraft from Yorktown had also disabled Sōryū at the same time as the Enterprise planes were bombing Akagi and Kaga, again leaving it burning and dead in the water). While Yorktown and Hammann were the only American ships sunk, TF 16 and TF 17 lost a total of 113 planes, 61 of them in combat, during the battle. Japanese losses were much larger: four carriers(all scuttled),[6] one cruiser, and 272 carrier aircraft. Despite losses to her aircraft squadrons, Enterprise came through undamaged and returned to Pearl Harbor on 13 June 1942.
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 adraft of 30 feet 5 inches (9.3 m) at deep 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 ofCaptain Harry E. Yarnell.[1] She was nicknamed by her crew Sister 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 thecanal locks. Saratoga was "sunk" later the same day by an airstrike fromLexington.[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 at Norfolk, 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 which Saratoga successfully defended the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal from a staged attack byLexington. Rear Admiral Joseph 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.
USS Yorktown-
_Jul1937.jpg)
USS Yorktown in July 1937
| |
| 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:
|
| 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.
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, the battleship New Mexico, 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 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 the destroyers Morris and Anderson dropped depth charges, with Hughesassisted 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 Reuben James, 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: Enterprise,Lexington, and Saratoga. Ranger, Wasp, and the recently commissioned Hornetremained in the Atlantic, Yorktown departed Norfolk on 16 December 1941 for the Pacific, her secondary gun galleries studded with new Oerlikon 20 mm guns. She reached San Diego 30 December 1941 and soon became flagship for Rear AdmiralFrank 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 inTutuila 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 two cruisers, Louisville and St. Louis and four destroyers, seemingly provided byDestroyer 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. Other Yorktown 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 succeeded only 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 and her escort, USS Sims 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 by USS 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.
Battle of Midway[edit]
Main article: Battle of Midway
_underway_at_Midway_1942.jpg)
Armed with this intelligence Admiral Nimitz began methodically planning Midway's defense, rushing all possible reinforcement in the way of men, planes and guns to Midway. In addition, he began gathering his comparatively meager naval forces to meet the enemy at sea. As part of those preparations, he recalled TF16, Enterpriseand Hornet, to Pearl Harbor for a quick replenishment.
Yorktown, too, received orders to return to Hawaii; and she arrived at Pearl Harbor on 27 May, entering dry dock the following day. The damage the ship had sustained after Coral Sea was considerable, and led to the Navy Yard inspectors estimating that she would need at least two weeks of repairs. However, Admiral Nimitz ordered that she be made ready to sail alongside TF16. Yard workers there, laboring around the clock, made enough repairs to enable the ship to put to sea again in 48 hours. The repairs were made in such a short time that the Japanese Naval Commanders thought they had mistaken Yorktown for another vessel as they thought she had been sunk after the previous battle, yet she had returned. Her air group was augmented by planes and crews fromSaratoga which was then headed for Pearl Harbor after her refit on the West Coast. Yorktown sailed as the core of TF17 on 30 May.
Northeast of Midway, Yorktown, flying Rear Admiral Fletcher's flag, rendezvoused with TF16 under Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance and maintained a position 10 miles (16 km) to the northward of him.
Patrols, both from Midway and the carriers, were flown during early June. At dawn on 4 June Yorktown launched a 10-plane group of Dauntlesses from VB-5 which searched a northern semicircle for a distance of 100 miles (160 km) out but found nothing.
Meanwhile, PBYs flying from Midway had sighted the approaching Japanese and broadcast the alarm for the American forces defending the key atoll. Admiral Fletcher, in tactical command, ordered Admiral Spruance's TF16 to locate and strike the enemy carrier force.
Yorktown's search group returned at 0830, landing soon after the last of the six-plane CAP had left the deck. When the last of the Dauntlesses were recovered, the deck was hastily respotted for the launch of the ship's attack group: 17 Dauntlesses from VB-3, 12 Devastators from VT-3, and six Wildcats from "Fighting Three." Enterprise and Hornet, meanwhile, launched their attack groups.
The torpedo planes from the three American carriers located the Japanese striking force, but met disaster. Of the 41 planes from VT-8, VT-6, and VT-3, only six returned to Enterprise and Yorktown; none made it back to Hornet.
As a reaction to the torpedo attack the Japanese CAP had broken off their high-altitude cover for their carriers and had concentrated on the Devastators, flying "on the deck", allowing Dauntlesses from Yorktown and Enterprise to arrive unopposed.
Virtually unopposed, Yorktown's dive-bombers attacked Sōryū, making three lethal hits with 1,000 pound bombs and setting her on fire.[2] Enterprise's planes, meanwhile, hit Akagi and Kaga, effectively destroying them. The bombs from the Dauntlesses caught all of the Japanese carriers in the midst of refueling and rearming operations, causing devastating fires and explosions.
Three of the four Japanese carriers had been destroyed. The fourth, Hiryū, separated from her sisters, launched a striking force of 18 "Vals" and soon located Yorktown.
As soon as the attackers had been picked up on Yorktown's radar at about 1329, she discontinued fueling her CAP fighters on deck and swiftly cleared for action. Her returning dive bombers were moved from the landing circle to open the area for antiaircraft fire. The Dauntlesses were ordered aloft to form a CAP. An auxiliary 800 gallon gasoline tank was pushed over the carrier's fantail, eliminating one fire hazard. The crew drained fuel lines and closed and secured all compartments.
All of Yorktown's fighters were vectored out to intercept the oncoming Japanese aircraft, and did so some 15 to 20 miles (32 km) out. The Wildcats attacked vigorously, breaking up what appeared to be an organized attack by some 18 "Vals" and 6 "Zeroes."[3] "Planes were flying in every direction", wrote Captain Buckmaster after the action, "and many were falling in flames." The leader of the "Vals", Lieutenant Michio Kobayashi, was probably shot down by the VF-3's commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander John S. Thach. Lieutenant William W. Barnes also pressed home the first attack, possibly taking out the lead bomber and damaging at least two others. Despite an intensive barrage and evasive maneuvering, three "Vals" scored hits. Two of them were shot down soon after releasing their bomb loads; the third went out of control just as his bomb left the rack. It tumbled in flight and hit just abaft number two elevator on the starboard side, exploding on contact and blasting a hole about 10 feet (3 m) square in the flight deck. Splinters from the exploding bomb killed most of the crews of the two 1.1-inch (28 mm) gun mounts aft of the island and on the flight deck below. Fragments piercing the flight deck hit three planes on the hangar deck, starting fires. One of the aircraft, a YorktownDauntless, was fully fueled and carrying a 1,000 pound bomb. Prompt action by Lt. A. C. Emerson, the hangar deck officer, prevented a serious fire by activating the sprinkler system and quickly extinguishing the fire.
The second bomb to hit the ship came from the port side, pierced the flight deck, and exploded in the lower part of thefunnel. It ruptured the uptakes for three boilers, disabled two boilers, and extinguished the fires in five boilers. Smoke and gases began filling the firerooms of six boilers. The men at number one boiler remained at their post and kept it alight, maintaining enough steam pressure to allow the auxiliary steam systems to function.
A third bomb hit the carrier from the starboard side, pierced the side of number one elevator and exploded on the fourth deck, starting a persistent fire in the rag storage space, adjacent to the forward gasoline stowage and the magazines. The prior precaution of smothering the gasoline system with carbon dioxide undoubtedly prevented the gasoline from igniting.
While the ship recovered from the damage inflicted by the dive-bombing attack, her speed dropped to six knots; and then at 14:40, about 20 minutes after the bomb hit that had shut down most of the boilers, Yorktown slowed to a stop, dead in the water.
At about 15:40, Yorktown prepared to get steaming again; and, at 15:50, the engine room force reported that they were ready to make 20 knots (23 mph; 37 km/h) or better.
Simultaneously, with the fires controlled sufficiently to warrant the resumption of fueling, Yorktown began refueling the fighters then on deck; just then the ship's radar picked up an incoming air group at a distance of 33 miles (53 km). While the ship prepared for battle, again smothering gasoline systems and stopping the fueling of the planes on her flight deck, she vectored four of the six fighters of the CAP in the air to intercept the raiders. Of the 10 fighters on board, eight had as little as 23 gallons of fuel in their tanks. They were launched as the remaining pair of fighters of the CAP headed out to intercept the Japanese planes.
At 16:00, maneuvering Yorktown churned forward, making 20 knots (23 mph; 37 km/h). The fighters she had launched and vectored out to intercept had meanwhile made contact with the enemy. Yorktown received reports that the planes were "Kates." The Wildcats shot down at least three, but the rest began their approach while the carrier and her escorts mounted a heavy antiaircraft barrage.
Yorktown maneuvered radically, avoiding at least two torpedoes before another two struck the port side within minutes of each other, the first at 16:20. The carrier had been mortally wounded; she lost power and went dead in the water with a jammed rudder and an increasing list to port.
As the ship's list progressed Commander C. E. Aldrich, the damage control officer, reported from central station that, without power, controlling the flooding looked impossible. The engineering officer, LCDR. J. F. Delaney, soon reported that all boiler fires were out, that all power was lost and that it was impossible to correct the list. Buckmaster ordered Aldrich, Delaney, and their men to secure and lay up on deck to put on life jackets.
The list, meanwhile, continued to increase. When it reached 26 degrees, Buckmaster and Aldrich agreed that capsizing was imminent. "In order to save as many of the ship's company as possible", the captain wrote later, he "ordered the ship to be abandoned."
Over the next few minutes the crew lowered the wounded into life rafts and struck out for the nearby destroyers and cruisers to be picked up by their boats, abandoning ship in good order. After the evacuation of all wounded, the executive officer, Commander I. D. Wiltsie, left the ship down a line on the starboard side. Buckmaster, meanwhile, toured the ship one last time, to see if any men remained. After finding no "live personnel", Buckmaster lowered himself into the water by means of a line over the stern, by which time water was lapping the port side of the hangar deck.
Salvage and sinking[edit]
After being picked up by the destroyer USS Hammann, Buckmaster transferred to the cruiser Astoria and reported to Rear Admiral Fletcher, who had shifted his flag to the heavy cruiser after the first dive-bombing attack. The two men agreed that a salvage party should attempt to save the ship, since she had stubbornly remained afloat despite the heavy list and imminent danger of capsizing.
While efforts to save Yorktown had been proceeding apace, her planes were still in action, joining those from Enterprise in striking the last Japanese carrier - Hiryū - late that afternoon. Taking four direct hits, the Japanese carrier was soon helpless. She was abandoned by her crew and left to drift out of control.
Yorktown, as it turned out, floated throughout the night. Two men were still alive on board her; one attracted attention by firing a machine gun, heard by the sole attending destroyer, Hughes. The escort picked up the men, one of whom later died.
Meanwhile, Buckmaster had selected 29 officers and 141 men to return to the ship in an attempt to save her. Five destroyers formed an antisubmarine screen while the salvage party boarded the listing carrier, the fire in the rag storage still smouldering on the morning of the 6th. The Fleet Tug USS Vireo, summoned from Pearl and Hermes Reef, soon commenced towing the ship, although progress was painfully slow.
Yorktown's repair party went on board with a carefully predetermined plan of action to be carried out by men from each department - damage control, gunnery air engineering, navigation, communication, supply and medical. To assist in the work, Lt. Cdr. Arnold E. True brought his ship, USS Hammann, alongside to starboard, aft, furnishing pumps and electric power.
By mid-afternoon, it looked as if the gamble to save the ship was paying off. The process of reducing topside weight was proceeding well - one 5-inch (127 mm) gun had been dropped over the side, and a second was ready to be cast loose; planes had been pushed over the side; the submersible pumps (powered by electricity provided by Hammann) had pumped a lot of water out of the engineering spaces. The efforts of the salvage crew had reduced the list about two degrees.
Unknown to Yorktown and the six nearby destroyers, Japanese submarine I-168had achieved a favorable firing position. Remarkably - but perhaps understandably due to the debris and wreckage in the water in the vicinity - none of the destroyers picked up the approaching I-boat. At 15:36 lookouts spotted a salvo of four torpedoes approaching the ship from the starboard beam.
Hammann went to general quarters, a 20 millimeter gun going into action in an attempt to explode the torpedoes in the water, her screws churning the water beneath her fantail as she tried to get underway. One torpedo hit Hammann directly amidships and broke her back. The destroyer jackknifed and went down rapidly.
Two torpedoes struck Yorktown just below the turn of the bilge at the after end of the island structure. The fourth torpedo passed just astern of the carrier.
About a minute after Hammann sank there was an underwater explosion, possibly caused by the destroyer's depth charges going off. The blast killed many of Hammann's and a few of Yorktown's men who had been thrown into the water. The concussion battered the already-damaged carrier's hull and caused tremendous shocks that carried away Yorktown's auxiliary generator, sent numerous fixtures from the hangar deck overhead crashing to the deck below, sheared rivets in the starboard leg of the foremast, and threw men in every direction, causing broken bones and several minor injuries.
All destroyers immediately commenced searches for the enemy submarine (which escaped) and commenced rescuing men from Hammann and Yorktown. Captain Buckmaster decided to postpone further attempts at salvage until the following day.
Vireo cut the tow and doubled back to Yorktown to pick up survivors, taking on board many men of the salvage crew while picking up men from the water. The little ship endured a terrific pounding from the larger ship but nevertheless stayed alongside to carry out her rescue mission. Later, while on board the tug, Buckmaster conducted a burial service, and two officers and an enlisted man from Hammann were buried at sea.
The second attempt at salvage was never made. Throughout the night of the 6th and into the morning of the 7th, Yorktownremained stubbornly afloat. By 05:30 on 7 June, however, the men in the ships nearby noted that the carrier's list was rapidly increasing to port. At 07:01, the ship turned over onto her port side, rolled upside-down, and sank, stern first, in 3,000 fathoms (5,500 m) of water.
In all, Yorktown's sinking claimed the lives of 141 of her officers.
Honors and rediscovery[edit]
Yorktown (CV-5) earned three battle stars for her World War II service, two of them for the significant part she had played in stopping Japanese expansion and turning the tide of the war at Coral Sea and at Midway.
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| American Defense Service Medal with "A" Device | ||
| American Campaign Medal | Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 3 stars | World War II Victory Medal |
On 19 May 1998, the wreck of Yorktown was found and photographed by renowned oceanographer Dr. Robert D. Ballard, discoverer of the wrecks of the RMS Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck. The wreck of the Yorktown, 3 miles (5 km) beneath the surface, was (and may still be) in excellent condition although she had spent 56 years on the deep-sea floor; much paint and equipment were still visible.[4] As of June 2014, there have not been any follow-up expeditions to theYorktown's wreckage.
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