USS Yorktown (CV-5)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Yorktown.

Yorktown in July 1937
History
United States
NameUSS Yorktown
NamesakeBattle of Yorktown
Ordered3 August 1933
BuilderNewport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia
Laid down21 May 1934
Launched4 April 1936
Sponsored byMrs. Eleanor Roosevelt
Commissioned30 September 1937
Stricken2 October 1942
IdentificationCV-5
Honors and
awards		 3 × battle stars
Fate
General characteristics
Class and typeYorktown-class aircraft carrier
Displacement25,500 long tons (25,900 t) (full load)
Length
  • As built: 770 ft (234.7 m) (waterline)
  • 824 ft 9 in (251.4 m) (o/a)
Beam
  • As built: 83 ft 3 in (25.4 m) (waterline)
  • 109 ft 6 in (33.4 m) (o/a)
Draft26 ft (7.9 m)
Installed power
Propulsion4 × screws; 4 × geared steam turbines
Speed32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Range12,500 nautical miles (23,200 km; 14,400 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement2,217 officers and men (1941)
Sensors and
processing systems		CXAM radar from 1940[1]
Armament
Armor
  • 2.5–4 inches (6.4–10.2 cm) belt
  • 60 lb protective decks
  • 4 inches (10 cm) bulkheads
  • 4 inch side and 3 inch top round conning tower
  • 4 inch side over steering gear
Aircraft carried90 aircraft
Aviation facilities

USS Yorktown (CV-5) was an aircraft carrier that served in the United States Navy during World War II. Named after the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, she was commissioned in 1937. Yorktown was the lead ship of the Yorktown class, which was designed on the basis of lessons learned from operations with the converted battlecruisers of the Lexington class and the smaller purpose-built USS Ranger.

Yorktown was at port in Norfolk during the attack on Pearl Harbor, having just completed a patrol of the Atlantic Ocean. She then sailed to San Diego in late December 1941 and was incorporated as the flagship of Task Force 17. Together with the carrier Lexington, she successfully attacked Japanese shipping off the east coast of New Guinea in early March 1942. Her aircraft sank or damaged several warships supporting the invasion of Tulagi in early May. Yorktown rendezvoused with Lexington in the Coral Sea and attempted to stop the invasion of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. 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 badly damaged Shōkaku, but the Japanese aircraft critically damaged Lexington, which was later scuttled, and severely damaged Yorktown.

Despite the damage suffered, Yorktown was able to return to Hawaii. Although estimates were that the damage would take two weeks to repair, Yorktown put to sea only 72 hours after entering drydock at Pearl Harbor, which meant that she was available for the next confrontation with the Japanese. Yorktown played an important part in the Battle of Midway in early June. Yorktown's aircraft played crucial roles in crippling two Japanese fleet carriers. Yorktown also absorbed both Japanese aerial counterattacks at Midway which otherwise would have been directed at the carriers USS Enterprise and Hornet.[2] On 4 June, during the battle, Japanese aircraft from the aircraft carrier Hiryu crippled Yorktown after two attacks.[3] She lost all power and developed a 23-degree list to port. Salvage efforts on Yorktown were encouraging, and she was taken in tow by USS Vireo. On 6 June, the Japanese submarine I-168 fired a salvo of torpedoes, two of which struck Yorktown, and a third sinking the destroyer USS Hammann, which had been providing auxiliary power to Yorktown. With further salvage efforts deemed hopeless, the remaining repair crews were evacuated from Yorktown, which sank on 7 June.[4] The wreck of Yorktown was located by oceanographer Robert Ballard in 1998.

  1. ^ Macintyre, Donald, CAPT RN (September 1967). "Shipborne Radar". United States Naval Institute Proceedings. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Parshall, pp. 63–67, Millot, p. 118; Dull, p. 135; Lundstrom (2006), p. 203, Ito, pp. 48–49.
  3. ^ "Hiryu Tabular Record of Movement | Imperial Flattops | Nihon Kaigun". www.combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  4. ^ Parshall & Tully 2005, pp. 374–375, 383