USS Hornet (CV-8)

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

USS Hornet (CV-8) shortly after completion
History
United States
NameHornet
NamesakeUSS Hornet (1805)
Ordered30 March 1939
BuilderNewport News Shipbuilding Company
Laid down25 September 1939
Launched14 December 1940
Sponsored byAnnie Reid Knox
Commissioned20 October 1941
Nickname(s)"Happy Hornet", and "Horny Maru"[1]
Honors and
awards		 4 × battle stars
FateSunk in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, 27 October 1942
General characteristics (as built)
Class and typeYorktown-class aircraft carrier
Displacement
  • 20,000 long tons (20,321 t) (standard)
  • 25,500 long tons (25,909 t) (full load)
Length824 ft 9 in (251.38 m) (overall)
Beam
  • 83 ft 3 in (25.37 m) (waterline)
  • 114 ft (35 m) (overall)
Draft28 ft (8.5 m) full load
Installed power
Propulsion4 shafts; 4 geared steam turbines
Speed32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph) (design)
Range12,500 nmi (23,200 km; 14,400 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement2,919 officers and enlisted (wartime)
Armament
Armor
  • Belt: 2.5–4 in (64–102 mm)
  • Deck: 4 in (102 mm)
  • Bulkheads: 4 in (102 mm)
  • Conning Tower: 4 in (102 mm)
  • Steering Gear: 4 in (102 mm)
Aircraft carried72 × aircraft
Aviation facilities

USS Hornet (CV-8), the seventh U.S. Navy vessel of that name, was a Yorktown-class aircraft carrier of the United States Navy.

During World War II in the Pacific Theater, she launched the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo and participated in the Battle of Midway and the Buin-Faisi-Tonolai raid. In the Solomon Islands campaign, she was involved in the capture and defense of Guadalcanal and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, where she was irreparably damaged by enemy torpedo and dive bombers. Faced with an approaching Japanese surface force, Hornet was abandoned and later torpedoed and sunk by approaching Japanese destroyers. Hornet was in service for one year and six days, and was the last U.S. fleet carrier ever sunk by enemy fire. For these actions, she was awarded four service stars and a citation for the Doolittle Raid in 1942, and her Torpedo Squadron 8 received a Presidential Unit Citation for extraordinary heroism for its performance at the Battle of Midway.

In January 2019, the wreckage of the vessel was located near the Solomon Islands.[2]

  1. ^ "ThirteenCats - Ship Nicknames". Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  2. ^ "The wreck of a WWII US Navy aircraft carrier, lost for 76 years, has been found in the South Pacific". CNN. 13 February 2019.