USS Hornet (CV-8)

History of USS Hornet (CV-8)

At launch, the USS Hornet (CV-8) was the seventh ship in US Navy history to be named Hornet. She is the U.S. Navy's third Yorktown-class aircraft carrier. The USS Hornet shares the same honor as the USS Wasp, named after the first two US Navy warships in service with the US Navy's predecessor, the Continental Navy. Originally identified as "Hull 385", CV-8 construction began in September 1939 at the Newport News Shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia, at a cost of $32 million.

She was officially launched in 1940 and officially commissioned on October 20, 1941, forty-two days before the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Her first commanding officer was Captain Marc Mitscher, and most of her crew of 2,200 were recent Navy boot camp graduates with an average age of 18 - so few had shipboard experience.

The U.S. carrier force is also new, with as many experienced personnel transferred from other U.S. ships as possible.

When launched, the USS Hornet looked very similar to today's modern U.S. Navy carriers. Most of her top is controlled by a large-span flight deck serviced by three hangar elevators that provide access to the aircraft deck below. Three hydraulic catapults are in operation, allowing three aircraft to be launched simultaneously (two on the main deck and one on the hangar deck).

The island's superstructure was relocated to starboard in the usual fashion, allowing unrestricted approach by incoming and outgoing aircraft at the bow and stern. Their facilities include crew areas, mess halls, machine halls and engine controls.

Propulsion is connected by 4 x Parsons geared steam turbines to 9 x Babcock and Wilcox boilers feeding 4 x shafts at the stern. This arrangement gives the carrier a speed of 32.5 knots in ideal conditions and a range of up to 12,500 nautical miles.

At the height of wartime operations, it had 2,919 personnel.

The USS Hornet was originally equipped with 8 x 5"/48 caliber (127 mm) dual-purpose (DP) guns for self-defense. These were lined with 16 x 1.1"/75 caliber (28 mm) anti-4x4 towers for aircraft cannons. The final defense was done by 24 x M2 Browning. 50 caliber heavy machine gun.

In February 1942, the armament was modified to 8 x 5"/38 DP guns, 16 x 1.1" (4x4) guns and 30 x 20 mm anti-aircraft guns. In July 1942, the kit was modified again with 8 x 5"/38 DP guns, 20 x 1.1" (4x4) guns and 32 x 20mm AA guns.

However, the carrier's real bread and butter is its fleet, whose capabilities are not recognized until launch. USS Hornet carried 90 aircraft, usually deployed as a combat force of fighters, torpedo bombers and dive bombers. This gives the wearer an unparalleled ability to respond to a variety of situations as needed - whether on patrol or an enemy at sea, at sea or below - away from friendly ground.

In addition, carriers are almost always sent to fight the protection forces tasked with protecting their surface warshipsproviding a network of air defense, anti-ship and anti-submarine measures to ensure the carrier survives the battle. This makes World War II-era aircraft carriers even more formidable than the once-great gunnery, steel battleships that emerged at the turn of the century.

With the advent of the aircraft carrier, the era of the battleship was practically over.

The USS Hornet was sailing off the coast of Virginia on December 7, 1941, when the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) attacked Pearl Harbor and officially sent the United States into war. Nazi Germany then declared war on the United States, and their U-boats regularly patrolled the Atlantic coast.

The Hornet was sent to the Gulf of Mexico for her final sea trials, and on her return to Naval Base Norfolk on February 2, 1943, two U.S. Army Air Force B-25 Mitchell medium bombers were hoisted onto her flight deck.

She sailed to sea and successfully launched - the first time an Army bomber took off from a Navy carrier. The crew was instructed not to discuss the secret launch.

The Hornet made some crew changes and received fuel and supplies before departing Norfolk for San Diego on March 4. She arrived there on March 20 and docked in the North Island to be picked up. 8th Air Group Squadron received upgraded aircraft: Fighter 8 (VF-8) received F4F-4 Wildcat fighters, while Bomber 8 (VB-8) and Scout 8 (VS-8) received SBD-3 Dauntless dive bombers . Torpedo 8 (VT-8) still uses the outdated but easy-to-fly Douglas TBD-1 Destroyer due to delays in deliveries of the new Grumman TBF-1 Avenger torpedo aircraft.

Hornet then left the North Island and sailed off the coast of California while qualifying her pilot for carrier takeoff and landing. Captain Mitchell received top-secret orders to delay the Hornet to Pearl Harbor.

Hornet sailed north to Naval Air Station Alameda to retrieve other aircraft identified in Mitchell's secret order.

Doolittle Raid

For future missions, the Army needs bombers with a range of 2,400 nautical miles (4,400 km) and the ability to carry a 2,000 lb (910 kg) bomb load. The bombers studied were the Martin B-26 Marauder, Douglas B-18 Bolo and B-23 Dragon, as well as the North American B-25.

The B-26 had problems taking off from the short carrier deck, and the B-23 Dragon had half the wingspan of the B-25. This will reduce the number of aircraft that can be stowed on the deck of an aircraft carrier. The B-18 and B-25 were the last two considered by Commander Jimmy Doolittle.

However, the North American B-25B Mitchell had a shorter wingspan and was ultimately selected for the mission.

The group's 24 B-25B Mitchell bombers needed to be reworked prior to their mission and were sent to Mid-Continental's conversion center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Steel blasting plates were mounted on the hull around the upper turret (expected to fire from above). Atlantic weather requires the installation of de-icers and de-icers.

One of the radios and lower turrets (and a crew) were removed to save weight and make more room for fuel (hence the range). Three additional fuel tanks were added, increasing fuel capacity from 646 US gallons to 1,141 US gallons. The fake barrel is mounted on the tail to wake up the enemy's interceptor. If the bomber was shot down over Japan, the secret Norden bomb sight would have to be replaced, so pilot Captain C. Ross Greening built a low-tech replacement using materials that cost as little as 20 cents.

Upon completion, 24 B-25s flew to Eglin Field, Florida, on March 1, 1942, for carrier launch training.

22 USAF B-25 Mitchell bombers have completed training and have been ordered to Alameda, California. On March 31 and April 1, Hornet aircraft were stored on the hangar deck, with 16 bombers hoisted by cranes and tied to the flight deck. Shortly thereafter, 134 Army pilots and crew, led by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, boarded the ship, and the USS Hornet departed San Francisco Bay on April 2, 1942.

Bumblebee and her escort (Task Force 16.2) sailed into Japan in what became known as the "Doolittle Raid" - a mission to show the leaders of the Empire of Japan that the Japanese mainland was not an American war the reach of power.

Hornet meets Task Force 16.1 under the command of Admiral William Halsey aboard USS Enterprise (CV-6). They sailed west for a week until they encountered Japanese picket boats about 650 miles east of Tokyo. ADM Halsey, concerned that his ship was being detected, decided to launch the bombers early on April 18, about 250 miles from Japan than originally planned. As the bombers prepared to take off, strong winds and downpours hit the Hornet.

Within an hour, however, all 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers had taken off from the deck, bound for targets in the Japanese mainland.

Since the deck of the USS Hornet proved impossible for medium bomber landings, these aircraft were victims of future missions. The crew would have to disembark and disembark on friendly Chinese terrain or risk being captured, tortured and executed by the Japanese. As a result, all B-25s were killed in the raid, and 11 crew members were either prisoners of war or executed for their roles. The Japanese then turned their anger towards helping the Chinese, executing some 250,000 civilians for their role.

The Doolittle raid marked the first U.S. attack on the Japanese mainland, boosting domestic morale and demonstrating the influence of the U.S. Navy and Air Force.

Battle of Midway

The failure of the Japanese military to capture Port Moresby on its way to Australia, and the embarrassment of Doolittle's raid, prompted the Japanese navy to act to lure American fleets into a crucial battle for Pacific supremacy. The decision was to launch an invasion of Midway Atoll, about 1,300 miles northwest of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in early June. A major disadvantage of the Japanese Navy was that U.S. naval experts cracked the IJN communication code, which all but gave up the initiative.

Admiral Nimitz decided to use the intercepted code to ambush IJN carrier forces as they approached Midway. Hornet was at Pearl Harbor to supply supplies for the upcoming battle, and the command changed, with her current Captain Mitchell being promoted to admiral, and Captain Charles Mason being chosen to command Hornet.

At Pearl Harbor, the three Yorktown-class carriers would form the core of the strike force and would be the only instance of the class fighting side by side. The callsign for the American fleet's rendezvous was "Lucky Point," and American Airlines lurked an IJN invasion fleet 325 miles northeast of Midway Atoll.

On the morning of June 4, the airstrike on the Midway Naval Base was carried out by aircraft from four Japanese aircraft carriers. Soon, all three U.S. airlines were launching torpedoes, bombing raids, and fighter strike groups on each other's carrier groups.

When land-based planes attacked Midway, JAL had rescued their planes and armed and refueled.

Midway planes failed to sink or damage any Japanese aircraft carriers, while again suffering heavy casualties. Soon, Torpedo Squadron 8 (VT-8) took off from Hornet and spotted the Japanese aircraft carrier.

The 15 pending Destroyer torpedo bombers without fighter cover were still attacked, although all were shot down by Japanese Zeros within a short period of time, and only one survived - although none of the American planes found their target with torpedoes. Many other torpedo planes launched from Yorktown and Enterprise were also shot down, while the Japanese carrier was not torpedoed. The US carrier launched 41 torpedo planes, only 6 returned. Fortunately, the torpedo plane attack paved the way for Japanese fighter air cover to keep busy rather than at their designated patrol altitudes to protect the Japanese fleet.

This lapse in discipline of the Zeros, their wave jumping shot down low-flying torpedo planes, leaving the sky above the Japanese aircraft carrier group unprotected. At 10:20, American SBD Dauntless dive bombers reached 15,000 feet and began to attack, catching the Japanese Zero by surprise.

Within five minutes, three of the four Japanese aircraft carriers were hit by multiple bombs, one was sunk and two were destroyed.

The fourth Japanese aircraft carrier, the IJN Hiryu, is hidden under a rain cloud, and the battle is still inconclusive. She launched the plane and followed the American plane back to the American carrier. They found Yorktown and destroyed it before returning to the dragon.

Three hours later, Hiryu's torpedo planes spotted and hit Yorktown, which had put out their fire. Crews worked through the night until June 5 to rescue her. However, the order to abandon the ship was given and the job was done with minimal loss of life. Her career ended when a Japanese submarine returned to sink the hull. At Hiryu, the Japanese pilots were exhausted and decided to give them a meal rather than quickly deliver another blow to the U.S. military.

Fate intervenes again when American fighter jets find Hiryu carrying the plane and fuel storage on her deck. She was hit by several direct bombs, which claimed many lives, but managed to make ends meet.

On 5 June, Task Force 16, commanded by Rear Admiral Spruance, pursued the Japanese fleet westward. Under pressure from the looming U.S. fleet, the decommissioned aircraft carriers Akagi and Hiryu, which had been bombed the previous day, were torpedoed by Japanese destroyers to avoid being captured by the enemy.

The battle's final airstrike came on June 6, when dive bombers from the USS Hornet, supported by the USS Enterprise, attacked the fleeing Japanese fleet. They bombed and sank the heavy cruiser Mikuma with all their might, and damaged her sister ship, the heavy cruiser Mogami, as well as the destroyers Asashio and Arashio.

The final operation in the Midway theater was one of the decisive battles of the Pacific operation. The operation saved Midway as an American air base in the Western Pacific and possibly Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

As a result, the Japanese Navy lost four aircraft carriers, one heavy cruiser, experienced pilots, aircrews, and approximately 337 aircraft. On the other hand, the US Navy lost the fleet carrier USS Wasp (CV-7) and 147 aircraft.