USS Hornet (CV-12)

History of USS Hornet (CV-12)

During her service at sea and in the United States Navy (USN), USS Hornet (CV-12) became one of the most famous aircraft carriers in the United States during World War II (1939-1945). She was born as a member of the significant Essex class, which was originally planned to have 32 ships but ended up with 24 ships, complete with short and long boat standards.

Amazingly, the entire class of 24 survived the war and retired.

The contract to build the USS Hornet (CV-12) was awarded to Newport News Shipyard on September 9, 1940, although she was ordered as USS Kearsarge at the time. Her keel was laid on August 3, 1942, and the hull was officially launched on August 30, 1943.

Official commissioning took place on November 29, 1943 - when she was renamed USS Hornet (CV-8) in honor of the USS Hornet (CV-12) destroyed in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on October 27, 1942 (Battle of the Solomon Islands) lost to Japanese forces (CV-8 became the last US Navy aircraft carrier to lose in action).

Structure

The CV-12 displaces 27,500 tons under standard load and over 37,000 tons under full wartime load. Dimensions include a barrel length of 872 feet, a beam of 147.5 feet and a draft of up to 34.2 feet. Installed power is conventional and includes 8 Babcock & Wilcox boiler units feeding 4 geared steam turbines outputting 150,000 hp to 4 shafts below the stern. There is a mixed crew of 2,600 officers and soldiers on board, as well as onboard security and an air wing.

The ship's armor protection ranges from 4 inches at the waterline and 1.5 inches on the deck to 1.5 inches in the hangar area and 4 inches on the bulkheads.

The weapon is purely self-defense in nature and was developed as a hybrid of traditional ballistically aligned weapons, including a 4 x 5 inch (127 mm) Dual Purpose (DP) cannon and dual gun mounts 4 x 5 inch dual gun mounted on on a single gun stand. 8 x 40mm Bofors automatic cannons were mounted in quadruple mounts for anti-aircraft (AA) roles.

In addition, as a last line of defense, there are 46 x 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns mounted on a single gun mount. The ship will rely more on Combat Air Patrols (CAPs) and escort ships to protect and survive in the vast Pacific theater.

Hornet fighters conducted various raids, patrols, reconnaissance and support operations against the Japanese during the Battle of Island Hopping. Notable operations took place in Chai, Okinawa, Iwo Jima and the Marshall Islands across Japan.

During the October 20, 1944 invasion of Leyte, as part of the Philippine campaign, she was again called upon to suppress enemy fire and launch a successful attack at the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

In January 1945, specially equipped warplanes carried out important photo reconnaissance of enemy positions near Okinawa and began their attack in February, when amphibious assaults were underway to retake the island - and opened up the Direct flights to mainland Japan. At this point, Hornet fighter jets were already regularly landing on Japanese soil - proving that the enemy was no longer safe in his own backyard.

The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) suffered the final blow with the loss of the Yamato, the legendary battleship that fell victim to an aerial torpedo fired by Wasp aircraft in the Japanese's last-ditch effort to turn the tide on Okinawa.

Surprisingly, the USS Hornet was never directly damaged, despite being repeatedly attacked by enemy fire. During a strong typhoon on June 4-5, her flight deck took some damage, but enemy bombs and torpedoes failed to find their targetssweet revenge for the CV-8's downing. Their pilots destroyed some 1,410 enemy aircraft (a staggering 72 in one day!) and nearly 1.3 million tons of enemy ships during their participation in the Pacific campaign.

Her last bow in World War II was during Operation Magic Carpet, when U.S. Special Forces returned to the United States via Hawaii and San Francisco. On January 15, 1947, she was discharged and placed in the reserve.

After World War II

Recommissioned on March 20, 1951, the USS Hornet passed through the Panama Canal in New York waters, was decommissioned on May 12, and rebuilt as an "attack aircraft carrier" as part of the SCB-27 modernization program. After this work, she appeared with a new hull identifier "CVA-12". Recommissioned on September 11, 1953, she underwent tests in the Caribbean, which included stops around Mediterranean ports, Indian Ocean waters and the South China Sea, before the warship embarked on an eight-month world voyage.

She then completed a training period in San Diego waters until December 1954.

In December 1955, she underwent a new modernization under the SCB-125 program label, adding a more modern sloping flight deck and receiving the "Hurricane Bow". She was then reclassified as "CVS-12" and as "Anti-Submarine Warfare Support Ship".

After the Vietnam War (1955-1975), the USS Hornet made an important contribution to the aggressive Apollo space program that helped the Americans stay ahead of the Soviet Union and eventually put humans on the moon - Hornet The capsule was recovered from the impeachment associated with the reentry phase. The warship then faced another decommissioning on June 26, 1970, and was mothballed in Puget Sound.

The name was removed from the Naval Register on July 25, 1989, but she was rescued from spent bombs when it was designated a "Historic Landmark" in 1991.

Today, she exists as a floating museum in Alameda, Californiaa fitting end to a fine warship. During her storied tenure, USS Hornet and her crew received a total of 11 awards and medals in World War II, the Cold War and the Vietnam War.

Specification

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Performance

Armor

Wing