USS Yorktown (CV-5)

• 1. Introduction

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  USS Yorktown (CV-5) sank on the 7th of June 1942, stern first, in 3,000 fathoms of water, her battle flags still flying. Witnesses described the moment as quiet and dignified. One who was there said she went "like the great lady she was." Two patrolling PBYs appeared overhead and dipped their wings in a final salute. It was an ending that matched the ship's entire career: relentless, composed, and strangely moving.

  Yorktown had been commissioned in September 1937, named for the 1781 battle that ended the American Revolution. She was the lead ship of her class, designed on lessons drawn from converted battlecruisers and smaller purpose-built carriers. In the years between her commissioning and her sinking, she would fight in two of the most consequential naval battles of the Pacific War. She would survive one of those battles on willpower alone. She would shape the other's outcome before she could be saved.

  How does a ship that experts said would need months of repairs sail again in 72 hours? How did her presence at Midway help tip the balance of the Pacific War? And what happened in the water after her crew abandoned her? Those questions run through every chapter of Yorktown's story.

• 2. Training and Patrols

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  Eleanor Roosevelt sponsored Yorktown's launch on the 4th of April 1936, at Newport News, Virginia. The Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. had laid her keel on the 21st of May 1934. When she was commissioned on the 30th of September 1937 at Naval Station Norfolk, Captain Ernest D. McWhorter took command.

  Her shakedown cruise ranged widely. Departing on the 8th of January 1938, she called at Culebra in Puerto Rico, Charlotte Amalie in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Gonaïves in Haiti, Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, and Cristóbal in the Panama Canal Zone before returning to Hampton Roads in early March.

  Yorktown's first war game, Fleet Problem XX, came in February 1939. She was flagship of Carrier Division 2, paired with her sister-ship, operating together for the first time. The scenario put one fleet against a fictional European power in the Caribbean while protecting American interests in the Pacific. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt watched part of the exercise from a heavy cruiser. Post-exercise critique found that carrier operations had reached a new peak of efficiency, even accounting for the relative inexperience of Yorktown and her partner.

  In 1940, Yorktown received the new RCA CXAM radar, one of only six ships to get it that year. The retrofit also enclosed her signal bridge and added anti-aircraft machine guns along the flight deck's edges. Fleet Problem XXI that April included exercises that pointed, with eerie foresight, to Hawaii's vulnerability and to the potential for aircraft to track surface forces at high altitude. Those lessons would matter very soon.

  When German submarines began preying on British shipping in the Atlantic, the Navy shifted Yorktown east. She transited the Panama Canal on the night of the 6th to the 7th of May 1941 and arrived at Bermuda on the 12th. From there, she ran four neutrality patrols between Newfoundland and Bermuda, steaming a total of 17,642 miles. The men on those ships had no way of knowing that Adolf Hitler had quietly forbidden his submarines to attack American vessels. They operated on a wartime footing anyway. By the 2nd of December 1941, Yorktown was back at Norfolk. Five days later, the war she had been practicing for arrived.

• 3. Into the Pacific

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  On the 16th of December 1941, Yorktown departed Norfolk, her gun galleries fitted with new Oerlikon 20 mm cannons. The crew improvised further. Browning M2 machine guns the Oerlikons replaced were kept on board. M1919A4 .30 caliber weapons were mounted on cut swab handles, which fit neatly into the hollow pipes of the ship's safety lines. According to one account, "Yorktown bristled with more guns than a Mexican revolution movie."

  She reached San Diego on the 30th of December and became flagship for Rear Admiral Frank Fletcher's Task Force 17. Her first mission was escorting Marine reinforcements to American Samoa, departing on the 6th of January 1942. After that, TF 17 headed for the Gilbert Islands while Task Force 8 went to the Marshalls, part of the first American offensives of the war.

  At 05:17 on the morning of the raid, Yorktown launched 11 Douglas TBD-1 Devastators and 17 Douglas SBD-3 Dauntlesses under Commander Curtis W. Smiley. Severe thunderstorms hampered the mission over Jaluit, and seven planes were lost. A Japanese Kawanishi H6K flying boat attempted to attack American destroyers afterward but was driven off by anti-aircraft fire. A second Mavis was shot down by two Grumman F4F Wildcats after emerging from cloud cover. A planned second strike on Jaluit was canceled due to heavy rain and approaching darkness.

  Admiral Chester Nimitz later called the Marshalls-Gilberts raids "well conceived, well planned, and brilliantly executed," noting that the task forces had attacked with limited intelligence on the Japanese-held targets. After replenishment at Pearl Harbor, Yorktown sailed on the 14th of February bound for the Coral Sea, where she would rendezvous with Task Force 11 and its carrier, Lexington.

• 4. Salamaua and the Coral Sea

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  On the morning of the 10th of March 1942, Yorktown and Lexington launched strikes from the Gulf of Papua. The launch point meant the aircraft had to cross some 125 miles of the Owen Stanley mountains, trading security for the task force against difficult flying conditions. Lexington's air group went first, at 07:49. Yorktown followed 21 minutes later.

  Yorktown's squadrons VB-5 and VT-5 attacked Japanese shipping at Salamaua at 09:50, while VS-5 went after auxiliaries at Lae. Fighters from VF-42 flew combat air patrol over Salamaua and then strafed surface targets once it was clear there was no air opposition. Of 104 planes launched between the two carriers, 103 returned safely by noon. One SBD-2 Dauntless was downed by Japanese anti-aircraft fire.

  By early May, Japanese intentions were becoming clear: an invasion force of eleven troop-laden transports was moving toward Port Moresby, escorted by the light carrier Shōhō and screened by additional heavy cruisers. Two Pearl Harbor veterans, the carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku, provided additional air cover. On the 4th of May, Yorktown raced north at 27 knots and launched her first strike against the newly established Japanese beachhead at Tulagi. Her air group expended 22 torpedoes and 76 thousand-pound bombs across three consecutive attacks, sinking a destroyer, three minesweepers, and four barges, and destroying five enemy seaplanes.

  On the 7th of May, while Fletcher's forces searched north, Japanese search planes misidentified the oil tanker Neosho as a carrier. Two waves of bombers attacked Neosho and her escort Sims instead of the American carriers. Sims sank quickly with heavy loss of life after three direct hits. Neosho survived seven direct hits and eight near-misses before her survivors were recovered on the 11th. Their misidentification drew enemy aircraft away from Yorktown and Lexington at a critical moment, when those carriers found and sank Shōhō. A Lexington pilot reported the victory by radio: "Scratch one flattop."

  On the evening of the 7th, three Japanese aircraft incredibly mistook Yorktown for their own carrier and attempted to land. Gunfire drove them off. Twenty minutes later, three more made the same mistake, and Yorktown's gunners shot one down. The following morning, Yorktown's planes scored two bomb hits on Shōkaku, destroying her flight deck and triggering explosions in gasoline storage tanks. The attacks killed 108 Japanese sailors and wounded 40 more.

  Then the Japanese struck back. American combat air patrol Wildcats downed 17 aircraft, but torpedo planes attacked Lexington from both sides of her bow, landing two hits on her port side. Dive bombers added three bomb hits. Lexington began to list; several fires broke out below decks. Yorktown, under Captain Elliott Buckmaster, dodged eight torpedoes through skillful maneuvering. At 11:27, a single 250 kilogram semi-armor-piercing bomb struck the center of her flight deck, penetrated four decks before exploding, killed or seriously wounded 66 men, and disabled her superheater boilers. Up to 12 near-misses damaged her hull below the waterline.

  Lexington was abandoned at 17:07 and later sunk by a destroyer. Experts estimated Yorktown would need at least three months of repairs. But intelligence had already decoded enough Japanese naval traffic to know that a major operation was coming at Midway Island, and there was no time to wait.

• 5. 72 Hours at Pearl Harbor

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  Yorktown arrived at Pearl Harbor on the 27th of May, entering dry dock the following day. Navy Yard inspectors estimated she needed at least two weeks of repairs. Admiral Nimitz overrode that estimate. Workers labored around the clock and made enough repairs to get her back to sea in 48 hours, not the 72 hours sometimes cited in broader accounts of the battle.

  One critical repair was deliberately skipped: her damaged superheater boilers were left untouched, leaving her top speed limited. But her flight elevators were undamaged, and her flight deck and hull could be patched. Her air group was augmented by planes and crews from Saratoga, which was heading for Pearl Harbor after a refit on the West Coast. On the 30th of May, Yorktown sailed as the core of Task Force 17.

  The Japanese Naval Air Commanders would later mistake Yorktown for a different carrier entirely, believing she had been sunk at the Coral Sea. That misidentification would cost them.

• 6. Battle of Midway

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  At dawn on the 4th of June, Yorktown launched a 10-plane search group from VB-5 to sweep a northern semicircle out to 100 miles. They returned at 08:30 having found nothing. Meanwhile, PBYs from Midway had located the approaching Japanese fleet. Admiral Fletcher ordered Spruance's Task Force 16 to locate and strike the enemy carriers first.

  When the search group landed, Yorktown's deck was respotted for her attack group: 17 Dauntlesses from VB-3, 12 Devastators from VT-3, and six Wildcats from VF-3. The torpedo squadrons from all three American carriers found the Japanese striking force but met disaster. Of 41 planes from VT-8, VT-6, and VT-3, only six returned to Enterprise and Yorktown. None returned to Hornet. However, as the Japanese combat air patrol broke off high altitude cover to concentrate on the low-flying Devastators, dive-bombers from Yorktown and Enterprise arrived unopposed.

  Yorktown's Dauntlesses attacked the carrier Soryū, landing three hits with 1,000 pound bombs and setting her on fire. Enterprise's planes hit two more carriers. The bombs struck all three Japanese carriers while they were mid-way through refueling and rearming operations.

  The fourth Japanese carrier, Hiryū, was separated from the others. She launched a striking force of 18 Val dive-bombers, which located Yorktown at around 13:29. Yorktown cleared for action at speed, pushing an auxiliary 800-gallon fuel tank over the fantail, draining fuel lines, and closing all compartments. Her fighters were vectored out 15 to 20 miles to intercept. The Wildcats broke up the attack, and the leader of the Vals, Lieutenant Michio Kobayashi, was probably shot down by Lieutenant Commander John S. Thach. Three Vals still got through. One bomb blasted a 10-foot square hole in the flight deck. A second went down the stack, rupturing uptakes for three boilers and extinguishing fires in five more. The men at Number One boiler held their post. A third bomb hit the fourth deck and started a fire near the forward gasoline stowage.

  Yorktown slowed to 6 knots and then stopped, dead in the water, at 14:40. But the engineering crew of Number One Fireroom kept her auxiliaries running, cleared stack gases from the other firerooms, and bled steam to jump-start the other boilers. By 15:50, Chief Engineer Delaney reported she could make 20 knots or better. Captain Buckmaster had a new American flag, ten feet wide and fifteen feet long, hoisted from the foremast. Ensign John d'Arc Lorenz recalled: "For the first time I realized what the flag meant: all of us, a million faces, all our effort, a whisper of encouragement."

  She was making 20 knots again by 16:00, when radar picked up a second incoming strike 33 miles out. Eight of her 10 fighters on deck had as little as 23 gallons of fuel. She launched them anyway. The incoming aircraft were Nakajima B5N Kate torpedo planes. Yorktown maneuvered radically, dodging at least two torpedoes, before two more struck her port side within minutes of each other, the first at 16:20. The carrier lost power with a jammed rudder and a list to port that continued to grow.

  Commander Clarence Aldrich reported from central station that, without power, controlling the flooding was impossible. Lieutenant Commander John F. Delaney confirmed all boiler fires were out and all power was lost. When the list reached 26 degrees, Buckmaster and Aldrich agreed capsizing was imminent. Buckmaster ordered the ship abandoned. The wounded were lowered into life rafts. Executive Officer Commander Dixie Kiefer left down a line on the starboard side. Buckmaster toured the ship one last time, found no live personnel remaining, then lowered himself into the water by a line over the stern as water lapped the port side of the hangar deck.

• 7. Salvage and Loss

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  Yorktown stubbornly refused to sink overnight. Two men were still alive on board her; one attracted attention by firing a machine gun, heard by the destroyer Hughes standing watch. After the survivors were recovered, Captain Buckmaster organized a salvage party: 29 officers and 141 men, commanded by Executive Officer Dixie Kiefer. Five destroyers formed an anti-submarine screen. On the morning of the 6th of June, the party boarded the listing carrier.

  The fleet tug Vireo, summoned from Pearl and Hermes Reef, commenced towing the ship. Lieutenant Commander Arnold E. True brought the destroyer Hammann alongside to starboard, furnishing pumps and electrical power. The salvage crew worked methodically, dropping a 5-inch gun over the side, pushing planes overboard, and pumping water from engineering spaces. These efforts reduced the list by about two degrees.

  What the salvage party did not know was that the Japanese submarine I-168 had found them. The I-boat eluded detection, possibly due to the debris and wreckage in the water, until 15:36, when lookouts spotted four torpedoes approaching from the starboard beam. Hammann went to general quarters. One torpedo hit Hammann directly amidships and broke her back. The destroyer jackknifed and sank rapidly. Two torpedoes struck Yorktown at the turn of the bilge. About a minute after Hammann sank, an underwater explosion, possibly from the destroyer's depth charges, killed many of Hammann's crew and some of Yorktown's men in the water, dislodged Yorktown's auxiliary generator, sheared rivets in the starboard foremast leg, and battered the already-damaged carrier further. The remaining destroyers searched for I-168, which escaped.

  By 05:30 on the 7th of June, Yorktown's list was rapidly increasing again. She rolled onto her port side, lay afloat briefly, and then at 07:01 rolled upside-down and sank stern first. Captain Buckmaster's American flag was still flying when she went under. In total, 141 of Yorktown's officers and crewmen were killed during the battle and sinking. The next day, Yorktown's planes, which had transferred to Enterprise, joined in attacking Hiryū and took part in her destruction.

• 8. The Wreck and Legacy

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  On the 19th of May 1998, oceanographer Dr. Robert Ballard, who had previously located the wrecks of the Titanic and the Bismarck, found Yorktown's wreck three miles down, sitting upright on the sea floor. Despite 56 years on the bottom, much of her paint and equipment remained visible. A more extensive survey followed in September 2023.

  During a livestreamed exploration on the 19th and the 20th of April 2025, NOAA Ocean Exploration sent a remotely operated underwater vehicle through the wreck. Inside the hangar, investigators found what appeared to be a 1941 Ford Super Deluxe Station Wagon, known informally as a Woodie, alongside at least three SBD Dauntless dive-bombers. The ROV also found intact murals still visible on the ship's walls. The wreck lies within Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

  Yorktown earned three battle stars for her World War II service. After her loss at Midway, a new Essex-class carrier then under construction as USS Bonhomme Richard was renamed Yorktown in her honor. That second Yorktown was decommissioned in 1970 and became a museum ship in 1975, carrying the name and the memory of the ship that raced back from near-destruction to help turn the Pacific War.