CV-8 USS Hornet

Highlights of Ship's Service History

Ordered from Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Newport News, Va. Authorized under the Naval Expansion Act of 17 May 1938.
Keel laid.

Launched under the sponsorship of the wife of the Secretary of the Navy, Frank M. Knox.

Commissioned at Norfolk, Virginia, by Captain Marc A. Mitscher. Captain (later Admiral) Mitscher would become one of the Navy's premier carrier tacticians and strategists.

During intial sea trials and qualification training, Hornet embarks two Army B-25 medium bombers at Norfolk. After sailing, the two aircraft are successfully launched from the carrier's flight deck.
Hornet departs Norfolk headed for the Panama Canal, thence onward to San Francisco.
Hornet arrives at San Francisco. Her own aircraft are taken below to the hangar deck, and 16 Army Air Corps B-25 medium bombers are hoisted onto her flight deck. She also embarks 134 Army personnel (70 officer, 64 enlisted) under the command of LtCol. James H. Doolittle.

Sailing under sealed orders, Hornet departs San Francisco. Later that afternoon, Capt. Mitscher tells his men their mission: to carry the Army aircraft to within range of the Japanese Home Islands and launch a bombing raid on Japan.
Off Midway Island, Hornet joins with CV-6 USS Enterprise, which will provide air cover for both ships during the mission. The combined Task Force 16, under the command of Admiral William F. Halsey in Enterprise, heads for Japan.
The Doolittle Raid. Early in the morning, while still 200 miles short of the planned launch point 400 miles off the coast of Japan, Task Force 16 is spotted by a Japanese patrol boat. Although the patrol is sunk by the cruiser CL-43 USS Nashville, she has time to radio a warning. Despite the extreme range and marginal weather conditions, Adm. Halsey decides to launch the bombers immediately. The first aircraft, piloted by LtCol. Doolittle, successfully takes off at 0800; the last plane is launched at 0920. The task force reverses course while Hornet brings her own aircraft on deck. At 1445, news of the raid is received via intercepted radio broadcasts. Hornet returns to Pearl Harbor a week later. For a year, the mission is kept secret; President Roosevelt will only refer to a secret base called "Shangri-La". Years later, this comment will result in the naming of a new Essex-class carrier, CV-38 USS Shangri-La.
Hornet sails bound for the Coral Sea, in an attempt to reinforce the carriers Lexington and Yorktown. However, the Battle of the Coral Sea is over before she arrives, and she returns to Pearl on 26 May.
Hornet, accompanied by Enterprise, sails from Pearl bound for Midway Island, to repel an expected Japanese attack on the Pacific outpost. The ships will later be joined by Yorktown, hurriedly repaired after the Coral Sea battle.
The Battle of Midway. Search planes from Midway report a large number of Japanese aircraft headed toward the island. All three carriers launch strikes against the Japanese fleet. Some squadrons fail to make contact and return. One squadron from Hornet, Torpedo Squadron 8, located the enemy fleet. LtCdr. John Waldron leads his formation against the enemy carriers, but they are jumped by Japanese fighter aircraft. One by one, all 15 planes of Torpedo 8 are shot down. The only surviving crewmember, pilot Ensign George Gay, hides under a seat cushion and watches the ensuing action.
Of 41 torpedo planes in three squadrons launched by the American carriers, only six planes return. However, their sacrifice is not in vain. By drawing the Japanese fighter cover down to sea level, they leave the skies clear for the following dive bombers. These planes attack three of the four Japanese carriers, sinking or heavily damaging HIJMS Akagi, HIJMS Kaga and HIJMS Soryu. The U.S. submarine SS-168 USS Nautilus also attacks. As a result of these actions, all three carriers eventually sink. The fourth Japanese carrier, HIJMS Hiryu, is hidden in a rain squall and escapes undamaged.
A second series of air attacks by both sides results in the sinking of Hiryu and heavy damage to Yorktown, which is sunk by a submarine the following day.
Hornet and Enterprise launch air attacks on the retreating Japanese fleet. Hornet aircraft damage a destroyer and the cruiser HIJMS Mogami, and assist in sinking the cruiser HIJMS Mikuma, along with assorted hits on other ships. These final attacks mark the end of the Battle of Midway, which spelled the end of Japanese naval aviation as an effective fighting force. Along with the loss of four first-line carriers, over 250 aircraft and most of Japan's battle-experienced pilots were lost. The Japanese would never again regain the initative in the Pacific during World War II.
Hornet receives repairs and upgrades at Pearl Harbor, and conducts training in the area.
Hornet is dispatched to the Solomon Islands. As a result of damage to and sinkings of other carriers, she is, for a short time, the only active U.S. carrier in the Pacific.
Hornet is joined by Enterprise, and both ships steam to intercept a Japanese task force headed for Guadalcanal.
The Battle of Santa Cruz Island. While her planes attack and damage the Japanese carrier HIJMS Shokaku and cruiser HIJMS Chikuma, Hornet herself is the subject of attacks by dive bombers and torpedo planes. Heavily damaged and ablaze, she is abandoned. Despite nine torpedoes and over 400 rounds of five-inch, she stubbornly refuses to sink. Her escorts are forced to retire from the area by the arrival of Japanese surface forces. These ships send four torpedoes into the blazing wreck, which finally succumbs early on the morning of the 27th.

Hornet is officially stricken from the Navy List of active warships.

Notes

World War II citations: 4 Battle Stars. Hornet's Torpedo Squadron 8 received a Presidential Unit Citation "for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service beyond the call of duty" in the Battle of Midway.
Name continued by Essex-class fleet carrier CV-12 USS Hornet

Sources
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships - U. S. Naval Historical Center Wikipedia Online Library of Selected Images - U. S. Naval Historical Center NavSource: Photographic History of the U.S. Navy Haze Gray & Underway	Online Library of Selected Images - U. S. Naval Historical Center - Doolittle Raid on Japan, 18 April 1942 Online Library of Selected Images - U. S. Naval Historical Center - Battle of Midway, 4-7 June 1942

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