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HISTORY
OF THE USS HORNET (CV-8)
by Frederick C. Branyan
The USS Hornet was the seventh USN ship to bear this name. The keel for the ship, which was authorized
by the Naval Expansion Act of 1939, was laid down on September 25, 1939 at the
Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Virginia. The Act was in response to cancellation of
prior naval arms limitation treaties and the obviously approaching war.
Launched on December 14,1940 with Mrs. Frank Knox, wife of the
Secretary of the Navy presiding, she was
commissioned on October 20th, 1941.
The new carrier was built as one of three ships of the Yorktown
class. She was 824’ 9” in length with a
draft of 24 feet. Her flight deck was
114 feet wide and the beam of her hull measured 83’ 3”. Her four Newport News Shipbuilding geared
turbines could propel her 26,507 tons at full load up to a speed of 33 knots
(38mph) while generating 120,000 shp. She was designed to carry up to 95
aircraft.
She was probably the last USN warship designed with
non-alternating boiler rooms and engines, a design feature incorporated into
the Essex class which followed her.
Instead, there were three boiler rooms with three Babcock and Wilcox 400
PSI boilers abreast in each, behind which were located two machinery rooms each
with two geared turbines to drive the four propeller shafts. The engine rooms were not divided on the
center line, a feature intended to minimize list if they flooded. One reason for this arrangement was to place
the boiler rooms directly below the island thus minimizing the length and
complexity of uptake leads into the stack.
This boiler/turbine structural arrangement would turn out to be a major
factor in her loss.
Like most USN ships of the time, crew comfort was not what it is
today. The only air conditioning was in the pilot ready rooms.
She was not an identical sister to Yorktown (CV-5) and Enterprise
(CV-6). She had updated boilers,
directors, AA battery, different placement for her 1.1 inch guns (the vertical
director tower for gun #2 is a unique feature in any silhouette photo), 12’
wider at the forward end of the flight deck, and had a rounded/streamlined
forward edge of the island unique to the class. Her two sisters had a length of 809’6”, making Hornet
15’3’ longer. This difference made her
approximately 200 tons heavier. Her
design crew was 86 officers (14 aviators) and 1280 enlisted sailors. At commissioning approximately 700 of the
latter were activated reservists. One
of them, Seaman 1/c Norman E. Branyan, 3rd Division, was my father.
On December 7, 1941 the ship was still undergoing post
commissioning shakedown work. This
continued throughout January 1942. On
February 2nd, the ship launched two B-25s approximately 25-30 miles off the
coast of Virginia to test the feasibility of launching such planes. It should be noted these planes were
standard issue unloaded B25s and did not carry the max loads and multiple
modifications that the Doolittle raider B-25s did.
The rest of the month was spent in final preparations for
departure on operations and applying the distinctive modified Measure 12
camouflage paint scheme consisting of mottled application of navy blue on the
lower hull, ocean gray above it, and ocean gray and haze gray applied to this
island. Prior to departure and possibly
shortly after commissioning, the deck was stained blue, possibly either Flight
Deck Stain 21, 1942 revised deck blue 20-B, or Norfolk 250N Flight Deck Stain. It was not striped until enroute on the Doolittle raid.
The ship left Norfolk on
March 4, 1942, possibly from pier 7, based on the book The Ship That Held
the Line by Lisle A. Rose. (The
often published February 28, 1942 photos were taken at pier 10.) It was in the Panama Canal on March 11th. It arrived in San Diego on March 20th. Upon arrival it received mostly brand new
F4F-4 and SBD-3 aircraft from NAS San Diego at North Island. The TBD planes left with the ship at Norfolk
as far as I know. The ship also
received the pilots and crews of the Hornet air group at this time.
The ship departed on March 23, 1942 to conduct carrier
qualification training in takeoff/landing procedures for the pilots. It returned to San Diego on Friday March
27th, remained for the weekend, and presumably departed for San Francisco on
March 30th.
It
arrived at Alameda NAS on either March 31st or April 1st—I cannot locate the
date. In any event, it loaded the 16
Doolittle Raid B-25s at Pier 2 at Alameda on April 1st and departed the next
day at midmorning. The ship would never
see any U.S. mainland shores again.
Hornet and the rest of TF 16.2 departed to join the Enterprise
and the rest of TF 16 northwest of
Pearl Harbor. Shortly after
departure, Captain Marc Mitscher announced the purpose of the B-25s on deck to
the crew. The resulting shouts of joy
from the crews could be heard between ships according to crewmen who were
there.
The linkup took place on
April 13, 1942, resulting in TF 16 composed of two carriers, three heavy
cruisers, one light cruiser, eight destroyers and two oilers. On final approach to the intended launch
site the destroyers and oilers reversed course since they could not keep up
with the heavier ships due to rough weather conditions. The intended launch time was the evening of
April 18th at approximately 400 miles from Japan. Unfortunately, TF 16 encountered IJN patrol boats at approximately 600 miles from Japan early in the
morning of the 18th. Since they were
heard transmitting position reports, the decision was made at 0800 to launch
immediately.
First off was Jimmy Doolittle at 0825, approximately 625 miles
from Japan. The last plane was launched
at 0920. In order to minimize the risk
of the right wing hitting the island, and to enable the launch officer to
better time the start signal, all planes launched from a point approximately 470
feet from the bow. Weather conditions
at time of launch were approximately 40 knot winds, swells 30-40 feet, ship
speed approximately 20 knots, creating a 60 knot wind before the planes started
to move. Both white and green water
came over the bow. The flight deck
personnel were wet for the entire exercise.
Photos show the bow pitching approximately 20-30 degrees. The successful launch with the only casualty
an amputated arm of a deck crewman blown into a prop by prop blast was a
testament to the seaman/airmanship of the deck and plane crews. Every Hornet and Enterprise
crewman I have communicated with said the B-25 takeoffs were one of the most
impressive and beautiful things they ever saw.
Immediately after the launch the ships reversed course, picked up
the separated ships and proceeded immediately to Pearl Harbor, arriving on
April 25th. She departed again on the
30th to try to assist the Lexington and Yorktown at the Coral Sea
battle. She did not arrive in time and
was ordered back to Pearl Harbor to prepare for the Midway engagement, arriving
on May 26, 1942 and departing May 28th for Midway.
The ship participated in the Battle of Midway with mixed
results. On June 4, 1942, its torpedo
squadron, VT-8, was the first of three torpedo squadrons to attack the IJN
fleet, all with disastrous results. Of
its 15 planes, all were shot down with only one pilot, Ensign George Gay, later
picked up. Of the 41 TBDs launched by
the three USN carriers, only six returned and one of those was immediately
pushed over the side due to damage. The
rest of the Hornet air group failed to locate the IJN carriers, and all
10 of the escorting Wildcat fighters had to ditch with the loss of two pilots
who were never found. This still
controversial failure by Hornet Air Group commander Stanhope Ring to
locate the IJN was combined with another controversial event later that day—the
hard landing of Yorktown Ensign Daniel Sheedy, which was followed by the
activation of his six .50 caliber machine guns. The end result of that accident
was five killed and 20 wounded. Whether
the accident was caused by Sheedy’s failure to safe his guns or, as he stated,
the fact that his safety mechanism was shot out by Zeros over the Kido Butai
was never resolved. Hornet SBDs
did participate in the sinking of the
heavy cruiser Mikuma on June 6th .
The losses for Hornet due to the Battle of Midway are
listed in its after-action report as 15 TBDs (29 pilots and gunners lost), 12
F4F-4s (six pilots lost), five SBD-3s (one crew lost), and five killed and 20
wounded from the Sheedy accident.
After Midway the Hornet spent the rest of the summer at Pearl
Harbor and environs training, repainting its camouflage, reorganizing its air
group, and having new radar installed on its tripod mast. She sailed from there on August 17, 1942 to
participate in the Guadalcanal campaign.
Once there she missed the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on August
24th, but participated in air ops in support of Guadalcanal from the time she
arrived in the area on August 28th.
These ops continued until the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on
October 26, 1942, one of several actions designed to prevent the IJN from
establishing air superiority over ground reinforcement of Guadalcanal.
On that date, while operating in the vicinity of the Enterprise
task force, the Hornet was hit
by one of the best coordinated
dive-torpedo bomber attacks of the war, launched from the IJN carriers Shokaku
and Zuikaku. Later in the day
she was hit by Kates launched form Junyo. The end result was five bomb hits, three torpedo hits, and two early Kamikaze hits to
the island and port side near the forward elevator. The first two torpedo hits
at approximately 1014 struck the forward engine room (immediately below the
crane mast behind the island) and the magazine (below the center of the
starboard aft boat pod). These hits
plus the bombs knocked out the engines and generators temporarily and caused
about a 10 degree list. Damage control
and towing efforts by the USS Northampton followed. At 1623 a Junyo Kate put a torpedo into the
after engine room, effectively dooming all attempts to restart the
engines. At 1650 the list had increased
to 18 degrees and the order to abandon ship was issued. All personnel were picked up by approximately
1800. Ship casualties were 133 killed.
Shortly after dark the destroyers Anderson and Mustin
were ordered to sink the Hornet to prevent capture by the IJN. Despite firing 369 rounds of 5 inch-38
caliber ammo and nine torpedoes at the ship, when they departed at 2140 she was
still afloat although burning fiercely and slowly sinking. She was later sunk at 0135 on October 27th
by IJN Yugumo class destroyers Akigumo and Makigumo1
in 16,000 feet of water at 08.38S
- 166.43E. At that depth, based on the
conditions of the Titanic (12,600), Bismarck (15,500), and Yorktown
(16,650), there appears to be a very good chance that she is not being eaten by
the steel-loving crud that is destroying the Titanic. The bad news is
that Hornet was essentially in the same condition as the IJN carriers at
Midway before they sank, namely on fire stem to stern. If the fire reached the hangar deck (the
strength deck in Yorktown class carriers), then the chance that it broke
up on the way down is good, as the IJN carriers probably did2. Hopefully, someone will search for and find
it some day.
Honoring CV-8
Hornet was awarded the Asiatic Pacific Campaign medal with four
engagement stars for its service during WWII.
Torpedo 8 received the Presidential Unit Citation for its heroism at
Midway. I know at least one Hornet
crewman who also received the Presidential Unit Citation for the ship’s support
of the First Marine Division on Guadalcanal.
Apparently at some point during WWII, the PUC was awarded to ships that
made decisive contributions to the support of the First Marine Division. The official regulation is now silent on
that issue.
Hornet served her country for a year and six days. Her contribution to the Pacific campaign,
for approximately one month of which she was the only carrier in the Pacific
supporting Guadalcanal, was an important one.
She was crewed by typical members of the Greatest Generation, who
combined to step forward and accomplish the ultimate defeat of the Japanese
empire.
1. Akigumo was
sunk by USS Redfin (SS-272) 30 miles southeast of Zamboanga on April 11,
1944; 137 KIA. Makigumo was sunk
by a mine while evading a PT boat attack 3 miles SSW of Savo island on February
1, 1943; 3 KIA, 2 MIA, 7 WIA.
2. Assumption based
on the fact that no intact hulls of the Japanese carriers have ever been found.
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Comments from other members
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From: FTC Bernard C. Cotton, USN-Ret
(FC1/c, Mk 37 Fire
Control Director, USS Hornet)
I'd like to add my two cents to Fred Banyan's short
history of the Hornet. The deck
crewman that had his arm amputated by the last B-25 was not blown into
the prop by prop blast, but due to the wet deck he slipped while pulling on a
line attached to the plane’s landing gear.
He put his arm out
to protect himself. One of his shipmates took
off his own yellow shirt and stuffed it into his wound to staunch the bleeding.
In theory the Kamikaze force was not activated until
later in the war. I was tracking
that dive bomber (“Kamikaze”) with the forward Mk 37 director and I believe
that pilot was dead due to considerable damage to the plane. The Kate that hit at the portside #1
elevator was apparently hit by the number one 1.1-inch machine gun.
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