USS Yorktown (CV-5)

Yorktown in July 1937
History
United States
Name	USS Yorktown
Namesake	Battle of Yorktown
Ordered	3 August 1933
Builder	Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia
Laid down	21 May 1934
Launched	4 April 1936
Sponsored by	Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt
Commissioned	30 September 1937
Stricken	2 October 1942
Identification	CV-5
Honors and awards	3 × battle stars
Fate	Crippled by Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryu, later finished off by submarine I-168, Battle of Midway, 5-7th June 1942 Wreck discovered, 19 May 1998
General characteristics
Class and type	Yorktown-class aircraft carrier
Displacement	25,500 long tons (25,900 t) (full load)
Length	As built: 770 ft (234.7 m) (waterline) 824 ft 9 in (251.4 m) (o/a)
Beam	As built: 83 ft 3 in (25.4 m) (waterline) 109 ft 6 in (33.4 m) (o/a)
Draft	26 ft (7.9 m)
Installed power	9 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers 120,000 shp (89,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 × screws; 4 × geared steam turbines
Speed	32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Range	12,500 nautical miles (23,200 km; 14,400 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	2,217 officers and men (1941)
Sensors and processing systems	CXAM radar from 1940[1]
Armament	As built: 8 × single 5 in/38 cal guns 4 × quad 1.1 in/75 cal guns 24 × .50 caliber machine guns From February 1942: 8 × single 5"/38 caliber guns 4 × quad 1.1"/75 caliber guns 24 × 20mm Oerlikon guns 24 × .50 caliber machine guns
Armor	2.5–4 inches (6.4–10.2 cm) belt 60 lb protective decks 4 inches (10 cm) bulkheads 4 inch side and 3 inch top round conning tower 4 inch side over steering gear
Aircraft carried	90 aircraft
Aviation facilities	3 × aircraft elevators 2 × flight deck catapults 1 × hangar deck catapult

USS Yorktown (CV-5) was an aircraft carrier that served in the United States Navy during World War II. Named after the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, she was commissioned in 1937. Yorktown was the lead ship of the Yorktown class, which was designed on the basis of lessons learned from operations with the converted battlecruisers of the Lexington class and the smaller purpose-built USS Ranger.

Yorktown was at port in Norfolk during the attack on Pearl Harbor, having just completed a patrol of the Atlantic Ocean. She then sailed to San Diego in late December 1941 and was incorporated as the flagship of Task Force 17. Together with the carrier Lexington, she successfully attacked Japanese shipping off the east coast of New Guinea in early March 1942. Her aircraft sank or damaged several warships supporting the invasion of Tulagi in early May. Yorktown rendezvoused with Lexington in the Coral Sea and attempted to stop the invasion of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. They sank the light aircraft carrier Shōhō on 7 May during the Battle of the Coral Sea, but did not encounter the main Japanese force of the carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku until the next day. Aircraft from Lexington and Yorktown badly damaged Shōkaku, but the Japanese aircraft critically damaged Lexington, which was later scuttled, and severely damaged Yorktown.

Despite the damage suffered, Yorktown was able to return to Hawaii. Although estimates were that the damage would take two weeks to repair, Yorktown put to sea only 72 hours after entering drydock at Pearl Harbor, which meant that she was available for the next confrontation with the Japanese. Yorktown played an important part in the Battle of Midway in early June. Yorktown's aircraft played crucial roles in crippling two Japanese fleet carriers. Yorktown also absorbed both Japanese aerial counterattacks at Midway which otherwise would have been directed at the carriers USS Enterprise and Hornet.^[2] On 4 June, during the battle, Japanese aircraft from the aircraft carrier Hiryu crippled Yorktown after two attacks.^[3] She lost all power and developed a 23-degree list to port. Salvage efforts on Yorktown were encouraging, and she was taken in tow by USS Vireo. On 6 June, the Japanese submarine I-168 fired a salvo of torpedoes, two of which struck Yorktown, and a third sinking the destroyer USS Hammann, which had been providing auxiliary power to Yorktown. With further salvage efforts deemed hopeless, the remaining repair crews were evacuated from Yorktown, which sank on 7 June.^[4] The wreck of Yorktown was located in 1998 by Robert Ballard.