USS Yorktown (CV-10)

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The USS Yorktown in June 1944
The USS Yorktown in June 1944
Overview
Shipyard

Newport News Shipbuilding

Order 1940
Keel laying December 1, 1941
Launch January 21, 1943
1. Period of service flag
period of service

April 15, 1943 - Jan 9, 1947
Jan 2, 1953 - June 27, 1970

Whereabouts Museum ship
Technical specifications
Data at the time of commissioning
displacement

27,100  tons l.

length

265.8 m

width

45 m

Draft

8.8 m

crew

2,600 men

drive

8 boilers, 4 turbines, 4 screws, 150,000 hp

speed

33 knots

Range

16,900 NM at 15 kn

Armament
  • 4 × 127mm twin towers
  • 4 × 127 mm single guns
  • 8 × 40 mm quad flak
  • 46 × 20 mm MK
Planes

80-100

The US aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-10) is an Essex-class carrier . It was The Fighting Lady or The Lucky Y called, drove stakes during the Second World War in the Pacific and was especially famous by taking part in the Battle of the Marshall Islands , the Battle of the Marianas Islands and the Battle of the Philippine Sea . The aircraft of the USS Yorktown were also significantly involved in the sinking of the Japanese battleship Yamato . Operations continued to take place during the Vietnam War .

history

The keel laying on December 1, 1941 in Newport News , Virginia , at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company was made under the previously planned name Bon Homme Richard . In September 1942 it was renamed in their name in memory of the USS Yorktown , which was lost in the Midway Battle . The launch took place on January 21, 1943 and the handover to the American Navy took place on April 15, 1943.

The first test voyage was the USS Yorktown in the waters near Trinidad . After successfully completing all planned exercises, the first flight missions took place near the coast of Norfolk . On July 6, the carrier left Chesapeake Bay and set course for the Pacific.

Pacific War

The USS Yorktown arrived in Pearl Harbor on July 24, 1943 and spent about a month training. The first war operation was then on August 31, the bombing of Marcus Island , on which the Japanese maintained a military airport with a crew of 4,000.

After a stop in San Francisco where fighter jets , ammunition and food were taken on board, the USS Yorktown drove on to Pearl Harbor. The air raids on Wake followed on October 5, 1943 .

A Grumman F6F launched from the deck of the USS Yorktown in November 1943

The first major mission took them to the Gilbert Islands with Einsatzgruppe 50 . Massive bombings were carried out there in November 1943. On the way back to Hawaii, smaller air raids were also carried out on Wotje and Kwajalein .

The following year, the aircraft carrier took part with Einsatzgruppe 58 in the Battle of the Marshall Islands and the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Starting in August 1944, the USS Yorktown was repaired and overhauled for two months in the Puget Sound Navy Yard .

On November 7, 1944, the assignment to Einsatzgruppe 38.1 came with the order to support the invasions of Leyte and Luzon with bombing missions. At the end of these missions, the carrier got into a severe typhoon in which three American destroyers sank. The USS Yorktown helped rescue the survivors.

In preparation for the Battle of Okinawa , the planes of the USS Yorktown flew attacks on Japanese airfields on Kyūshū , Honshū , and Shikoku in March 1945 , until they finally set course for Okinawa . On April 7th, the Japanese fleet, which was grouped around the battleship Yamato and was heading for Okinawa, was tracked down and attacked. Several waves of bombers, in which many machines from the USS Yorktown were also involved, were ultimately able to sink or seriously damage the Yamato and other ships. Then the entire task force 38.1 was able to support the units on Okinawa. The operations on Okinawa lasted until mid-June 1945, only briefly interrupted by a few attacks on the Japanese home islands.

After the USS Yorktown had made a stopover in Leyte to pick up supplies and carry out minor repairs, it set course for Japan on July 1 to participate in the attacks in preparation for the invasion of the Japanese home islands. The last bombing raids on Tokyo took place on August 13, 1945. Two days later, the Japanese Empire capitulated.

The USS Yorktown took part in the repatriation of American units to the United States until mid-January 1946. After that she was decommissioned and assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet.

1. Remodeling

The USS Yorktown was part of the reserve fleet for five years. It was reactivated in June 1952, and extensive renovation work based on the SCB-27A concept was carried out by late January 1953. The re-commissioning took place on February 20, 1953. The modernization according to SCB-27A included the installation of stronger hydraulic catapults of the type H-8, the complete rebuilding of the island, the installation of ready rooms under the flight deck and the construction of an escalator from these to the flight deck as well as the general conversion for the use of jet aircraft. All deck guns (4 x 12.7 cm L / 38 twin turrets) have been removed. For this purpose, 4 × 12.7 cm L / 38 individual guns were attached to the starboard below the flight deck. The 40 mm flak was replaced with 14 x 7.62 cm L / 50 twins. The bow was also lengthened to accommodate two of the 7.62 cm double mounts. The 20 mm anti-aircraft gun installed in large numbers during World War II was no longer installed. After the renovation, Yorktown was reclassified as an attack vehicle CVA-10.

Korean War

In the wake of the Korean War , the armistice of which was signed on July 27, 1953, the USS Yorktown set course for the Far East and participated in exercises in the Sea of ​​Japan that lasted until early 1954.

In early 1955, the USS Yorktown was instrumental in the evacuation of national Chinese who were brought to Taiwan from the island of Tachen in the immediate vicinity of the communist-controlled mainland .

2. Remodeling

The USS Yorktown after the second conversion around 1960

In March 1955 there was a reassignment to the reserve fleet. The time was used to carry out extensive modernization measures based on the SCB-125 concept. The USS Yorktown now also received a sloping deck. In addition, the aircraft facilities have been further improved. Another major change was the elimination of the 7.6 cm twin cannons on the forecastle. The fuselage was connected to the leading edge of the flight deck by a closed construction and formed the so-called "hurricane bow", which in future prevented damage to the leading edge of the flight deck during storms. On October 14, 1955, the work was completed and the USS Yorktown resumed full service in the Pacific Fleet. By March 1957, she made several trips across the Pacific.

Anti-submarine carrier

In September 1957, the USS Yorktown was reclassified as an anti- submarine aircraft carrier . Your new ID was now CVS-10. The conversion took place by February 1958. The ship then went on normal missions on the west coast of the USA until November of that year, when she finally set course for the Far East again.

To safeguard national Chinese interests on the islands of Quemoy and Matsu , the USS Yorktown took part on December 31, 1958 and January 1, 1959 in a demonstration of strength to stop the Red Chinese coastal bombing. Immediately afterwards, she supported the security forces off the Vietnamese coast, which had been contracted as North Vietnamese guerrillas had invaded the southern part of the country. Further short missions off Vietnam took place in January, March, April, May and June 1960.

In 1961 and 1962, when repair work and final training drives were carried out, the operations of the USS Yorktown focused on its role as an anti-submarine weapon . In this regard, she also took part in the SEATO exercise Operation Sea Serpent , which she completed as the flagship of Carrier Division 19 at the beginning of June 1963.

3. Remodeling

In 1967 the Yorktown in the Long Beach Naval Shipyard was modernized for the last time. The conversion as part of the FRAM program based on the SCB-144 concept included the installation of the SQS-23 bug sonar and the establishment of a modified operations center. The shape of the bow sonar dome made it necessary to install a stern hull for a bow anchor. The previous anchor hawls were closed.

Vietnam War

The first use in the Vietnam War followed in February, March and April 1965. As CVS, the main task of Yorktown was the search for Soviet submarines (which shadowed the US carriers) and the surveillance of the South Vietnamese coast. Little changed in these missions until 1968. On June 16, 1968, she left the waters off Vietnam for the last time.

The last missions

The Apollo 8 landing capsule is recovered.

In December 1968, the USS Yorktown received a special mission order. She was supposed to serve as a rescue ship for NASA's Apollo 8 mission , when humans orbited the moon for the first time . On December 27 at 3:51 p.m. ( UT ), the lander finally submerged in the Pacific. Astronauts Frank Borman , James A. Lovell and William Anders were picked up by helicopters from the USS Yorktown and brought on board. The landing capsule was recovered shortly afterwards.

In early 1969, the USS Yorktown was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet . The ship took the route around Cape Horn and then moored in Norfolk , Virginia . After a trip to the West Indies , she set course for Northern Europe in September 1969 , where she moored in some ports, for example on November 11th in Kiel , Germany .

Decommissioning

In the first half of 1970, the USS Yorktown was preparing for retirement in the waters off Norfolk, which was eventually carried out in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . The ship anchored there for three years before her name was removed from the Navy list.

USS Yorktown as a museum ship in Charleston Harbor

Since June 1975 the USS Yorktown has been in the Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum , part of the port of Charleston , South Carolina , and was expanded there as a museum ship . In December 1980 it was awarded the status of a National Historic Landmark . Since November 1982, the USS Yorktown has been listed as a structure on the National Register of Historic Places .

Movies

With the USS Yorktown in the lead role

Shot on the USS Yorktown

literature

See also

Web links

Commons : USS Yorktown  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: South Carolina. National Park Service , accessed February 17, 2020.
  2. ↑ USS YORKTOWN (CV-10) on the National Register of Historic Places , accessed February 17, 2020.

Coordinates: 32 ° 47 ′ 25 "  N , 79 ° 54 ′ 29"  W.