Shangri-La at 85
On the road this week, so an abbreviated Warship Wednesday.
Some 85 years ago this week, the final Yorktown-class fleet carrier, USS Hornet (CV-8), was commissioned on 20 October 1941 at Naval Operating Base Norfolk, Capt. Marc Andrew “Pete” Mitscher (USNA 1910) in command.
Laid down on 25 September 1939, three weeks after Hitler crossed into Poland, she had launched at Newport News on 14 December 1940; sponsored by Mrs. Annie Reid Knox (nee Reid), wife of SECNAV Frank Knox.
These below LIFE images from Thomas Mcavoy cover her commissioning, after which she brought the U.S. Navy temporarily up to seven fleet carriers when counting the smallish but still capable Ranger and Wasp. It was a benchmark figure that, after May 1942 with the loss of Lexington, Yorktown, Wasp, and later Hornet herself, that the Navy would not see again until, ironically, an altogether different Hornet (CV 12) would enter the fleet in August 1943.
She would soon receive her “warpaint,” a Measure 12 (Modified) camouflage scheme, and soon after shipped out to the Pacific with it March 1942.
Original Kodachrome. USS Hornet (CV-8) at Hampton Roads, with Measure 12 (Modified) camouflage scheme. She still wears this scheme at the bottom of the South Pacific today. 80-GK-439
USS Hornet Entering Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, May 1942, 80-G-66129
She quickly made a name for herself in the Doolittle Raid, after which FDR remarked the Army B-25s had come from mystical Shangri-La.
Orders In Hand, Capt. Marc A. Mitscher, USN, skipper of USS Hornet, chats with Lt. Colonel James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle before pinning a Japanese “peace medal” to a 500-pound bomb headed for Tokyo with his raiders. (U.S. Air Force Number 84959AC, Official U.S. Navy Photograph W-TR-1-41191)
She then took part in Midway and the Guadalcanal operations, but was lost after being severely damaged in the Santa Cruz Islands in October 1942, having completed 372 days of service.
Battle of Santa Cruz Islands, October 1942. USS Hornet (CV-8) is hit by a Japanese “VAL” dive bomber, which dove into the ship’s superstructure after being damaged by anti-aircraft fire, 26 October. More Japanese flames are at right. One frame of a sequence, taken from USS Pensacola (CA-24). National Archives photograph, 80-G-33948.
It was a strong year, one for the record books.
Her replacement, CV-12, decommissioned in 1970 with seven WWII and another seven Vietnam campaign stars to her credit and and is preserved as a museum ship, but it is long since time that the Navy bring the name back for the ninth USS Hornet.
Long since.
USS Hornet CV-8 by Gordon Grant NH 82718-KN