Tag Archives: USS Yorktown (CV 10)

The Fighting Lady Never Looked Better

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Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum on South Carolina’s Charleston Harbor is gearing up to celebrate both the institution’s 50th anniversary and, along with the rest of the country, America’s 250th or semiquincentennial.

In doing so, they have the museum ship USS Yorktown (CV-10) aglow in red, white, and blue.

“As we illuminate her silhouette, we’re celebrating America’s history and our own legacy of preserving it for future generations,” notes the museum.

This is all very appropriate as Yorktown was formally dedicated as a memorial at Charleston on the 200th anniversary of the Navy, 13 October 1975.

The short-hulled Essex-class fleet carrier earned 11 battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation during World War II and five battle stars for Vietnam service, entering service 15 April 1943 and decommissioning 27 June 1970, a very busy 27-year run.

Murderers’ Row

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80 years ago today, 2 December 1944, in an ode to the ’27 Yankees. Third Fleet fast carriers anchored in Ulithi Atoll, Carolines, in a brief lull before the start of the Mindoro landings in the Philippines.

NHHC Catalog #: 80-G-294150. Copyright Owner: National Archives

Ships are (L to R): USS Wasp (CV-18), USS Yorktown (CV-10), USS Hornet (CV-12), and USS Hancock (CV-19). A destroyer escort and LCI are passing by. Planes in the foreground on board USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) are F6F-5 Hellcats of VF-80 with a TBM-3 Avenger of VT-80 making a cameo on the far right.

One of Tico’s F6F-5P Photocats got a great profile shot of the group on 8 December, with a sixth sister, Lexington, joining the line-up. The much better known 80-G-294129:

"Murderers' Row" Third Fleet aircraft carriers at anchor in Ulithi Atoll, 8 December 1944, during a break from operations in the Philippines area. The carriers are (from front to back): USS Wasp (CV-18), USS Yorktown (CV-10), USS Hornet (CV-12), USS Hancock (CV-19) and USS Ticonderoga (CV-14). Wasp, Yorktown, and Ticonderoga are all painted in camouflage Measure 33, Design 10a. Photographed from a USS Ticonderoga plane. 80-G-294131

U.S. Third Fleet. Caption: Aircraft carriers and other ships at anchor at Ulithi Atoll, on 8 December 1944. Carriers in line are (from the front): USS Wasp (CV-18), USS Yorktown (CV-10), USS Hornet (CV-12), and USS Hancock (CV-19); USS Ticonderoga (CV-14); USS Lexington (CV-16) is in the left background. Note camouflage schemes used with Wasp, Yorktown, and Ticonderoga all clad in camouflage Measure 33, Design 10a. Photographed from a Ticonderoga plane. 80-G-294129

Of note, none of these six Essex class carriers were in commission during the Pearl Harbor attack just three years prior. Indeed, Hancock and Ticonderoga had only joined the fleet six months before these images were snapped.

It’s worth remembering that when Nagumo’s carriers closed in on Oahu on the early morning of 7 December 1941, the entire U.S. Pacific Fleet only had three carriers to its name.

A sleeping giant, indeed.

Make way for Yorktown!

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80 years ago today: The brand-new Essex-class fleet carrier USS Yorktown (CV 10), was launched at Newport News Shipbuilding, Virginia, on 21 January 1943.

U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-33869

The second vessel in the class, the warship had been laid down on 1 December 1941– six days prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor– as Bon Homme Richard but was renamed the become the fourth USS Yorktown on 26 September 1942 some three months after the loss of the third USS Yorktown at the pivotal Battle of Midway.

Sponsored by no less a person than Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, the new Yorktown was commissioned on 15 April 1943 at the Norfolk Navy Yard with Capt. Joseph J. (“Jocko”) Clark, the skipper of the escort carrier USS Suwanee (ACV-27) during the Torch landings just five months prior, in command.

At commissioning. Official U.S. Navy photo 80-G-K-15555 photographed by Lieutenant Charles Kerlee, USNR. From the U.S. Navy Naval

A VF-1 Top Hatter F6F-3 fighter is launched from USS YORKTOWN, to intercept enemy forces during Mariana's turkey shoot 19 June 1944. Note target information board under the propeller. 80-G-248440

A VF-1 Top Hatter F6F-3 fighter is launched from USS YORKTOWN, to intercept enemy forces during Mariana’s turkey shoot 19 June 1944. Note target information board under the propeller. 80-G-248440

"Murderers' Row" Third Fleet aircraft carriers at anchor in Ulithi Atoll, 8 December 1944, during a break from operations in the Philippines area. The carriers are (from front to back): USS Wasp (CV-18), USS Yorktown (CV-10), USS Hornet (CV-12), USS Hancock (CV-19) and USS Ticonderoga (CV-14). Wasp, Yorktown, and Ticonderoga are all painted in camouflage Measure 33, Design 10a. Photographed from a USS Ticonderoga plane. 80-G-294131

“Murderers’ Row” Third Fleet aircraft carriers at anchor in Ulithi Atoll, 8 December 1944, during a break from operations in the Philippines area. The new Essex-class carriers are (from front to back): USS Wasp (CV-18), USS Yorktown (CV-10), USS Hornet (CV-12), USS Hancock (CV-19), and USS Ticonderoga (CV-14). Wasp, Yorktown, and Ticonderoga are all painted in camouflage Measure 33, Design 10a. Photographed from a USS Ticonderoga plane. 80-G-294131

Painting of USS Yorktown (CV-10) in her Cold War angled deck and hurricane-bowed SCB conversion with assorted ASW aircraft embarked. So converted in 1957, she was reclassified as an Antisubmarine Warfare Support Aircraft Carrier (CVS-10). She remains in this configuration today, although with a bit more rust. Courtesy of Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, Florida. NH 86022-KN

After an illustrious career that saw 11 battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation earned during World War II and a further five battle stars for Vietnam service, Yorktown has served as a museum ship at Patriot’s Point, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina since 1975.