Tag Archives: USS Yorktown (CV-5)

Eve of the inferno

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It happened some 85 years ago this month at Naval Air Station, North Island, San Diego, in June 1940,

The newly commissioned class-leading fast carrier USS Yorktown (CV-5) is seen embarking aircraft and vehicles before sailing for Hawaii.

Note the giant 35-foot-tall “Y” identifier on her island. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives 80-G-651042

Arranged on Yorktown’s flight deck are TBD-1 Devastator torpedo bombers, rare Northrop BT-1s (forerunners of the SBD), SBC-3 Helldiver biplanes, bumble-bee shaped F3F-2/3 biplane fighters, SB2U Vindicator dive bombers, and several floatplanes including Grumman JRFs (G21 Goose) and J2F Ducks, along with six big Sikorsky JRS-1 amphibians arranged on the port side of the island.

Some of these planes were on board for transportation to Ford Island, while others were members of the Yorktown Air Group, CVW-5. The trio of Torpedo Squadron Five (VT-5) TBDs at the aft end of the flight deck are painted in experimental camouflage schemes tested during Fleet Problem XXI.

With the loss of their carrier at Midway, the Yorktown Air Group was disestablished on 7 June 1942.

With 10 JRS-1s of VJ-1 at Pearl Harbor, the one currently at the Smithsonian is the only aircraft they have left over from the attack on 7 December 1941.

A Field of Devastators

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13 September 1941, 81 years ago today: Douglas TBD-1 Devastator aircraft of Torpedo Squadron Five (VT-5) parked at Naval Air Station, Norfolk, Virginia. Douglas SBD-3 Dauntlesses of Bombing Squadron Five (VB-5) are beyond the TBDs, with Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters and Curtiss SB2U Vindicator scout bombers further in the left background.

U.S. Navy photo # 80-CF-55215-7
U.S. Navy photo # 80-CF-55215-7

The TBDs have recently been repainted in the new blue-gray and light gray color scheme, while the other planes are still in the earlier overall light gray. VT-5 and VB-5 were assigned to the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-5), which left Norfolk on the following day for operations in the North Atlantic.

In late May 1942, VS-5 and VT-5, badly depleted at Coral Sea, were both replaced in Yorktown’s airwing with Bombing Three (VB-3) and Torpedo Three (VT-3), drawn from the sidelined USS Saratoga which was on the West Coast undergoing a repair from a Japanese torpedo, meaning they missed the battle of Midway.

The last T-bone, 10 cents a peek

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“Jamboree Day” on USS Yorktown (CV-5), 10 April 1942. Parading the last T-bone steak on board. Two sailors displaying a sign that reads “Special Slide Show. Big T-Bone Steak. The only one in captivity. 10 cents a peek. Do Not Touch.”

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 95570

Note the Marines with newly-issued M-1 (Garand) rifles and fixed bayonets surrounding the steak and the clarinet player with beard and sunglasses.

At the extreme right is the tail of an F4F-3 Wildcat fighter (Bureau # 3999) that had been transferred to Fighting Squadron 42 (VF-42) from Fighting Squadron Two (VF-2) in March 1942. Note Bombing Squadron Five (VB-5) SBD-3 aircraft parked in the background and volleyball net in the upper center.

Yorktown, still nursing grave damage from the Battle of Coral Sea, would be sunk at Midway less than two months after this somber celebration.

Fighting Two and Bombing Five would go on to fight another day, as would another carrier with the name Yorktown, and by 1945 steaks would be back on the menu.

So Cal Devastator

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TBD-1 Devastator of VT-5 pictured in flight over Southern California.

Photo/description from the Naval Aviation Museum

Note the Navy E and squadron insignia, a Valkyrie or maiden of Odin that hovered over the battlefield and chose those to be slain, on the fuselage beneath the cockpit.

Insignia: Torpedo Squadron Five (VT-5) Emblem was adopted during the later 1930s when VT-5 served onboard USS Yorktown (CV-5). This reproduction features a stylized representation of a TBD Devastator torpedo plane and an explanation of the insignia’s design. Courtesy of John S. Howland, 1975. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph Catalog #: NH 82628-KN

The aircraft shown above is 5-T-7 Bu No 0331 pictured in November 1939 when she was operating off USS Yorktown (CV 5) with VT-5.

Thus: 

Douglas TBD-1 Torpedo Planes of Torpedo Squadron Five (VT-5) Parked on the after flight deck of USS Yorktown (CV-5) at Naval Air Station, North Island, San Diego, California, in June 1940. Three of these aircraft closest to the stern are painted in an experimental camouflaged color scheme used during Fleet Problem XXI– one of which could be 5-T-7 as it is not seen among the crowd of other planes.  Also, note two of Yorktown’s eight 5″/38 singles on sponsons. This section of the ship was examined when Yorktown’s wreck was located in May 1998. The after thirty feet (approximately) of the flight deck was missing, but most other features seen were present, including the ship’s name on her stern. This view is cropped from Photo # 80-G-652042. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 95314

Bu 0331 was transferred to VT-7 on USS Wasp (CV-8) in 1941 and later operated as a trainer at Dahlgren, Virginia until being scrapped in 1944.

While the TBD gets a bad wrap these days– largely because of their disastrous performance at Midway, where any other torpedo bomber of the day (Fairey Swordfish, Nakajima B5N2 “Kate” et al) would have likewise performed poorly in an unsupported daylight attack against a surface fleet protected by good fighter cover– it should be remembered that it was the best torpedo bomber available to the U.S. Navy at the time. Remember, VT-8, which flew Avengers at Midway, didn’t have much luck either. 

Keep in mind that at the Battle of Coral Sea, TBDs landed seven torpedos on the Japanese carrier Shoho, sending that flattop to the bottom.