USS Yorktown

The Yorktown-class aircraft carriers were built in a series of three. Of these, only the USS Enterprise survived the war, with the USS Yorktown being sunk during the Battle of Midway and the USS Hornet being sunk during the Battle of Santa Cruz.The USS Yorktown was commissioned in 1937 and named after the 1781 battle. After Pearl Harbor, USS Yorktown moved to the Pacific and participated in some of the first American attacks of the Gilbert and Marshall Islands War. She also fought in the Battle of the Coral Sea, where her aircraft (along with that of the carrier Lexington) sank the enemy light carrier Shoho before engaging the main Japanese carrier forces the following day (8 May 1942). During this final phase of the engagement, US carrier planes inflicted damage on the IJN carrier Shokaku, but USS Yorktown again suffered heavy damage. Lexington suffered worse and was later scuttled.On returning to Hawaii, repairs were estimated to take two weeks, but she was put to sea again just 48 hours after leaving dry dock, in time to play a crucial role in the decisive Battle of Midway. Their aircraft were instrumental in the sinking of two Japanese fleet carriers. Their presence also diverted attention from Japanese air raids from USS Entreprise and Hornet. Although crippled by Japanese planes, there was optimism that she could be partially rescued. Those hopes were dashed on June 6 when she was hit twice by torpedoes from the Japanese submarine I-168. Further hopes of repair were abandoned and she sank the next day.