only American in the be laid down in accordance with the plans The amazing combat Southwest Pacific for over a month during for that class. career of the aircraft the desperate days in the Solomons in the The first dissent to laying down an autumn of 1942; and participated in the identical Yorktown came on 13 January carrier USS Hornet(CV-8) Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, in which 1939, in a memorandum from the gruff, she was lost after taking a heavy pounding cantankerous Chief of the Bureau of — one of America’s true from foe and friend alike. Engineering, R/Adm. Harold G. Bowen. At the time of Hornet’s inception, After “careful study and consideration of heroes from the early days farsighted men in the Navy Department the matter,” the recommended perceived gathering war clouds on two that significant improvements to the of the Second World War horizons — in Europe and the Far East. Yorktown design be incorporated into With the design aspect settled, the quantity and quality, and, at 1050, the With Japan’s abrogation of the naval Hornet’s plans, with the proviso that such contract to build Hornet went to the ship received aboard “for use in the BY ROBERT J. limitation treaties of 1922 and 1930, on 31 changes would not delay the execution of Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock general mess” 50- of brick-cut ice December 1936, the the contract to build the ship. Co., Newport News, , the firm that cream. In between, at 0900, there was a CRESSMAN had already constructed Yorktown (CV-5) small fire at the forward battle lookout and Enterprise (CV-6). Hornet’s was station, but it was extinguished within laid on 25 September 1939, less than a ten-minutes. month after Adolf Hitler unleashed the Although they little realized it, the blitzkrieg against Poland and triggered officers and men of Hornet had very few World War II in Europe. Launched on 14 minutes of that precious peacetime routine December 1940 and christened by Mrs. left that Sunday. While Hornet’s , the wife of the Secretary of rubbed lazily against the camels and the Navy, Hornet was commissioned at the fenders at Pier 4, halfway around the Naval Operating Base (NOB), Norfolk, globe Japanese planes winging in from six Virginia, on 20 October 1941. aircraft carriers, struck ships of the US Hornet’s first commanding officer was Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Capt. Marc A. Mitscher, US Naval . That surprise raid plunged the Academy Class of 1910 and Naval United States into war. Aviator No. 33 — a man of unquestioned Hornet’s log dutifully recorded the ability as both leader and pilot. His effect of the Pearl Harbor attack on her ability to lead was needed, because his routine: “1435 Directed by Secnav ship was manned by almost 75% “green” dispatch 071930 of this date to execute he operational career of USS Hornet — Japan’s probable enemy in the Pacific At Bowen’s behest, the General Board Photographed during January 1940, men; some fresh out of boot camp. The WPL [war plan] 46 against Japan and this view shows USS Hornet (CV-8) (CV-8) spanned only 371-days. — scrutinized its own program of aircraft the Navy’s policy advisory body convened under construction. Navy’s higher-ups, however, undoubtedly commenced taking additional security TNevertheless, the ship managed to carrier construction. a hearing at 10:00 am on 19 January 1939 knew that, in the words of his classmates, measures.” Within a few days, Germany win four Battle Stars during that Accordingly, on 17 May 1938, two more to discuss the design of CV-8. Soon after had Mk. 33s) and a 1.1-in/75-cal target he was a man “on whom one can depend.” and Italy declared war on the United relatively short lifespan, and attained a flattops — Hornet (CV-8) and Essex (CV-9) the representatives of the various bureaus designation and fire control system (which He did not have much time to get his ship States and the conflict became global. secure place in the proud history of the — were authorized. On 16 December 1938, had met, R/Adm. Thomas C. Hart, the necessitated rearranging the and into fighting trim. After spending Christmas in Hampton United States Navy. Hornet took L/Col. the acting chairman of the General Board, chairman of the General Board, plotting rooms). In the weeks that followed her Roads, Hornet got underway at 0524 on 27 James H. Doolittle’s Raiders within R/Adm. Frederick J. Horne, recommended recommended to the Secretary of the Navy 3) Install an improved model of commissioning, Hornet continued the December 1941, and slipped out to sea in flying distance of the Japanese homeland to the Secretary of the Navy, Claude that only three changes be made in the 1.1-in/75-cal quadruple-mount fitting out process that she had started in the wakes of the Fleet’s newest in the dark days of the spring of 1942; was Swanson, that the characteristics for CV-8 Yorktown design: . the summer. On 7 December 1941, she lay — Washington (BB-56) and North part of the force that turned the tide of the be the same as the “present approved moored alongside Pier 4, NOB Norfolk, Carolina (BB-55) bound for the Dry at the Battle of characteristics” of the Yorktown-class, 1) Modernize the plant by using beneath broken clouds on that winter day. Tortugas. Midway; served as the CV-5 and CV-6. Horne recommended that controlled superheat . There was little happening at Norfolk that Hornet’s shakedown cruise that CV-8 — named Hornet — 2) Install a more modern fire control Sunday morning. At 0630, the officer-of- followed proved “fruitful and productive” system using the new Mk. 37 gun the-deck and a pharmacist’s mate in the eyes of her commanding officer. directors (the Yorktowns inspected 70-gallons of milk for Mitscher confidently assured the Chief of

USS Hornet with a load of warplanes including Wildcats and several squadrons of Curtiss SB2C Helldiver biplanes.

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