USS Yorktown (CV-5)

History

USS Yorktown (CV-5) was an aircraft carrier that served in the United States Navy during World War II. Named after the 1781 Battle of Yorktown, she was commissioned in 1937. Yorktown was the lead ship of the three-ship Yorktown class. These large vessels were the first American carriers whose design was informed by actual experience with carrier operations, involving both larger vessels (the converted battlecruisers of the Lexington class) and, to a lesser extent, a smaller one (the primitive, experimental Langley; a newer small carrier, USS Ranger, had recently been completed, but not yet commissioned by the time Yorktown was laid down, and contributed nothing to the latter vessel's design).

After her commissioning Yorktown spent two years operating in the Atlantic before, in April 1939, transferring to the Pacific. Two years after that, in April 1941, she was one of a large number of major combatants that were transferred back to the Atlantic to take part in Neutrality Patrols, aimed primarily at monitoring German activity off America's east coast. The attack on Pearl Harbor took place while she was in port at Norfolk. Shortly after the attack she was sent back to the Pacific, arriving at San Diego in late December 1941. In January 1942 she escorted a troop convoy to Samoa; having completed this task, in early February she collaborated with her sister-ship, Enterprise on a series of raids on Japanese facilities in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. Yorktown then proceeded on to Pearl Harbor, where she dropped off a consignment of much-needed spare aircraft for the base.

Text from Wikipedia: USS Yorktown (CV-5), CC BY-SA 4.0, lightly trimmed.

Wars and campaigns

From Wikidata (CC0).

Key dates

1. 1925
   The critique of the operation revealed that carrier operations—a part of the scenarios for the annual exercises since the entry of Langley into the war games in 1925—had achieved a new peak of efficiency.
2. 1934
   Yorktown was laid down on 21 May 1934 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.; launched on 4 April 1936; sponsored by Eleanor Roosevelt; and commissioned at the Naval Station Norfolk (NS Norfolk), Norfolk, Virginia, on 30 September 1937, Captain Ernest D. McWhorter in command.
3. 1938
   Yorktown sailed for the Caribbean on 8 January 1938 and arrived at Culebra, Puerto Rico, on 13 January.
4. 1938
   After undergoing repairs through the early autumn of 1938, Yorktown moved station from the navy yard to NS Norfolk on 17 October 1938 and soon headed for the Southern Drill Grounds for training.
5. 1939
   Following Fleet Problem XX, Yorktown returned briefly to Hampton Roads before sailing for the Pacific on 20 April 1939.
6. 1941
   On the early morning of 7 December 1941, Japanese warplanes attacked the U.S. base at Pearl Harbor without warning, damaging or sinking 16 U.S. warships.
7. 1942
   Departing San Diego on 6 January 1942, Yorktown and her consorts covered the movement of Marines to Pago Pago in Tutuila to augment the garrison already there.
8. 1942
   On the morning of 10 March 1942, American carriers launched aircraft from the Gulf of Papua.
9. 1998
   On 19 May 1998, the wreck of Yorktown was found and photographed by oceanographer Dr.

Dates and events quoted from the same Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Records that place someone aboard this ship

A ship history doesn't name everyone who served. These records do:

• Navy muster rolls, 1939–1949 (National Archives guide)
• Deck logs: how to get them (Naval History and Heritage Command)
• Crew lists research guide (NHHC)
• Search the National Archives Catalog for “USS Yorktown (CV-5)”

More history

• Naval History and Heritage Command (DANFS)
• Wikipedia: USS Yorktown (CV-5)