Asking for a little indulgence in posting this picture in The Lounge. I had never seen it before and I think it's remarkable.

When the Hornet departed San Francisco Bay with the 16 B-25s of the Doolittle mission aboard, the sailors though they would simply be delivering the aircraft to Pearl Harbor. After all, the Hornet passed under the Golden Gate Bridge in broad daylight with the bombers in plain sight on the flight deck.

Tom Varnando, one of those sailors said, " Traffic was just stopped there, it was just a mass of people on the bridge. We went right under them. I thought, "Well, we're not going on a secret mission because they wouldn't do this."

But they would. A day into the cruise the crew got the news. They were't going to Pearl Harbor. They were going to bomb Japan.

I posted a pretty big picture so you can more easily see the people lined up on the GG Bridge.

Incredible.

Thanks for posting.

Thank you for posting this.

No experience with military aviation, how did they get enough room on the flight deck to get the first plane off ? Those B-25's wouldn't fit on the hanger deck would they ?

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USS Hornet Departing San Francisco Bay, 1942

Link

World War II: USS Hornet (CV-8)



By Kennedy Hickman
Updated August 05, 2019

USS Hornet (CV-8) was a Yorktown-class aircraft carrier that entered service with the U.S. Navy in 1941. The last ship of its class, Hornet earned famed in April 1942 when Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle launched his famed raid on Japan from the carrier's deck. Less than two months later, it took part in the stunning American victory at the Battle of Midway. Ordered south in the summer of 1942, Hornet commenced operations to aid Allied forces during the Battle of Guadalcanal. In September, the carrier was lost at the Battle of Santa Cruz after sustaining several bomb and torpedo hits. Its name was carried on by a new USS Hornet (CV-12) which joined the fleet in November 1943.

Construction & Commissioning

The third and final Yorktown-class aircraft carrier, USS Hornet was ordered on March 30, 1939. Construction began at the Newport News Shipbuilding Company that September. As work progressed, World War II commenced in Europe though the United States elected to remain neutral. Launched on December 14, 1940, Hornet was sponsored by Annie Reid Knox, wife of Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox. Workers completed the ship later the following year and on October 20, 1941, Hornet was commissioned with Captain Marc A. Mitscher in command. Over the next five weeks, the carrier conducted training exercises off the Chesapeake Bay.



Aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) underway in the Chesapeake Bay.

USS Hornet (CV-8) underway in Hampton Roads, VA, October 1941. National Archives and Record Administration

World War II Begins

With the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, Hornet returned to Norfolk and in January had its anti-aircraft armament substantially upgraded. Remaining in the Atlantic, the carrier conducted tests on February 2 to determine if a B-25 Mitchell medium bomber could fly from the ship. Though the crew was perplexed, the tests proved successful. On March 4, Hornet departed Norfolk with orders to sail for San Francisco, CA. Transiting the Panama Canal, the carrier arrived at Naval Air Station, Alameda on March 20. While there, sixteen U.S. Army Air Forces B-25s were loaded onto Hornet's flight deck.

USS Hornet (CV-8)
Nation: United States
Type: Aircraft Carrier
Shipyard: Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company
Laid Down: September 25, 1939
Launched: December 14, 1940
Commissioned: October 20, 1941
Fate: Sunk October 26, 1942
Specifications
Displacement: 26,932 tons
Length: 827 ft., 5 in.
Beam: 114 ft.
Draft: 28 ft.
Propulsion: 4 × Parsons geared steam turbines, 9 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 4 × shafts
Speed: 32.5 knots
Range: 14,400 nautical miles at 15 knots
Complement: 2,919 men
Armament
8 × 5 in. dual purpose guns, 20 × 1.1 in., 32 × 20 mm anti-aircraft cannons
Aircraft
90 aircraft

Doolittle Raid

Receiving sealed orders, Mitscher put to sea on April 2 before informing the crew that the bombers, led by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Doolittle, were intended for a strike on Japan. Steaming across the Pacific, Hornet united with Vice Admiral William Halsey's Task Force 16 which was centered on the carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6). With Enterprise's aircraft providing cover, the combined force approached Japan. On April 18, the American force was spotted by the Japanese vessel No. 23 Nitto Maru. Though the enemy vessel was quickly destroyed by the cruiser USS Nashville, Halsey and Doolittle were concerned that it had sent a warning to Japan.



B-25 Mitchell takes off from USS Hornet, 1942.

B-25 takes off from USS Hornet (CV-8). National Archives & Records Administration

Still 170 miles short of their intended launch point, Doolittle met with Mitscher, Hornet's commander, to discuss the situation. Emerging from the meeting, the two men decided to launch the bombers early. Leading the raid, Doolittle took off first at 8:20 a.m. and was followed by the rest of his men. Reaching Japan, the raiders successfully struck their targets before flying on to China. Due to the early departure, none possessed the fuel to reach their intended landing strips and all were forced to bail out or ditch. Having launched Doolittle's bombers, Hornet and TF 16 immediately turned and steamed for Pearl Harbor.

Midway

After a brief stop in Hawaii, the two carriers departed on April 30 and moved south to support USS Yorktown (CV-5) and USS Lexington (CV-2) during the Battle of the Coral Sea. Unable to reach the area in time, they diverted towards Nauru and Banaba before returning to Pearl Harbor on May 26. As before, the time in port was short as the Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz ordered both Hornet and Enterprise to block a Japanese advance against Midway. Under the guidance of Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance, the two carriers were later joined by Yorktown.

With the beginning of the Battle of Midway on June 4, all three American carriers launched strikes against the four carriers of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's First Air Fleet. Locating the Japanese carriers, the American TBD Devastator torpedo bombers began attacking. Lacking escorts, they suffered heavily and Hornet's VT-8 lost all fifteen of its aircraft. The sole survivor of the squadron was Ensign George Gay who was rescued after the battle. With the battle progressing, Hornet's dive bombers failed to find the Japanese, though their compatriots from the other two carriers did with stunning results.

In the course of the fighting, Yorktown's and Enterprise's dive bombers succeeded in sinking all four Japanese carriers. That afternoon, Hornet's aircraft attacked the supporting Japanese vessels but with little effect. Two days later, they aided in sinking the heavy cruiser Mikuma and badly damaging the heavy cruiser Mogami. Returning to port, Hornet spent much of the next two months being overhauled. This saw the carrier's anti-aircraft defenses further augmented and the installation of a new radar set. Departing Pearl Harbor on August 17, Hornet sailed for the Solomon Islands to aid in the Battle of Guadalcanal.

Battle of Santa Cruz

Arriving in the area, Hornet supported Allied operations and in late September briefly was the only operational American carrier in the Pacific after the loss of USS Wasp (CV-7) and damage to USS Saratoga (CV-3) and Enterprise. Joined by a repaired Enterprise on October 24, Hornet moved to strike a Japanese force approaching Guadalcanal. Two days later saw the carrier engaged in the Battle of Santa Cruz. In the course of the action, Hornet's aircraft inflicted severe damage on the carrier Shokaku and heavy cruiser Chikuma



USS Hornet at sea being attacked by Japanese aircraft.

USS Hornet under attack during the Battle of Santa Cruz, 1942. US Naval History & Heritage Command

These successes were offset when Hornet was struck by three bombs and two torpedoes. On fire and dead in the water, Hornet's crew began a massive damage control operation which saw the fires brought under control by 10:00 a.m. As Enterprise was also damaged, it began to withdraw from the area. In an effort to save Hornet, the carrier was taken under tow by the heavy cruiser USS Northampton. Only making five knots, the two ships came under attack from Japanese aircraft and Hornet was hit by another torpedo. Unable to save the carrier, Captain Charles P. Mason ordered abandon ship.

After attempts to scuttle the burning ship failed, the destroyers USS Anderson and USS Mustin moved in and fired over 400 five-inch rounds and nine torpedoes into Hornet. Still refusing to sink, Hornet was finally finished off after midnight by four torpedoes from the Japanese destroyers Makigumo and Akigumo which had arrived in the area. The last U.S. fleet carrier lost to enemy action during the war, Hornet had only been commission one year and seven days.

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Originally posted by bossman:
No experience with military aviation, how did they get enough room on the flight deck to get the first plane off ? Those B-25's wouldn't fit on the hanger deck would they ?

I've never seen that picture before! Thanks for posting it.
It's amazing that they had room (but just barely!) to launch.

quote:

Originally posted by bossman:
No experience with military aviation, how did they get enough room on the flight deck to get the first plane off ? Those B-25's wouldn't fit on the hanger deck would they ?

As subsequent photos show, they crammed all 16 planes as far back as possible on launch day. Jimmy Doolittle piloted the very first plane off the Hornet (since he was BY FAR the most experienced aviator, and each plane has just a little more runway available than the previous one).

Even going first, Doolittle took off with deck to spare.

That was an amazing mission, and very well could have ended in disaster. The Japanese picket boat they encountered caused them to launch early (IIRC, 750 instead of 450 miles from Japan). Had they gone all the way to 450 miles, it's almost certain the Japanese would have caught the American task force (which had USS Hornet and Enterprise; two of the available carriers). It very well could have ended in a disaster of epic proportion.


Cool photo. I've never seen that one before.


Interesting trivia about that write up on Hornet's war service. She was nearly useless at Midway. Her torpedo bombers, Torpedo 8, were the only ones who meaningfully contributed to victory, and that was by sacrificing themselves to keep the Japanese too busy to launch an attack against the US carriers before the American dive bombers found them.

Hornet (the Captain and the air group commander) sent her entire air group off on what is now known as "The Flight to Nowhwere." They were nowhere near the Japanese fleet. The air group commander was enraged that the Torpedo bombers broke formation and set out on their own to the Japanese fleet. Had he survived, it's likely Lieutenant Commander John C. Waldron would have been court-martialed for disobeying orders. To this day, we don't know why the Hornet sent its planes off on the wrong heading (it has been suggested they thought there was another group of Japanese carriers in a different location, but this is ONLY speculation in an attempt to make sense of it all).

But, Hornet was new, and her air group the least experienced. Still, had the Hornet's dive bombers followed the same course as everybody else, they MAY HAVE been able to join with the other two carriers' dive bombers who could have then sunk all 4 Japanese carriers (they only got 3 - Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu). Hornet's air group getting lost essentially cut down the American striking power by 33% right off the bat. This could have prevented USS Yorktown from being sunk by the later follow-on attacks by Hiryu's air group. Again, we will never know.

Very cool photo with those planes on deck.

Are those painted broomstick handles in the gun turrets?

That's not a photo... That's a painting by William S. Phillips, made in 2013, titled "Approaching the Gate to Destiny". It's just his artistic rendering of the Hornet and the Golden Gate Bridge.

The later images posted by HRK are actual photos.

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Tom Varnando, one of those sailors said, " Traffic was just stopped there, it was just a mass of people on the bridge. We went right under them.

I thought, "Well, we're not going on a secret mission because they wouldn't do this."

In hindsight, that would be an easy line of thinking however, aircraft carriers transporting aircraft to various destinations across the Pacific was not unusual. Such an assortment of aircraft on board wouldn't necessarily raise any eye-brows at the time other than being apart to the war fighting build-up.

The war activity (outside of the shock of Pearl Harbor) at the time was focused around the South China Sea with the Philippines, Malaysia and Dutch East Indies either under siege or, on the verge of falling; US forces in the Asiatic Fleet were for all intents at the time, on their own and soon to be destroyed. Nimitz was just appointed as PACFLT and US carriers earlier in the year had conducted air raids against Wake, Marshalls and Gilbert islands blunting Japanese movement but, that was unknown to the general public. Shipbuilding efforts around the SF Bay was just starting, while Mare Island and Hunter's Point was getting themselves situated for the big fight.

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In September, the carrier was lost at the Battle of Santa Cruz after sustaining several bomb and torpedo hits. Its name was carried on by a new USS Hornet (CV-12) which joined the fleet in November 1943.

CV-12 completed the circle of the Hornet, is now a museum at the former Alameda NAS.

Lots of good pics and history in this thread!

quote:

Originally posted by bossman:
No experience with military aviation, how did they get enough room on the flight deck to get the first plane off ? Those B-25's wouldn't fit on the hanger deck would they ?

I had the honor of speaking with Lt. Col. Edward J. Saylor. He was the flight engineer on the last plane to take off. When I asked if they had a longer flight deck he replied that the Hornet’s island prevented the bombers from using the full deck. All of them had to carefully taxi past the island before they could take off.

^One of the raider pilots discusses the takeoff difficulties in this newsreel. Go to 8:14 in the video...

A scene from the movie Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo shows the pilots training for the unusual takeoff. Starring Van Johnson, and you'll also notice Robert Mitchum as one of the B-25 drivers...

Regarding the relatively short deck to take off as noted above the top speed of the carrier was 32.5 knots and of course going into the wind the wind speed going across the deck may have been approaching 50 mph which would certainly help..

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Originally posted by kkina:
A scene from the movie Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo shows the pilots training for the unusual takeoff. Starring Van Johnson, and you'll also notice Robert Mitchum as one of the B-25 drivers.

Hadn’t seen that in a long time. Some great replies in this thread. Incredible story, isn’t it

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Originally posted by smlsig:
Regarding the relatively short deck to take off as noted above the top speed of the carrier was 32.5 knots and of course going into the wind the wind speed going across the deck may have been approaching 50 mph which would certainly help..

On the 3rd plane shown in the newsreel, it looks like it is getting enough lift to raise the nosewheel before the plane has moved ten feet. It looks like the main gear is clear of the deck before 75 feet. Very impressive with a double fuel load from normal or designed.

By the look of seas and the swells and whitecaps, I would guess at least 20 knot winds assisting takeoff. Fortunate they had those winds right then. I wonder if they could have made the take off in calm seas.

One of the most impressive results of this raid is the number Chinese killed in reprisal. Reported 250,000 civilians, and 70,000 soldiers.