Yorktown was the name of two United States Navy aircraft carriers. USS Yorktown (CV-5) was launched in 1936 and sunk in 1942. USS Yorktown (CV-10) replaced the earlier ship in 1943. USS stands for United States Ship. CV is the Navy’s designation for an aircraft carrier. Both ships took part in major combat during World War II (1939-1945). The ships were named after Yorktown, Virginia, the site of the last major battle of the American Revolution (1775-1783).
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was the Navy’s fifth aircraft carrier. It was in the Atlantic Ocean when the Japanese attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. Yorktown soon transferred to the Pacific Ocean. In May 1942, the ship joined USS Lexington (CV-2) to stop the Japanese advance at the Battle of the Coral Sea, northeast of Australia. Yorktown was seriously damaged in the battle. After quick repairs, the ship—along with USS Enterprise (CV-6) and USS Hornet (CV-8)—helped defeat the Japanese at the Battle of Midway. Yorktown was critically damaged in the fighting, and its crew abandoned ship. It sank early on June 7 after being torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.
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joined the war in 1943. That year, it raided Japanese positions on Marcus and Wake islands and supported other operations in the central Pacific. In 1944, Yorktown assisted in assaults in New Guinea and in the Marshall, Mariana, and Caroline island groups. In June 1944, the ship’s planes took part in a lopsided American victory over the Japanese in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
In late 1944 and 1945, Yorktown hit targets in the Philippines, supported the invasions of Iwo Jima (now Iwo To) and Okinawa, and raided the Japanese home islands. On Sept. 2, 1945, Japan signed an official statement of surrender, and World War II ended.
For its wartime service, Yorktown earned 11 battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation for the crew’s heroism in combat. A battle star is awarded for a ship’s participation in a major battle. The Navy decommissioned (retired) Yorktown on Jan. 9, 1947.
Yorktown was reactivated in 1953 and modernized several times. It earned five more battle stars in the Vietnam War (1957-1975). In 1968, the ship retrieved the astronauts of Apollo 8, the first piloted expedition to orbit the moon. Yorktown was again decommissioned in 1970.
In 1975, Yorktown became a floating museum and memorial in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. It was designated a national historic landmark in 1986.
See also Aircraft carrier ; World War II (The war in Asia and the Pacific) .
