they were designed to be the best they
met enemies face to face endured
tragedies and enjoyed victories they
went down in history due to The Bravery
of their
Crews they are the ships that deserve to
be called Naval Legends
in this episode USS Yorktown Pride of
the US
Navy on December the 7th 1941 Japan
attacked US Naval vessels mored at Pearl
Harbor without declaration of war the
majority of the US Fleet Station there
was sunk or
disabled the main strike was delivered
by Japanese planes brought to Hawaii by
aircraft carriers the attack signaled
the United States entry into World War
II The Assault on Pearl Harbor showed
that powerful armored battleships ceased
to be the main Naval
Force the US Navy needed a fleet of
aircraft carriers to successfully
operate in the Pacific
Ocean the lead ship of a new class USS
Essex was laid down in April
1941 USS Yorktown cv5 that bravely
fought the Japanese and was sunk during
the Battle of Midway served as prototype
of the new class the second ship
initially named bonam Richard was then
renamed USS Yorktown to honor her
predecessor when designing the Essex
class American Engineers took
shortcomings from earlier carriers into
consideration the New York town was
bigger had increased anti-aircraft
Armament a powerful Air Group and a host
of other new
features USS Yorktown was commissioned
in 1943 at Newport News
Virginia H where she left for her sea
trials in the Atlantic and and then she
was sent to the Pacific Theater of
operations from 1943 through the end of
the war in
1945 length 872 ft beam 147 ft 6 in
height almost 82 ft total displacement
36,200 tons draft about 27 F 5 in
anti-aircraft artillery 12 * 5 in Mark
12 guns 17 time quadruple bers Mark 2 56
guns 51 * oon Mark 4 78
cannons armor belt 2.5 to 4
in Pilot House roof 1.5
in Air Group up to 100
aircraft f6f Hellcat
destroyers s b2c hell diver
bombers TBF Avenger torpedo bombers
propulsion eight times boilers from
Babcock and Wilcox four times westing
house geared steam turbines power
150,000 horsepower maximum speed 32.7
knots range 15,000 nautical miles at 15
kns
Yorktown is one of the heavy strike
aircraft carriers of Essex class
constructed by the US during World War
II the US Navy commissioned 17 ships of
this class between 1942 and
1945 in total 24 S6 class aircraft
carriers were built it was the first
time in history vessels of that size
were
mass-produced ussic first of the new
class received the hall number cv9
USS York town built later was assigned
cb10 USS Yorktown was commissioned on
the 15th of April
1943 Captain Joseph Clark commanded the
ship during her sea trials and first
training Air Group flights
Yorktown lacked thick armor and Powerful
main guns but an aircraft carrier does
not need
either she stays away from the line of
fire and uses her Air Group to attack
the
enemy Yorktown launched her aircraft
from two catapults on the flight deck
one was located port and the other
starbo the catapults were operated From
Below
decks these big tanks here took stored
all the hydraulic fluid that was needed
to propel the piston this thing would be
pulled tight and then the hydraulic
fluid would be pumped into the cylinder
and which would push the bar all the way
forward and these cables would run
backwards and then it would Propel the
aircraft off the flight very intricate
very complicated cuz you had cables that
were running through the ship to get to
the flight
deck compared to her predecessor
Yorktown was faster and could go 3,000
Mi
farther another important advantage of
Yorktown was the independent work of her
four engine boiler
rooms she was the first aircraft carrier
to have this
feature each machine had boiler and
turbine rooms in the event of loss of
three machines the ship could still
function properly with one remaining
engine boiler
room this is the boiler right here they
used something called bunker oil it was
very very thick like a pudding they'd
have to heat it before it went in to the
boiler they could burn it then and then
that would heat up the steam the water
into steam which will go into the next
room for uh to to run the
turbin crew Quarters on Yorktown were
situated very close to workshops which
could cause serious problems in the
event the ship was hit special attention
was paid to the safety of the ship and
her
crew all of yorktown's ordinance were
stored on the lower decks of the carrier
in case of a fire these compartments
could be easily flooded to prevent
explosions a bomb would be brought up
from the bunker down below and it would
be brought into here and the bomb would
be assembled on a on a carrier and they
would put the the fins on the back of
the bomb they would put that against the
bomb itself but they wouldn't put the
fuse in the fuse would be waiting for
them already up on the flight deck
because if you put a fuse in the bomb
there's the possibility that the bomb
would explode and damage the
carrier all of the carrier's decks had
their own damage control compartments
which gave access to venting and
firefighting
systems another important issue was the
safety of the ship and her crew in case
the ship was struck by enemy bomb or
torpedo right here in
1944 a bomb actually went through here
and then went down the side of the ship
and exploded on the
hle the system of special Escape shot
cffs were designed to save the lives of
the
crew if the ship was hit below the
waterline Sailors could abandon the
damaged or flooding compartment and
climb up to the next level once all the
crew members were safe the hatches to
the compartment were sealed
sharp the Pilot House had Direct Control
of the
ship the control station gathered the
information about ship status such as
heading and
speed Yorktown also had several backup
control
rooms it tells everything it reads same
way as it does up in the bridge the
revolutions the direction the shaft
speed it's all here and the shaft can be
controlled from here
in the fall of 1943 the aircraft carrier
took part in her first major operation
near the Gilbert Islands the Battle of
teraa later in the beginning of
1944 the ship supported the invasion of
the Marshall Islands and attacked
Japanese Air Force bases
is USS Yorktown and other S6 class
aircraft carriers became the US Navy's
main weapon in the Pacific Theater of
operations during World War II they
participated in nearly every operation
in the Pacific these ships were
considered so dangerous by the Japanese
that they were frequently selected as
targets by kamakazi pilots yorkt was
lucky enough to avoid them but USS
banker hill for example sustained heavy
damage after a kamakazi attack despite
the extensive damage Bunker Hill
survived the Essex class vessels were
incredibly durable ships in fact none of
these ships were ever sunk by the
Japanese on April the 1st 1945 The
Assault on the Okinawa Island began over
the course of next 6 weeks yorktown's
aircraft provided continuous air support
to troops landing on the
island every 3 days the ship would leave
the battlefield to refuel and
resupply this routine was broken only
once when Yorktown received the order to
repel the attack with the famous
Japanese battleship Yamato the flagship
of the combined Imperial Japanese
Navy by 1945 the Japanese Navy was on
the brink of Destruction the high
command was forced to resort to Extreme
Measures yato was tasked with repelling
the attack of the US Aviation and defend
the ryuku island against
Invasion it was effectively a suicide
mission as the ships did not have enough
fuel to come back from
Okinawa on April the 7th Yorktown
together with the other carriers of task
force 58 Advanced to intercept the
Japanese ships led by the steel monster
yamata after two waves of attacks of the
US aircraft Yamato seemed
Invincible Yorktown participated in the
final two attacks on the Japanese
battleship on her first wave yorktown's
aircraft managed to destroy most of the
Yamato's gun batteries and damaged the
engine room and the battleship lost
maneuvering control after more than 20
direct torpedo and bomb hits Yamato
began to list as her list increased she
capsized and her ammunition stor was
detonated a monstrous blast tore the
ship apart a smoke pillar rose up to 4
miles even crew members on Yorktown some
tens of miles away from the battle could
see the effects of the explosion
the destruction of Yamato established
the defeat of the Japanese Navy Japan
did not have large battleships
anymore the Land of the Rising Sun was
powerless to stop the US Navy in the
Pacific after sing yato yorktown's Air
Group participated in bombing of the
Cure Naval base and Military Targets
near
too York toown received 11 Battle Stars
for her service in the Pacific she was
decommissioned in the beginning of the
1947 and mosal for 5 years the ship then
underwent several modernizations and was
recommissioned in 1953
the newly modernized Yorktown assumed
different roles ranging from a movie set
to a flagship during a large scale US
Navy deployment in the Pacific in 1965
she participated in combat operations
again this time in South China Sea
during the Vietnam
war towards the end of her military
service Yorktown served as the recovery
ship for Apollo 8 space
mission in 1970 Yorktown was
decommissioned and in 1975 she was
formerly opened as a mum in Charleston
South Carolina where she remains to this
day the purpose of the Yorktown being
here is to perpetuate the memories and
sacrifices of those who served on these
vessels and to make it more interactive
than it has been in the past and the
young people will will see more of the
history and they will enjoy it more