In case any of you missed this, WW2 carrier USS Hornet CV-8 has been found off the Solomon Islands:
Completed just in time for the Pacific War, and built as a belated third unit of the Yorktown class in order to speed production, she quickly became famous for launching 16 Army B-25 Mitchell Bombers on the famous Doolittle Raid on Japan. She was lost in the fierce fighting off the Solomons later in 1942, after the order to abandon ship although burned out and beyond repair she refused to sink despite absorbing several torpedoes and hundreds of 5 inch shells from her own escorts, and the wreck was abandoned afloat as the Japanese fleet was advancing on the position. She thus gained the dubious distinction of being the only aircraft carrier ever to fall into enemy hands during wartime. The Japanese recognising there was nothing to be gained by salvage, dispatched their prize with yet more torpedoes and sent her to the bottom.
It is worth remembering that this ship, around 20,000tons displacement absorbed a mind boggling amount of damage and stayed afloat. Modern day CVNs are about FIVE Times the displacement and were designed incorporating hard won wartime lessons, including this one. Next time someone sneeringly suggests a CVN could be sunk with a single torpedo... please feel free to laugh at them. A single hit in wartime and a CVN is unlikely to even slow down...
Completed just in time for the Pacific War, and built as a belated third unit of the Yorktown class in order to speed production, she quickly became famous for launching 16 Army B-25 Mitchell Bombers on the famous Doolittle Raid on Japan. She was lost in the fierce fighting off the Solomons later in 1942, after the order to abandon ship although burned out and beyond repair she refused to sink despite absorbing several torpedoes and hundreds of 5 inch shells from her own escorts, and the wreck was abandoned afloat as the Japanese fleet was advancing on the position. She thus gained the dubious distinction of being the only aircraft carrier ever to fall into enemy hands during wartime. The Japanese recognising there was nothing to be gained by salvage, dispatched their prize with yet more torpedoes and sent her to the bottom.
It is worth remembering that this ship, around 20,000tons displacement absorbed a mind boggling amount of damage and stayed afloat. Modern day CVNs are about FIVE Times the displacement and were designed incorporating hard won wartime lessons, including this one. Next time someone sneeringly suggests a CVN could be sunk with a single torpedo... please feel free to laugh at them. A single hit in wartime and a CVN is unlikely to even slow down...
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