Yorktown and Hornet

[SeaKnight_1990]

So we all know that USS Yorktown (CV-5) was sunk at Midway and USS Hornet (CV-8) was sunk at Santa Cruz. If somehow they escaped afloat (but still heavily damaged,) what would have happened to them? My take is that given their condition (Yorktown had a rather hasty repair job between Coral Sea and Midway) and the number of newer ships coming into service, they would have served in second-line roles with some combat here and there, then after the war it would be the reserve fleet and then the scrapyard. What's yours?

[Doomlock]

They would have been repaired and sent right out for fighting. 

 

Enterprise fought all the way to Okinawa, I'd imagine Hornet and Yorktown would continue the fight as well.

[Crucis]

8 minutes ago, Doomlock said:

They would have been repaired and sent right out for fighting. 

 

Enterprise fought all the way to Okinawa, I'd imagine Hornet and Yorktown would continue the fight as well.

^This.

As for their post war fate, probably straight to the scrap yard.  Not even the reserve fleet.  There were almost certainly more than enough of the Essex's as well as the few Midway's to handle the Navy's needs.

[GreyFox78659]

16 minutes ago, SeaKnight_1990 said:

So we all know that USS Yorktown (CV-5) was sunk at Midway and USS Hornet (CV-8) was sunk at Santa Cruz. If somehow they escaped afloat (but still heavily damaged,) what would have happened to them? My take is that given their condition (Yorktown had a rather hasty repair job between Coral Sea and Midway) and the number of newer ships coming into service, they would have served in second-line roles with some combat here and there, then after the war it would be the reserve fleet and then the scrapyard. What's yours?

Lexington and Wasp would of too. Saratoga was sent to the pacific to replace Lexington. She was assigned to the Atlantic with Ranger and Wasp that is why she went back once enough carriers came on line. Otherwise she would of stayed in the pacific the whole war. Had Wasp survived she most likely would of been sent back home after awhile. She was a known hazard as her design was a treaty compromise version of the Yorktown class which didn’t have torpedo protection and was smaller. She honestly should of stayed home as a training carrier. Ranger was the only carrier which was held back as she was seriously flawed in design being the first true American carrier designed and built as such from the start and had really bad plane handling issues.

[abyssofthetriffid]

I remember that yorktown ship it simply flopped over and was gone wasnt it?

[Fallschirmfuchs]

USS Hornet was intentionally scuttled however stayed afloat long enough for Japanese target practice, the USN simply didn't want to risk any more ships trying to salvage her. USS Yorktown was torpedoed while being salvaged along with one of her escort, USS Hammann, which had been providing electricity to run the pumps. I have no doubt if luck had been on their side they would of been back in service before the end of the war. As for their fate after the war, they probably would have been scrapped, if no one could raise enough money to save USS Enterprise it just wasn't going to happen. However, we had generals with mentality of kids with a new toy who seemed eager to blow things up, it would of been possible to see another fleet carrier being expended at Bikini Atoll. I've seen pictures of USS Yorktown and she hasn't aged a day, paint and battle scars still fresh from the day she sank, a much more fitting end if you ask me.

[Warped_1]

1 hour ago, abyssofthetriffid said:

I remember that yorktown ship it simply flopped over and was gone wasnt it?

Uhhh, no.  There were thoughts of reboarding her for salvage and tow after burning all day before she was torped yet again.  She was a solid ship.

[SeaKnight_1990]

Who here wants to contribute to the fund to build a 1:1 scale model of the USS Enterprise?

[Murotsu]

Saratoga was kept out of much of the heavier fighting later in the war due to her vulnerability to damage.  Lexington likely would have seen a similar fate.  Had she survived Coral Sea it's likely she would have gone into the yards for an extensive refit as Saratoga did to eliminate the worst of her material deficiencies like cast iron piping. 

Hornet and Yorktown would have likely ended up like Enterprise doing specialist and secondary carrier roles but still in frontline service.  By 1944, Enterprise became the fleet specialist carrier for night operations.

Wasp would have been withdrawn and returned to the Atlantic.  The USN recognized her vulnerability in having no armor.

[commodore_torakula]

On 1/30/2018 at 5:43 PM, Fallschirmfuchs said:

USS Hornet was intentionally scuttled however stayed afloat long enough for Japanese target practice, the USN simply didn't want to risk any more ships trying to salvage her. USS Yorktown was torpedoed while being salvaged along with one of her escort, USS Hammann, which had been providing electricity to run the pumps. I have no doubt if luck had been on their side they would of been back in service before the end of the war. As for their fate after the was, they probably would have been scrapped, if no one could raise enough money to save USS Enterprise it just wasn't going to happen. However, we had generals with mentality of kids with a new toy who seemed eager to blow things up, it would of been possible to see another fleet carrier being expended at Bikini Atoll. I've seen pictures of USS Yorktown and she hasn't aged a day, paint and battle scars still fresh from the day she sank, a much more fitting end if you ask me.

yup yup and yup... ....both Hornet and Yorktown could have been saved except for the adversity of the circumstances after the battle proper...as with the Japanese taking a month or a few months to repair the Zuikaku or the Shokaku, they'd have been back at it and valued asap ...The repair job on Yorktown from the Coral Sea to Midway was a round-the-clock affair and not total, but then the ship was not so close to a total loss then as Hornet/Yorktown in the other battles. ....those ships had been abandoned (altho there was a skeleton crew still in Yorktown as Hammann towed it....who unfortunately did not get off when she was torpedoed.)...

....yah and the atomic testing thing--I've always thought it was a sacrilege to do in Saratoga that way... ....completely left field, but I listen to old Jack Benny shows. ...they did a service show aboard her the week before she was blown up... ...sucked.

 

[commodore_torakula]

On 1/30/2018 at 6:28 PM, SeaKnight_1990 said:

Who here wants to contribute to the fund to build a 1:1 scale model of the USS Enterprise?

let's get the BB Texas thing done first. ...I hear it's a good cause....but then sure!...(if I had the money...which I don't)

[SeaKnight_1990]

I just thought of something else. If at least one of those four (Lexington, Yorktown, Wasp, Hornet) doesn't go down, at least one Essex-class carrier would need to have a different name. I understand that Hornet was supposed to be named Kearsarge, Yorktown would have been called Bonhomme Richard (John Paul Jones's ship,) Lexington's original name would be Cabot, and Wasp originally was slated to be called Oriskany. 

The four original names were later given to other Essexes, and those would have to be named something...

[JuiceEFruit]

On 2/2/2018 at 4:43 PM, Murotsu said:

Saratoga was kept out of much of the heavier fighting later in the war due to her vulnerability to damage.  Lexington likely would have seen a similar fate.  Had she survived Coral Sea it's likely she would have gone into the yards for an extensive refit as Saratoga did to eliminate the worst of her material deficiencies like cast iron piping. 

Hornet and Yorktown would have likely ended up like Enterprise doing specialist and secondary carrier roles but still in frontline service.  By 1944, Enterprise became the fleet specialist carrier for night operations.

Wasp would have been withdrawn and returned to the Atlantic.  The USN recognized her vulnerability in having no armor.

Not sure that's the case about Saratoga.  She was still in action as of early 1945 with Enterprise and took multiple bomb and/or kamikaze hits.  Was able to recover aircraft an hour later, but had to return home to repair the damage.  She wasn't ready again until May of 1945.  They had already decided not to send her back out at that point...not because she couldn't take damage, but because we had plenty of newer, more modern carriers and Sara was 20 years old at that point.  There was no need for her.   Had their not been scads of Essex class (they didn't even finish building all of those they could have during the war) and all the CVL's, Sara and Enterprise would have been right in the thick of things.  

 

[JuiceEFruit]

2 hours ago, SeaKnight_1990 said:

I just thought of something else. If at least one of those four (Lexington, Yorktown, Wasp, Hornet) doesn't go down, at least one Essex-class carrier would need to have a different name. I understand that Hornet was supposed to be named Kearsarge, Yorktown would have been called Bonhomme Richard (John Paul Jones's ship,) Lexington's original name would be Cabot, and Wasp originally was slated to be called Oriskany. 

The four original names were later given to other Essexes, and those would have to be named something...

True.  They kicked the names Bon Homme Richard, Kearsarge, and Oriskany down the line.   But they also renamed other Essexes that were previously slated for a different name:

CV-14 was supposed to have been Hancock, but renamed Ticonderoga.  Hancock was kicked down the line a few units and still used. 

CV-16 was renamed Lexington but was supposed to have been Cabot.  Never did use that name, but it was available.

CV-32 was renamed Leyte but supposed to be Crown Point.  That one was never used, so it was available. 

CV-37 Princeton was originally supposed to be Valley Forge.  Kicked that one down the line a few units. 

Don't think names were a problem, lol. 

 

 

[Vettish]

Cabot was used but not for an Essex class but an Independence class CVL.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cabot_(CVL-28)