Lost Beneath the Pacific
In the vast Pacific Ocean rests the wreck of the USS Hornet CV-8, an American aircraft carrier whose service shaped the early years of the Second World War. She launched the daring Doolittle Raid on April 18, 1942, sending sixteen B-25 bombers toward Japan and proving its home islands could be reached. Weeks later, at the Battle of Midway, Hornet’s planes helped sink four enemy carriers, turning momentum toward the Allies.
Commissioned in October 1941, the Hornet was a Yorktown-class carrier built to project American air power across the Pacific. She measured more than 800 feet and carried nearly ninety aircraft, including Dauntless dive bombers and Wildcat fighters. With a crew of about 2,200, she bristled with anti-aircraft guns and heavy armor, yet her service life would be brutally short.
Battle and Sinking
On October 26, 1942, during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, Japanese bombers and torpedo planes struck repeatedly. Bomb blasts ripped through the flight deck, fires swept the hangars, and torpedoes crippled her engines. Crews fought the flames and tried towing the ship to safety, but further attacks left her powerless. After hours of punishment and the evacuation of her surviving crew, American destroyers attempted to scuttle the carrier. Even then she resisted sinking until additional torpedoes from approaching Japanese ships sent her beneath the waves in the early morning of October 27. More than 140 sailors lost their lives.
Discovery After Decades
For 77 years the Hornet’s final resting place remained unknown. In January 2019, researchers aboard the vessel RV Petrel, funded by the late Paul Allen, located the wreck 17,388 feet below the surface. Remotely operated cameras revealed the shattered hull split into sections, aircraft still resting on the seabed with landing gear down, and scattered personal items that once belonged to the crew.
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