The keel for the aircraft carrier Bon HommeRichard was laid down December 1, 1941,six days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Thevessel was renamed USS Yorktown (CV-10)in honor of the original carrier Yorktown (CV-5),the only U.S. carrier lost at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. The CV-10 conducted numerous air strikes including the Marshall Islands, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Battle of the Philippine Sea, Formosa and on the Japanese mainland. The ships crew numbered380 officers, 3,088 enlisted personnel and 90 planes.Nicknamed "The Fighting Lady", she received thePresidential Unit Citation and earned eleven battle stars for World War II service. She was placed in reserve from January 1947, until December 1952.Her deck was cantilevered in 1955 in order toaccommodate newer aircraft.
[Marker Reverse]
In 1957, the vessel was again overhauled andreclassified as an antisubmarine warfare (ASW)carrier and designated CVS~10. During deploymentin the Pacific, she qualified for the Armed ForcesExpeditionary Medal on three occasions for herresponses to the Communist Chinese shellingsof Formosa, Quemoy, and Matsu. From 1965 until1967, Yorktown's main activity was in combatoperations in Vietnam where she earned an additional five battle stars. In 1968, she recoveredNASA's Apollo 8 capsule from the PacificOcean. In the late 1960s, she conducted exercisesin the Atlantic Ocean participating in the major fleet exercise "Operation Peacekeeper". The carrierwas featured in the 1970 Japanese - American produced film, Tora, Tora, Tora. Decommissioned that same year, she is now thehonored main feature of Patriots Point Naval &Maritime Museum.
Comments 0 comments