Aircraft Carrier Hornet (Essex-class)

Hornet (Essex-class)

Country	United States
Ship Class	Essex-class Aircraft Carrier
Builder	Newport News Shipbuilding
Laid Down	3 Aug 1942
Launched	30 Aug 1943
Commissioned	29 Nov 1943
Decommissioned	15 Jan 1947
Displacement	27,100 tons standard; 36,380 tons full
Length	872 feet
Beam	147 feet
Draft	34 feet
Machinery	8 boilers, 4 Westinghouse geared steam turbines, 4 shafts
Bunkerage	6,330t fuel oil; 240,000gal aviation fuel
Power Output	150,000 shaft horsepower
Speed	33 knots
Range	20,000nm at 15 knots
Crew	2,600
Armament	4x twin 5in, 4x5in, 8x quad 40mm, 46x20mm
Armor	2.5in to 4in belt, 1.5in hangar, 4in bulkheads, 1.5in STS top and sides of pilot house, 2.5in top of
Aircraft	90
Elevator	3 (1 deck edge, 2 centerline)

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseOriginally named Kearsarge, the ship was renamed Hornet in honor of the carrier Hornet that was lost during the Solomons Campaign in Oct 1942. Her shakedown training took place off Bermuda. On 14 Feb 1944 she sailed from Norfolk, VA to join the Fast Carrier Task Force in the Marshalls. Her aircraft supported the invasion on New Guinea, bombarded Japanese bases in the Caroline Islands, and supported the landings on the Marianas Islands by striking Japanese bases on Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima on 15-16 Jun 1944 to prevent their aircraft from reinforcing the Marianas. On 18 Jun, Hornet participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, as known to the Americans as the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. After raids on Japanese bases on Guam, Bonin, the Palau Islands, Okinawa, and Taiwan, she then supported the landings on Leyte, Philippines on 20 Oct 1944, and participated in the Battle off Samar by supporting the overwhelmed American fleet with air support. Near the end of the war, Hornet's aircraft raided the Japanese home islands and supporting the landings on Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

ww2dbaseAs a carrier operating near Japan, Hornet was a prime target for whatever air power Japan had left. During the last 16 months of the war, she sustained 59 air attacks. However, her pilots had much to show for as well. During this time her pilots destroyed 1,410 Japanese aircraft and sank 1,269,710 tons worth of Japanese shipping.

ww2dbaseAfter the war, Hornet participated in Operation Magic Carpet that brought American service men back to the United States. She returned to San Francisco on 9 Feb 1946 and became decommissioned there in Jan 1947. She was recommissioned in 1951 for tension with Communist expansion in China and remained generally in the Pacific area on a wide array of missions, including the recovery of manned and unmanned spaceships of the Apollo program. She was decommissioned in 1970 and became a museum ship in 1998 at the former Alameda Naval Air Station in Alameda, California, United States.

ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia.

Last Major Revision: Mar 2006

Aircraft Carrier Hornet (Essex-class) Interactive Map

Photographs

US Secretary of Navy Frank Knox and wife Annie Reid Knox at the christening ceremony of USS Hornet, Newport News shipyard, Newport News, Virginia, United States, 30 Aug 1943

USS Hornet (Essex-class) laying off Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, United States, 19 Dec 1943 shortly after commissioning showing off her MS33/3a paint scheme. Photo 1 of 4.

See all 56 photographs of Aircraft Carrier Hornet (Essex-class)

Maps

Chart created aboard the USS Hornet (Essex-class) showing the state of the weather in the Philippine Sea at 1500/I on 4 Jun 1945 and showing Typhoon Connie’s track between 1 and 6 Jun 1945.

Videos

Typhoon Connie damage carrier USS Bennington (0:00-1:38) and aircraft launching over the stern from typhoon damaged USS Hornet (Essex-class; 1:38-3:17), 6 Jun 1945.

Hornet (Essex-class) Operational Timeline

29 Nov 1943	USS Hornet was commissioned into service at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia with Miles Browning in command.
29 May 1944	William Sample became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving Miles Browning.
13 Jul 1944	USS Hornet spent the day conducting refueling operations.
9 Aug 1944	Austin Doyle became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving William Sample.
13 Oct 1944	USS Hornet launched a reconnaissance mission over the Japanese Navy seaplane base at Toko Bay (now Dapeng Bay), southern Taiwan.
18 Dec 1944	Many ships from the United States Third Fleet, Task Force 38 sailed into Typhoon Cobra in the Philippine Sea. Three destroyers and 790 men were lost.
4 Jun 1945	Many ships from the United States Third Fleet, primarily Task Groups 38.1 and 30.8 sailed into Typhoon Connie south of Japan. No ships were lost but 7 men lost their lives.
1 Aug 1945	Charles Brown became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving Austin Doyle.
14 Feb 1946	Charles Coe became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving Charles Brown.
14 Aug 1946	Charles Coe stepped down as the commanding officer of USS Hornet.
15 Jan 1947	Hornet (Essex-class) was decommissioned from service.
20 Mar 1951	Francis Busey became the commanding officer of USS Hornet.
30 Apr 1951	Gorman Merrick became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving Francis Busey.
12 May 1951	Gorman Merrick stepped down as the commanding officer of USS Hornet.
11 Sep 1953	Milton Adolphus became the commanding officer of USS Hornet.
19 Jul 1954	Frank Brandley became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving Milton Adolphus.
20 Jul 1955	Norwood Campbell became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving Frank Brandley.
18 Aug 1956	William Hollister became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving Norwood Campbell.
12 Aug 1957	Thomas Connolly became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving William Hollister.
25 Aug 1958	Marshall White became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving Thomas Connolly.
20 Nov 1959	Ernest Christensen became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving Marshall White.
2 Nov 1960	David Richardson became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving Ernest Christensen.
18 Oct 1961	Hoyt Mann became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving David Richardson.
24 Sep 1962	Ellis Fisher became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving Hoyt Mann.
25 Sep 1963	John Hardy became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving Ellis Fisher.
15 Jul 1964	Mayo Hadden, Jr. became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving John Hardy.
1 Jul 1965	William Pardee became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving Mayo Hadden, Jr.
1 Apr 1966	Van Eason, Jr. became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving William Pardee.
27 Feb 1967	Gordon Robertson became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving Van Eason, Jr.
23 Feb 1968	Jackson Stockton became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving Gordon Robertson.
23 May 1969	Carl Seiberlich became the commanding officer of USS Hornet, relieving Jackson Stockton.
26 Jun 1970	USS Hornet was decommissioned from service.
25 Jul 1989	USS Hornet was struck from the US Naval Vessel Register.
26 May 1998	USS Hornet was donated to the Aircraft Carrier Hornet Foundation.
17 Oct 1998	USS Hornet was opened to the public as USS Hornet Museum in Alameda, California, United States.

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Hornet (Essex-class)