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2019-02-13 -Short Attention Span Theater-

Wreckage of World War II aircraft carrier USS Hornet discovered

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Posted by Besoeker 2019-02-13 00:00|| || Front Page|| [3 views ] Top

#1 USS Hornet (CV-8)

Posted by Thineter Unaith6569 2019-02-13 01:18|| 2019-02-13 01:18|| Front Page Top

#2 ..I cannot wait to see the full wreck survey when it's finished, because Hornet took one hell of a pounding.

During the battle itself, she was hit by:
*3 Japanese bombs
*2 Val dive bombers crashed into her (these don't appear to be the same as the kamikaze towards the end of the war; these two seem to have been mortally damaged and the pilots decided to go out in glory)
*3 Japanese torpedos

When it became clear Hornet couldn't be saved, she was ordered abandoned. The USN tried to scuttle her with NINE torpedos (it's unclear how many of those were duds - may have been four or five) and more than four hundred rounds of 5"/38 ammo.

She still wouldn't sink. At that point, still afloat, the wreck was abandoned and the USN cleared the area. The Japanese found her at dusk, and actually tried to capture the wreck. They tried getting a tow line on her, but couldn't get it to work so they launched four 'Long Lance' torpedos and finally sent her under.

The official damage report

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2019-02-13 04:42|| 2019-02-13 04:42|| Front Page Top

#3 Mike, were the US torpedoes early war models with the bad triggers? Or were those only issued to subs?

Posted by Rob Crawford 2019-02-13 08:17|| 2019-02-13 08:17|| Front Page Top

#4 ...Rob,

They sure were. This was a sitting duck target under the best possible conditions and they still didn't work - and BuOrd, which had been bearing the same complaints from the sub skippers for almost a year, still wouldn't listen.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2019-02-13 08:26|| 2019-02-13 08:26|| Front Page Top

#5 mike: saw some pics of the wreckage last night on imgur. very high resolution and the ship looked in very good shape considering it had been sunk.

Posted by chris 2019-02-13 08:27|| 2019-02-13 08:27|| Front Page Top

#6 From what I read at cdrsalamander, that much ordinance would sink our entire LCS fleet, if anyone ever felt the need to expend ordinance on our LCS fleet.

Posted by Matt 2019-02-13 10:56|| 2019-02-13 10:56|| Front Page Top

#7 Pretty sure a couple of 45ACP rounds below the water line will sink an LCS.

Posted by Hellfish 2019-02-13 12:19|| 2019-02-13 12:19|| Front Page Top

#8 I'm getting the feeling Hornet disagreed with the notion of being sunk, and is now just pouting on the ocean floor. Sulking that Enterprise got all the glory.

Posted by Charles 2019-02-13 15:45|| 2019-02-13 15:45|| Front Page Top

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