uss yorktown survivors list
DC teams saved the USS Yorktown (CV-5) multiple times during and after the Battle of the Coral Sea and during the Battle of Midway, but details of their actions are rarely highlighted in battle accounts. Anything to mess up their aim. I dont know why that pilot didnt pull up and try again. It just made me more angry, made me want to fight harder. Foods were quickly broken out from the storerooms, and the galley was operating to capacity on an around-the-clock basis. U.S. Navy, Handbook on Damage Control (1945), 190. In the radio shack, we thought Japan wanted Midway as a base for their next attack on Pearl Harbor. I landed in a wet heap; somebody threw a blanket around me. We didnt know who was responsible for that. USS Yorktown, War Damage Report, 20 May 1942, included in USS Yorktown (CV-5) Action Reports, Record Group 38, NARA. Aircraft Carrier Photo Index: USS YORKTOWN (CV-5) - NavSource ADM Chester Nimitz, Battle of Midway: 47 June 1942, Online Action Reports: Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, Serial 01849 of 28 June 1942, 27. All ship's company, squadrons and Marine Detachments who served on the ship are encouraged to join us. Five main transverse watertight bulkheads at frames 71, 82, 90, 98, and 106 likely were compromised. Which was a scary thought, because I didnt know how. But, all of a sudden, I felt better. A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier must be similarly self-sustaining. It sounded like he was taking damage reports from the engine room. All the radiomen thought so, until the Yorktown cleared the channel. looking for anyone in s-1 division (1969) time frame. It was also the first time I could remember seeing three carriers inside Pearl Harbor at once. In the days after USS After being rescued at sea by the destroyer Hughes on June 4, Daves and the other survivors watched in helpless horror two days later as a lone Japanese submarine evaded the destroyer screen and fired four torpedoes at the dead-in-the-water Yorktown and a destroyer, the Hammann. He stepped out again, because the helmsman couldnt hear his turning orders, and another plane was coming toward the bridge, and there was another big explosion, and I fell down again. The fires could not be extinguished, and Captain Sherman ordered "abandon ship" at 1707 hours. Assuming he survived this mission, which we both knew was not a given for any of us on the Yorktown. Ive been piecing together information about dads experience for years. Of course the captain was sorry. Sign up to get updates about new releases and event invitations. 3. 14. Every antiaircraft gun in the task force which could be brought to bear was firing on the attacking planes. The klaxon went off on the morning of June 4. There was some confusion, but no great pandemonium. The first pilots voice I heard was from a dive-bomber squadron. They called out to me; I ran and joined them. Captain Buckmaster grabbed the mike and told the fighter pilots to intercept the Japanese planes. William M. McBride, Technological Change and the United States Navy, 18651945 (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), 147. Non-subscribers can read five free Naval History articles per month. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives. The urgency of the carrier being on station with her aircraft outweighed completing the repair job. The captain hadnt said anything yet, but it seemed obvious to us. After operating along the eastern . Subscribe now and never hit a limit. Flew aboard during the USS Pueblo Conflict. crew in Boston. USS Yorktown, War Damage Report, 20 May 1942. Information had been received on the morning of June 4 that enemy forces, including two carriers, had been located to the Northwestward of Midway. Standford E. Linzey, USS Yorktown at Midway: The Sinking of the USS Yorktown (CV-5) and the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway (Maitland, FL: Xulon Press, 2004), 8687. Im not sure how long I was out. If you also served aboard and you remember one of the people below you can click on the name to send an email to the respective sailor. Nearly all of the enlisted men got there on USS Fulton (AS-11), while the officers did so aboard the Fulton as well as several other vessels. Machinist Oscar W. Myers, the air fuel officer, had developed the carbon-dioxide purging system to expel vapors.14 This lesson had been learned from the loss of the USS Lexington (CV-2) at Coral Sea. I didnt know if I could swim fast enough to escape getting sucked into the whirlpool when the ship went down. The 30th of May was our deadline to get back out to sea, and we met it. 4. Bill Weissinger (survivor) created the list in 1983 using various sources. Rescuing Survivors at the Battle of Midway, Rear Admiral Joseph M. Worthington, U.S. Navy (Retired). The water wasnt all that cold; the wind just made it seem so. Add Your Name to the CA-44 Crew Roster . I had taped up three cans of exposed I knew I was lucky to be alive. All those taken aboard who were able to walk were directed aft to the fantail, where oil-soaked clothing was removed and thrown in a pile. Fulton spent nearly a year, Novemeber 1942 to October 1943 in Australia, providing maintenance and technical support to Allied naval commands. From left, the destroyers are: USS Benham, The photograph was taken from the cruiser USS Pensacola. He was the top dog at Pearl Harbor, Commander in Chief of the whole Pacific Fleet. The worst was yet to come. Meanwhile, engineers worked on the Yorktowns boilers. 12. Our ships took their stations in the screen, and as soon as possible all ships increased speed to the maximum the damaged carrier could attain. He always told them, Protect the fleet, but this time he also said. Battle of Midway, June 1942 USS Yorktown (CV-5) sinking, just after dawn on 7 June 1942, as seen from an accompanying destroyer. One book available to them was Principles of Warship Construction and Damage Control, which was published while the Yorktown was being built. And sharks. They fight fires, react to power and propulsion damage, maintain watertight integrity, and patch the flight deck to keep aircraft flying. Laid down May 21, 1934 as the lead ship of the Yorktown-class aircraft carrier. I was halfway up the ladder to my battle station when the klaxon went off for the second time that day. The Yorktowns took off a while later. The Battle of MidwayMay 27-June 4, 1942: Everybody on the Yorktown was looking forward to liberty in Honolulu. 10. I took a deep breath and jumped into the rainbows. Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully, Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway (Dulles, VA: Potomac Books, 2005), 26263, 29092, 29597. Add yours! I was on the Yorktown assigned to the VSF-1 A4 squad as a E4 AO disembarked from Virginia but can't remember what month. I did my share of that, too. . I didnt know if we had that much time. Daves and the remaining crew returned to Pearl Harbor, where new assignments in the long war awaited them. We crossed the Equator in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. I saw one guy slip and fall down in the blood, another was passed out, and two of them were hanging over the rails vomiting. | In less than an hour, they had me warmed up and showered and walking around in somebody elses clothes. Once-sane crew pulled off life vests and immersed themselves in the water, never to surface again. The admiral was on his way down. He earned an MA with a military history focus from the University of New Orleans in 2016. There was only one hole in the flight deck, but it was huge10 or 12 feet wideand it was less than 30 feet from the island. Nimitzs headquarters (CinCPac) had been forewarned of a Japanese invasion force targeting Midway Atoll. And, yes, there was plenty of grousing. Battle of Midway: USS Yorktown Action Report - The Public's Library and The communications officer had an urgent message for the captain: The Yorktowns radar had just picked up a group of planes. The LSO tried to wave him off. Jan-Mar '69, Im Leslie Perry Dougs wife need to know if the ship carried any agent orange did any planes fly over the ship that sprayed the pesticide or did the crew take any supplies and pick up any cargo during this time. But he was going to dive on the enemy carrier anyway, unarmed. The former caused significant internal damage, while the latter split open the exterior plating of the carrier and damaged the internal shell strengthening structure.5 The dislocated shell reinforcement left the ships hull weakened and subject to failure. to Obtain Photographic Reproductions.". Help| I was about to go back and look for him in the rope lines when somebody said he was probably with the admiral. Do you remember 55 gallon drums with orange stripes that we took off cargo ships and stored in the paint locker and that they often leaked all over the crew? They were too slow. Enjoy stopping by to see her at Patriots Point. That was the worst thing that could happen to any pilot, or so I thought, until that plane touched down. Note Benham's oil-stained sides. Siwash Nagombi [a Chicago-born sailor of Indian heritage] wanted to come with me, but he couldnt leave the chart room just then. 15. Became a Bluenose! I wore it like a vest all the timenever rook it off except when I was in bed. Select the period (starting by the reporting year): precomm 1954 USS Yorktown - The Watermen's Museum At about 1430, the Japanese aircraft began their descent on the carrier and soon split into two groups to execute a hammer and anvil tactic, attacking the Yorktown on both port and starboard sides. Sign up to get updates about new releases and event invitations. I followed the quartermasters down the ladder from the bridge. Swim as far away from the ship as you can!. To us, the USS Yorktown is more than a tourist attraction. I didnt see him on the flight deck, either. In his report on the damage suffered at Coral Sea, Buckmaster wrote: Prompt action by the hangar repair party in quickly using fire hoses down through the bomb hole in the hangar and No. We took aboard, in all, 725 survivors of the aircraft carrier, by cargo nets, lifelines, rafts, stretchers, and our damaged lifeboat. Maybe thats why we got so much special attention from the crew.
uss yorktown survivors list