USS Yorktown (CV-10)

USA / South Carolina / Mount Pleasant /
 museum, Second World War 1939-1945, military, aircraft carrier, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, historic landmark, United States Navy, museum ship
www.patriotspoint.org/explore_museum/uss_yorktown/

USS Yorktown was laid down on December 1st, 1941 as the USS Bon Homme Richard, but was renamed USS Yorktown on September 26, 1942 to commemorate the loss of the previous USS Yorktown (CV-5) at the Battle of Midway.

She commissioned into active US Navy service on April 15th, 1943 and entered WWII as a member of the US Pacific Fleet. Her service in the US 'Island Hopping' campaigns against Imperial Japan brought her from the Marcus Islands to the shores of Japan itself, and she earned an impressive 11 Battle Stars as well as the Presidential Unit Citation for her actions during the War.

Following WWII, the Yorktown was deactivated and placed into reserve from 1947 to 1953 before she was called back to service for the Korean War, however she arrived off the Korean Peninsula too late to see combat. She was selected by the US Navy for extensive modernization in 1955, which included the addition of her angled flight deck, enclosed bow and heavier equipment to support the operations of heavier and faster jet aircraft.

Redesignated as an Anti-Submarine Warfare Carrier in 1957, the Yorktown continued to operate out of various West Coast and Far East ports as a member of the US Pacific Fleet for the remainder of the 1950's and through the mid 1960s before she was called on again to fight, this time in the Vietnam War. Yorktown began her Vietnam operations in May of 1965 and served in the theatre on seven separate tours of duty before she returned to the US in 1968, earning another 5 Battle Stars for her service.

Following her service in Vietnam, the Yorktown was transferred to the US Atlantic Fleet in 1969 and operated out of Norfolk for the next year before she was decommissioned for the final time on June 27th, 1970 and placed into the Reserve Fleet at Philadelphia. Her name was stricken from the Navy List in 1973 and she was formally donated to the Patriots Point Development Authority in 1974 for use as a museum ship.

USS Yorktown was formally dedicated into her new service life on October 13th, 1975, and is now operating as an integral part of the Naval and Maritime Museum at Patriots Point. She holds the honor of being the oldest Aircraft Carrier in the world, followed by her sistership USS Intrepid (CV-11).

www.navsource.org/archives/02/10.htm
www.ussyorktown.com/yorktown/

maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=32.790492~-79.908247&...
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Yorktown_(CV-10)
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   32°47'25"N   79°54'30"W

Comments

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Yorktown_%28CV-10%29
  • http://www.ussyorktown.com/yorktown/
  • Yorktown is older as far as keel-laid date by several months, and by commissioning date by only two months, but USS Lexington (CV-16, permanently berthed at Corpus Christi, Texas) was the oldest carrier in service for a couple of decades, having served over a 48 year span. Lexington, also named for an earlier carrier lost in the Pacfic fighting, was fifty years old from keel-laying by the time she was retired in 1991.
This article was last modified 6 years ago