USS YORKTOWN (CV-5)

USS Yorktown (CV-5) was an American aircraft carrier laid down in 1934, launched in April 1936, and commissioned with the US Navy in September 1937. The ship was 246.7 meters long, 33.4 meters wide, and had a full displacement of 25,500 tons. The top speed of the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier was around 32-33 knots, and its main armament consisted of 85 on-board planes. USS Yorktown was the first class aircraft carrier to bear the same name. The experience gained during the operation of Lexington-type vessels was used in the construction of this type of ship. First of all, it was decided to build relatively large aircraft carriers, with the greatest emphasis on the number of planes taken and the maximum speed, at the expense of armor. So they were going in the same direction as the Japanese designers, and in the opposite direction to the British Royal Navy. It is worth adding that the construction of the USS Yorktown was in line with the program of rebuilding the American economy after the Great Depression of 1929, launched by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. At the time of joining the USS Navy, the USS Yorktown belonged to the Atlantic Fleet, but often cooperated with ships belonging to the Pacific Fleet. Ultimately, almost immediately after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (December 1941), it was transferred to the Pacific Ocean, and from January 1942 it belonged to Task Force 17. In February 1942, USS Yorktown took part in air attacks against Japanese forces in Gilbert and Marshall Islands, and then operated in the Coral Sea. In May 1942, he took part in the Battle of the Coral Sea, where it was badly damaged, but thanks to a lightning-fast repair made at Pearl Harbor, he was able to take part in the struggle at Midway in June 1942. In the course of this battle - as a result of an attack by Japanese on-board planes and a torpedo attack by a Japanese submarine - it sank on June 7, 1942.