#27: USS Hornet (CV-8): The Carrier That Launched the Doolittle Raid
On April 18, 1942, sixteen B-25 Mitchell medium bombers, aircraft never designed to fly from a carrier deck, roared off the pitching flight deck of USS Hornet and headed for Tokyo. The Doolittle Raid inflicted minimal physical damage on Japan, but the psychological impact was seismic. It was the first time the Japanese home islands had been bombed, shattering the myth of Japanese invulnerability and boosting American morale at the war's lowest point.
Hornet went on to fight at the Battle of Midway, where her air group suffered devastating losses but contributed to the destruction of four Japanese carriers. At the Battle of Santa Cruz on October 26, 1942, Hornet took four bomb hits, two kamikaze crashes, and three torpedo strikes. She was left dead in the water, and when American destroyers tried to scuttle her, she stubbornly refused to sink, the Japanese finally finished her off with their own torpedoes. Her combat career lasted just over a year, but few warships have packed more military history into so brief a span.
