#19: USS Yorktown (CV-5): The Patched-Up Carrier That Won Midway
After the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942, USS Yorktown limped into Pearl Harbor with heavy bomb damage. The Navy estimated she needed 90 days of repair. Shipyard workers fixed her in 48 hours. Three days later, she was at Midway, and her presence as a third, unexpected American carrier proved decisive in the most important naval battle of the Pacific War.
Yorktown's air group scored hits on the carrier IJN Soryu at Midway, contributing to the destruction of all four Japanese fleet carriers. Japanese pilots bombed Yorktown twice and torpedoed her once. Each time, her damage-control teams patched her up so effectively that Japanese aviators thought they were attacking a different, undamaged carrier each time. She was finally sunk by the submarine I-168 on June 7, 1942, while under tow. Yorktown's wreck was found by Robert Ballard in 1998 at a depth of 16,650 feet, sitting upright on the ocean floor. Her sacrifice at Midway turned the tide of naval warfare in the Pacific.
