USN
Aircraft Carrier

Ship History
Hornet (CV-12) was commissioned just 16 months after her keel was laid, the eighth ship in the USN with the name Hornet.

Wartime History
For 16 continuous months she was in action in the forward areas of the Pacific combat zone, sometimes within 40 miles of the Japanese home islands. Under air attack 59 times, she was never hit. Her aircraft destroyed 1410 Japanese aircraft, only ESSEX exceeded this record. Her air groups destroyed or damaged 1,269,710 tons of enemy shipping 10 HORNET pilots attained "Ace in a Day" status. 30 of 42 VF-2 Hellcat pilots were aces. 72 enemy aircraft shot down in one day. 255 aircraft shot down in a month. Supported nearly every Pacific amphibious landing after March 1944. Scored the critical first hits in sinking the super battleship Yamato. In 1945 launched the first strikes against Tokyo since the 1942 Doolittle Raid.

Museum
Today, the carrier is docked at Alameda, California and si open to the public as the USS Hornet Museum.

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