Ship's Log USS Hornet (CV-8)

USS HORNET (CV-8) The seventh ship to bear the name.

• Cost: $32 Million
• Length: 827 feet
• Draft: 22 feet
• Flight deck width: 114 feet
• Propulsion: 120,000 horsepower
• Displacement: 20,000 tons

25 Sep 1939 - Keel laid at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia.

14 Dec 1940 - Launched by Mrs. Frank Knox, wife of the Secretary of the Navy.

20 Oct 1941 - Commissioned at Norfolk Naval Station, Virginia.

07 Dec 1941 - Shakedown cruise off Norfolk, Va. with Air Group Eight.

02 Feb 1942 - Two B-25 bombers hoisted aboard at Norfolk and launched for a feasibility test.

04 Mar 1942 - Departed Norfolk for West Coast via Panama Canal.

20 Mar 1942 - Arrived Naval Air Station Alameda.

01 Apr 1942 - Sixteen B-25 Mitchell Bombers loaded aboard HORNET at Naval Air Station Alameda, Pier 2.

02 Apr 1942 - Departed NAS Alameda with sealed orders.

13 Apr 1942 - HORNET (Task Group 16.2) joins USS ENTERPRISE (CV-6) (Task Group 16.1) and proceeds West.

18 Apr 1942 - Task Force 16 detected by Japanese Picket ship 650 miles east of Japan. Decision made to launch LTCOL Jimmy Doolittle Raiders at 0820 hours, 600 miles from Japan, in gale force winds (45 kt.) and 10-30 foot seas. Doolittle Raiders struck Japanese targets from Tokyo to Osaka incurring superficial damage. But, the boost to American morale in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor was immeasurable. 73 of 80 pilots and crewmen survived the raid.

25 Apr 1942 - HORNET returns to Pearl Harbor.

30 Apr 1942 - HORNET departs Pearl Harbor to assist LEXINGTON (CV-2) and YORKTOWN (CV-5) at the Battle of Coral Sea but arrives too late.

26 Oct 1942 - Sunk during the Battle of Santa Cruz in the Solomon Islands. Torpedoed 6 times, hit by one Kamikazi and received hits from aircraft of the IJN carrier Junyo.