The Doolittle Raiders

The Doolittle Raid of April 18, 1942 was the first U.S. air raid to strike the Japanese home islands during WWII. The mission is notable in that it was the only operation in which U.S. Army Air Forces bombers were launched from an aircraft carrier into combat. The raid demonstrated how vulnerable the Japanese home islands were to air attack just four months after their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. While the damage inflicted was slight, the raid significantly boosted American morale while setting in motion a chain of Japanese military events that were disastrous for their long-term war effort.

On March 28, 1942 USS Hornet (CV-8), the first ship named Hornet to serve in WWII, was tied up at North Island to give her crew a final weekend of liberty in the US mainland. Captain Mitscher received a new set of Top Secret orders that would take the brand new ship on a very circuitous route to Pearl Harbor. Two days later Hornet sailed north, heading towards Alameda Naval Air Station, where she arrived on March 31 and moored at Pier 2.

Meanwhile, twenty-two USAAF B-25 Mitchell bombers were flying into Alameda. On March 31 and April 1, with Hornet’s aircraft stored in the hangar deck, sixteen of the bombers were craned aboard and tethered to the flight deck. Shortly thereafter, 134 Army pilots and aircrew, led by LtCol Jimmy Doolittle, boarded the ship and Hornet slipped out to a mooring in San Francisco Bay to spend the night. At mid-morning on April 2, Hornet and her escorts (Task Force 18) steamed under the Golden Gate Bridge, beginning the legendary mission known as the Doolittle Raid.

Eleven days later, Hornet rendezvoused with Task Force 16.1 under the command of Admiral William Halsey aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6). For another week, they sailed west until running into Japanese picket boats roughly 650 miles east of Tokyo. ADM Halsey was concerned about this early discovery of his ships, which represented half of the U.S. carrier strength in the Pacific. He decided to launch the bombers early on April 18, 250 miles further from land than planned. During the launch, Hornet was lashed by gale force winds, driving rain and white cap waves. Within an hour, however, all sixteen aircraft successfully took off, bound for the Japanese homeland. The daring raid caused limited physical damage but raised American morale and stung the Japanese military. While America tried to keep the name of the ship that launched the raid a secret, the Japanese found out shortly after the attack and Hornet became a marked ship.