they met enemies face to face

endure tragedies and enjoy victories

they went down in history due to the bravery of their crews

they are the ships that deserve to be called

naval legends

in this episode

USS Yorktown

pride of US Navy

on December 7th 1941 Japan attacked US naval vessels moored at Pearl Harbor

without a declaration of war the majority the US fleet station there was sunk or disabled

the main strike was delivered by Japanese planes

brought to Hawaii by aircraft carriers

the attack signal the United States

entry into World War two

the assault on Pearl Harbor showed that powerful arm the battleships

ceased to be the main naval force

the US navy needed a fleet of aircraft carriers

to successfully operate in the Pacific Ocean

the lead ship from a new class USS Essex

was laid down in April 1941

the USS Yorktown cv5 that bravely fought the Japanese

and was sunk during the Battle of Midway served as prototype for the new class

the second ship initially named Bon Homme Richard

was then renamed USS Yorktown to honor her predecessor

when designing the Essex class

American engineers took shortcomings from earlier carriers into

consideration the New Yorktown was bigger

had increased anti-aircraft armament powerful air group

and host other new features

USS Yorktown was commissioned in 1943 at Newport News Virginia

and where she left for her sea trials in the Atlantic

and then she was sent to the Pacific theater of operations

from 1943 through the end of the war in 1945

length 266 meter

beam 54 meters

height almost 25 meters

total displacement 36200 tons

draft about 8,4 meters

anti-aircraft artillery 12 times 127 mm

mark 12 guns 17 times quadruple Bofors mark two 40 mm

51 times Oerlicon mark.4 20 mm

armor belt 64 to 102 mm

pilot house roof 37 mm

air group up to a 100 aircraft

F6F Hellcat destroyers

SB2C Helldiver Bombers

TBF Avenger torpedo bombers

propulsion 8 times boilers from Babcock & Wilcox

4 times Westinghouse geared steam turbines

power 150000 horsepower

maximum speed 32.7 knots

range 15,000 nautical miles

at 15 knots

Yorktown is one of the heavy strike aircraft carriers Essex Class

Constructed by the US during world war 2

the US Navy Commission 17 ships at this class between 1942 and 1945

In total, 24 Essex class aircraft carriers were built

It was the first time in history vessels that size were mass-produced

the USS Essex first the class receive the hull numbers CV-9

USS Yorktown built later was assigned CV-10

USS Yorktown was commissioned on the 15th of April 1943

Captain Joseph Clock commanded the ship during her sea trials

and first training air group flights

Yorktown lacked thick armor and powerful main guns but aircraft carrier does not need either

she stays away from the line of fire

and uses her air group to attack the enemy

Yorktown launched aircraft from to catapult on the flight deck

one was located port and the other starboard

the catapults were operated from below decks

These big tanks here to store all the hydraulic fluid that was needed

to propel the piston

this thing would be pulled

tight

and then the hydraulic fluid would be pumped

into the cylinder and which would push the bar all away forward

and these cable with run backward

and then it would propel the aircraft off the flight deck that very intricate very

complicated because you had cable

that would running through the show to get to the flight deck

compared to her predecessor Yorktown was faster

And could go 3,000 miles farther

another important advantage of Yorktown was the independent work for four engine boiler rooms

she was the first aircraft carrier to have this feature

each machine had boiler and turbine rooms

in the event of loss of three machines

the ship could still function properly with one remaining engine boiler room

this is their boiler right here the you something called bunker oil

which is very very thick like a pudding

they have to heat it before to the boiler

they could burn it then and then that would heat up the steam the water into steam which will go into the next room for to run the turbines

Crew quarter on Yorktown was situated very close to workshops

which could cause serious problems in the event the ship was hit

special attention was paid to the safety of the ship and her crew

all of Yorktown's ordinance was stored on the lower decks at the cabin

in case of a fire these compartments could be easily flooded

to prevent explosions

A bomb would be brought up from the bunker down below

any would be brought and the bomb would be assembled on a on a carrier

and they would put the the fins on the back to the bomb

they will put that against the bomb itself but they wouldn't put the fuse in

the fuse would be waiting for them already up

on the flight deck because if you put a fuse in a bomb

there's the possibility that the bomb would explode in damage the carrier

all the carrier’s decks have their own damage control compartments

which gave access to venting and fire fighting systems

another important issue was the safety of the ship and her crew

in case the ship was struck by enemy bomb or torpedo

right here in 1944

A bomb actually went through here and then went down the side the ship exploded on the whole

The systems with special escape hatches were designed

to save the lives of the crew

if the ship was hit below the waterline sailors could abandon the damaged

or flooding compartment and climb up to the next level

once all the crew members were safe the hatches to the department was sealed shot

the pilot house have direct control of the ship

the control station gathered all the information about ship status

such as heading and speed

Yorktown also had several backup control rooms

it tells everything it reads same way

as it does up in a bridge the revolutions, the direction,

the shaft speed it's all here

and the shaft can be controlled from here

in the fall of 1943 the aircraft carrier took part in her first major operation

near the Gilbert Islands, the Battle of Tarawa

later in the beginning in 1944 the ship support the invasion of the Marshall Islands

and attacked Japanese air force bases on Guam

USS Yorktown another Essex class aircraft carriers

became a US Navy's main weapon in the Pacific theater of operations during world war 2

they participated in nearly every operation in the pacific

the ships were considered so dangerous by the Japanese they were frequently

selected his targets by kamikaze pilots

Yorktown was lucky enough to avoid them

USS Bunker Hill for example sustained heavy damage after a kamikaze attack

Despite the extensive damage Bunker Hill survives

the Essex class vessels were incredibly durable ships

in fact none of these ships were ever sunk by the Japanese

on April the first 1945

the assault on the Okinawa Island began over the course of the next six weeks

Yorktowns aircraft provided continuous Air Support to troops landing on the island

every 3 days the ship would leave the battlefield

to refuel and resupply

this routine was broken only once when Yorktown received the order

to repel the attack with the famous Japanese battleship Yamato

the flagship for the Combined Imperial Japanese Navy

by 1945 the Japanese Navy was on the brink of destruction

the high command was forced to resort to extreme measures

Yamato was tasked with repealing the attack to the US aviation

and defend the Ryukyu Island against invasion

it was effectively a suicide mission

as the ships did not have enough fuel to come back from Okinawa

on April 27 Yorktown together with the other carriers of Task Force 58

advance to intercept the Japanese ships that by the steel monster Yamato

after two waves of attack took the US aircraft Yamato seemed invincible

Yorktown participated in the final two attacks on the Japanese battleship

on her first wave

Yorktown's aircraft managed to destroy most Yamato's gun batteries

and damage the engine room and the battleship lost maneuvering control

after more than 20 direct torpedo and bomb hits

Yamato began to this as earnest increased she capsized

and ammunition stores detonated a monstrous blast tore the ship apart

a smoke billow rose up to four miles even crew members on Yorktown

some tens of miles away from the battle could see the effect to the explosion

the destruction of Yamato established the defeat to the Japanese Navy

Japan did not have large battleships anymore

the Land of the Rising Sun was powerless to stop the US Navy in the pacific

after sinking Yamato, Yorktown's Air Group participate

in a bombing at the Cure Naval Base

the military targets near Tokyo

Yorktown received 11 battle stars for her service in the pacific

she was decommission in the beginning of the 1947

Mothballed for 5 years the ship then went on several modernizations

and was recommissioned in 1953

the newly modernized Yorktown assume different roles

ranging from a movie set to a flagship during a large scale US Navy deployment in the Pacific

in 1965 she participated in combat operations again

this time in South China Sea during the Vietnam War

towards the end of her military service Yorktown served as the recovery ship for Apollo 8 space station

in 1970 the old town was decommissioned

and in 1975 she was formally opened as a museum in Charleston, South Carolina

where she remains to this day

the purpose of the Yorktown being here is to perpetuate the memories

and sacrifices of those who served on this vessel

and to make it more interactive than it has been in the past

and the young people will see more about the history and they will enjoy it more