Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire USS Hornet CV-12

On 30 August 1943, Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Hornet CV-12 was launched at Newport News Shipbuilidng, Newport News, VA, sponsored by Annie Reid Knox.

Hull was laid down August 3 1942
One year from start to sailing. Nowdays the Navy couldn't build a raft in one year.

Launched does not necessarily mean finished. They may had a lot of fitting out left to do after it left dry dock.

But they sure did operate at a great place during the war. Ships and planes are a lot more complex today though.

Very impressive.

Kaiser and the Liberty ships is another great accomplishment in the naval industry.

They were turning out a new Essex-class carrier every month back then.

Is this the same ship which is now at the dock in Alameda?

CV-12 "replaced" or kept the name going from CV-8, which took Doolittle's B-25's for the Toyko raid. CV-8 was sunk at the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands.

A friend's father was in the merchant marine during the war out of Seattle. He said sometimes during a run to Alaska while standing watch he'd do a sweep around the convoy and when he started another sweep a ship was missing. The water temp change sometimes broke the welds on the Liberty ships and they go down in less than a minute.

I had a work-mate who commanded the Hornet for a short time. Stan graduated from the USNA in 1939, was a gunnery officer on the USS Indianapolis until he sailed from Pearl Harbor on December 6, 1941 for naval flight school, participated in several aerial battles in the Pacific and landed at a Japanese naval airfield following Japan's surrender to accept the field's surrender. He had a number of interesting stories about the war. Stan died three years ago at 100. He was an officer and a gentleman in the truest sense!

Obituary - See: http://johnmtaylor.tributes.com/dignitymemorial/obituary/Stanley-Eugene-Hindman-103088464

RIP CDR Hindman,
and Thank you .

Very interesting. I can't imagine how much stress must have been built into some of them.

Brittle steel, that was the reason the Titanic went down. The welds probably didn’t fail, plate cracked beside the weld. Rebar is very brittle, dangerous to make anything weight bearing from it. That’s all just a guess. Titanic was built with rivets.

My great grandfather Whitside died in an industrial accident while working in the hull of a liberty ship. He worked in the shipyards near Beaumont-Port Arthur- Orange area. I’ve been told he was welding and there was an explosion... that’s all I know.

Yes. Now docked in my home town at the old navel air station.
They have quite a few scout groups do sleep over tours.
Went to high school right next door to the base.

That’s what I thought. It’s really neat to go see if any of you guys find yourselves trapped in that area. In fact, it’s about the only decent thing around there I could find.

amen! and accompanied with a salute of respect...