Explore Hornet!

//Explore Hornet!

Explore USS Hornet with us!

We’re investigating different aspects of historic aircraft carrier USS Hornet’s operations and history through the ship’s spaces, artifacts, stories, and science! Check back each week for a new topic or follow us on Facebook or Instagram @USSHornetMuseum!

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The seventh U.S. Navy ship named Hornet was an early aircraft carrier commissioned in October 1941. USS Hornet (CV-8) was the third and final member of the Yorktown-class, commissioned just weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor. As a pre-World War II vessel, her size was limited in accordance with international naval treaties from the 1930s. 

Her first mission was the transport of the famous Doolittle Raid in April 1942., the first U.S. air raid to strike the Japanese home islands after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The raid demonstrated the vulnerability of the Japanese home islands to air attack and the Raid significantly boosted American morale. 

CV-8 would continue to fight in the Pacific Theater, participating in the historic Battle of Midway and others before she was ultimately dealt a mortal blow at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in October 1942.  

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Often shortened to “ASW,” Anti-Submarine Warfare is the tactic of denying the enemy the effective use of their submarines. Submarines were a threat to both military and commercial vessels as early as the Civil War. By WWI they were such a threat that counter-tactics had to be developed. By 1960, 18 of the 24 Essex-class carriers, USS Hornet’s class, were redesignated “CVS,” or Anti-Submarine Carriers, and equipped ASW aircraft. These Carrier Air Groups operated both airplanes and helicopters and were sometimes officially designated as a Hunter-Killer, or “HUK,” group.   

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“The Space Race” can be defined as that time after World War 2 when the United States and the USSR competed to see who could be the first to achieve spaceflight milestones. The competition undertaken as a matter of national pride as much as national security. Publicly beginning with the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik 1, it would peak in 1969 with NASA’s Apollo missions and the landing of the first humans on the Moon with Apollo 11! 

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The history of naval communication relies on the non-verbal and multi-sensory. Flashing lights relayed invaluable information to a landing pilot, bells signaled between ships through an otherwise impenetrable fog, and radio signals conveyed messages between allies and even identified friend from foe!

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