18. The sinking of USS Yorktown in June, 1942
In the spring of 1942 intelligence data developed by codebreakers allowed the US Navy to ambush the Imperial Japanese Navy when the latter attempted to invade Midway Atoll in the central Pacific. The Americans, in one of the most critical naval battles of history, destroyed four Japanese aircraft carriers, while suffering the loss of one, USS Yorktown. Yorktown had been heavily damaged during the Battle of Coral Sea the preceding month, and fought at Midway in a patched-together condition. Aircraft from Yorktown dealt fatal blows to the Japanese carrier Soryu. Yorktown was bombed severely, and for a time was dead in the water before damage control teams made the ship operational again.
Bombed yet again, with resulting loss of power, the ship was abandoned yet refused to sink. As it became apparent that the United States had won a major victory, a volunteer crew went back to Yorktown to try to control the fires and flooding, and prepare it to be towed into port for repairs. On June 6, Yorktown was under tow when a Japanese submarine attacked the escorting destroyer, Hammann, sinking it in minutes, and two torpedoes hit Yorktown. The ship rapidly listed to port, the towline was cast off, and the carrier was again abandoned. Early on the morning of June 7 the ship finally rolled onto its side and sank, into waters well over 15,000 feet deep.
