The USS Hornet (CV-12) stands as one of the most storied aircraft carriers in United States naval history, playing a decisive role in World War II as part of the Essex-class fleet. From its origins as a replacement for the lost USS Hornet (CV-8) to its participation in pivotal Pacific battles, the carrier helped shift the balance of power against Japan. It build a lasting legacy through its wartime achievements, postwar modernization, and surprising role in NASA’s Apollo recovery missions. Today, preserved as a museum ship, the USS Hornet (CV-12) continues to captivate historians and visitors alike.
Eight different United States Navy warships have had the distinction of being named USS Hornet, beginning with a 10-gun sloop that was commissioned during the American Revolutionary War, followed by a second 10-gun sloop that saw service in the First Barbary War, then a brig-rigged sloop-of-war, and a five-gun schooner. The next two warships named for the large social wasp of the genus Vespa included a steam-propelled blockade runner, the CSS Lady Stirling, built for the Confederate Navy, and the former yacht Alicia, which served as a dispatch vessel during the Spanish-American War.
Yet, with all due respect to those ships and the crews that served on them, the name “Hornet” might be largely forgotten in the annals of U.S. naval history were it not for two different carriers that saw service during the Second World War. Those two flattops, the Yorktown-class CV-8 and the Essex-class CV-12, took part in some of the conflict’s most notable engagements.
The latter is also one of the five United States Navy flattops preserved as museum ships, ensuring that the name USS Hornet will likely never be forgotten.
Before the USS Hornet
The story of CV-12 is impossible to tell without at least a quick recap of the role that CV-8 played in the early stages of the Pacific War. The Yorktown-class USS Hornet was not yet in service when the Imperial Japanese Navy carried out its attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and although its service lasted less than a year, CV-8’s role cannot be overstated.
In the immediate aftermath, the United States military considered all options for a demonstrative way to show the Japanese that striking Pearl Harbor was to have serious repercussions. It was quickly determined that any pinprick attacks against small enemy-controlled islands simply would not do. Washington wanted something sensational and unexpected that would make the Japanese government and its people feel vulnerable.
In February 1942, CV-8 departed Norfolk, Virginia, with two United States Army Air Force B-25 Mitchell medium bombers on her flight deck. Once at sea, the planes were launched. The crew was no doubt left bewildered as to why the demonstration was carried out, except that it was a proof of concept for what was to come.
Just two months later, in April, 16 B-25B bombers, which had been loaded onto the carrier deck by cranes, launched from USS Hornet and carried out the now infamous “Doolittle Raid,” striking targets in Japan, including Tokyo. It caused relatively minor damage, but it demonstrated to the Japanese — and, just as importantly, to the American public — that Japan’s mainland was susceptible to air raids.
In June 1942, CV-8 was one of three U.S. Navy carriers to take part in the Battle of Midway, which was seen as the turning point in the war in the Pacific. During the famed engagement, the U.S. Navy succeeded in sending four IJN carriers to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. However, on October 27, 1942, USS Hornet was also lost in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands after taking significant punishment. Although heroic efforts were undertaken to save the carrier, the decision was made to scuttle the flattop. Yet, she continued to absorb additional strikes before finally sinking.
It was a testament to the quality of the U.S. warships of the era.
The loss of USS Hornet was a setback for the United States Navy, but she remains the last fleet carrier (CV) ever sunk by enemy fire. Her wreck was discovered in late January 2019 off the Solomon Islands by an expedition team funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
Enter the Essex-class Carriers
Even before CV-8 was lost, plans were underway to replace the Yorktown-class with a larger and more capable class of carriers. Development of that next class began in the late 1930s, and design plans were finalized in 1940. By that time, Washington was no longer constrained by the naval disarmament treaties that were meant to prevent another war.
Instead, the United States Navy became focused on building larger and more capable warships, including the Essex-class aircraft carriers, which were to go on to serve as the backbone of the United States Navy from mid-1943.
A total of 24 of a planned 32 Essex-class aircraft carriers were constructed between 1941 and 1950 — in both “short-hull” and “long-hull” versions — with 14 of those taking part in combat operations during World War II. It was the most numerous class of capital ships built during the 20th century, and more importantly, not a single one was lost to enemy action, even as several sustained crippling damage.
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Among those was CV-12, which was initially to be named USS Kearsarge to honor Mount Kearsarge in Wilmot, New Hampshire. Although the short-hull Essex-class carrier was renamed to honor CV-8, four other vessels have been bestowed with the name USS Kearsarge. Those included a sloop of war that saw service during the American Civil War, where she sank the Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama, and BB-5, the lead vessel of the Kearsarge-class pre-dreadnought battleships that sailed with the Great White Fleet and later took part in the First World War. That latter vessel was converted to a heavy-crane ship — designated Crane Ship No. 1 (AB-1) — and was only sold for scrapping in the 1950s.
The confusion arises because another Essex-class aircraft carrier, the long-hulled CV-33, was named USS Kearsarge. That flattop arrived too late to see action in WWII, but did go on to serve in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, before being scrapped in 1974. The name lives on with the current USS Kearsarge (LHD-3), a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship that was commissioned in 1993.
USS Hornet (CV-12) — The Name Change
Following the loss of CV-8, the United States Navy decided to rename hull number CV-12, which was nearing her completion, to honor the prior carrier. Although this may have seemed like a strange decision, it was actually a common practice during the Second World War to honor the names and reputations of warships sunk in combat.
Evidence of the name change remains on the retired CV-12, with many parts stamped “USS Kearsarge.”
The warship was commissioned on November 29, 1943, becoming the eighth vessel named USS Hornet.
A Carrier That Stung the Japanese
In March 1944, CV-12 departed Pearl Harbor, serving as the flagship of Rear Admiral J.J. “Jocko” Clark, and a core part of Task Force 58 (later Task Force 38), which was the primary source of air power for the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet under Admiral Raymond A. Spruance.
On June 19-20, 1944, USS Hornet was among the United States Navy’s aircraft carriers that took part in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, inflicting massive casualties on the IJN’s aircraft with minimal losses. That engagement has gone down in history as the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.”
Nearly 600 Japanese warplanes were destroyed, along with two fleet carriers and an oiler, while the U.S. lost 123 aircraft, many due to fuel shortages and landing accidents rather than direct combat. It crippled Japanese naval air power and effectively ended Tokyo’s ability to conduct large-scale warfare.
Just days later, USS Hornet participated in the Western Carolina Islands operation, providing air support for strikes on Peleliu. By September 1944, Fighting Squadron 2 (VF-2), known as the “Rippers,” became the top squadron in the Pacific War. Flying the F6F Hellcats, first from USS Enterprise (CV-6) and then from CV-12, VF-2 destroyed more than 500 enemy aircraft and over 50,000 tons of shipping with minimal losses. The squadron also produced a large number of ace pilots, with 28 of the 50 confirmed as aces.
From October 23 to 26, 1944, the carrier participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, where aircraft launched from her flight deck. It carried out multiple strikes on the Japanese fleet as it attempted to retreat, scoring hits on several capital ships. The battle effectively ended Japanese naval power and paved the way for the eventual victory in less than a year.
However, the war wasn’t yet won, and much hard fighting lay ahead. USS Hornet with Task Force 58 carried out combat operations on the Philippines, as well as strikes on Formosa, Luzon, Saigon, Cam Ranh Bay in French Indo-China, and Hong Kong.
On February 16, 1945, aircraft from CV-12 took part in a pre-dawn air raid on Tokyo as the U.S. Navy prepared for the Battle of Iwo Jima. The attack, which was the first carrier-based strike on the Japanese capital since the Doolittle Raid in 1942, was meant to neutralize Japanese air power, with the amphibious landings beginning just three days later.
In April 1945, USS Hornet supported the Okinawa Gunto Operation, aiding the invasion. That same month, aircraft from the carrier scored the first critical hits on the IJN’s super battleship Yamato, contributing significantly to its sinking.
The Essex-class carrier was among the U.S. Navy warships that took significant damage from June’s Typhoon Connie. The flight deck of USS Hornet and USS Bennington (CV-20) was heavily damaged, with both ships put out of action. CV-12 was forced back to the West Coast of the United States. She passed under the Golden Gate Bridge in California on July 7, and her aircraft and ammunition were offloaded at Hunters Point Naval shipyard.
As a result, CV-12 didn’t see further action in World War II. Instead, she served as a troop transport as part of Operation Magic Carpet, returning U.S. military personnel from the Pacific Theater.
In total, air groups from USS Hornet were credited with destroying 1,410 Japanese aircraft, a record only exceeded by USS Essex (CV-9). CV-12 also sank or damaged more than 1.2 million tons of enemy shipping, including the Japanese aircraft carrier Hiyō. USS Hornet earned nine battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation for her 16 months of operation in the Pacific War.
USS Hornet After WWII
CV-12 returned to San Francisco in August 1946 and was designated an inactive part of the 19th Pacific Fleet. At the time, the United States Navy had more warships than it needed, and in early 1947, the Essex-class carrier was decommissioned at Hunters Point.
That wasn’t the end of the story for USS Hornet, as she was recommissioned on March 20, 1951. Departing San Francisco, the carrier transited the Panama Canal and traveled to the Brooklyn Naval Shipyard, where she underwent a 27-month, $50 million renovation. The modernization refit included the installation of more powerful catapults and arresting gear, new ammunition elevators, and a streamlined island.
The refit also saw nearly every system on the flattop updated, but the WWII-style straight flight deck remained. In late 1952, USS Hornet received the new designation CVA-12 for “attack carrier.” A year later, an F2H-3 Banshee became the first jet aircraft to land on the carrier.
USS Hornet was among the vessels that sought to find survivors following the “Hainan Incident” in which two Chinese fighters shot down a British Cathay Pacific DC-4 commercial airliner near Hainan Island.
The return to service was brief, after which the carrier was ordered to Bremerton, Washington, where she underwent another update in 1956, receiving an angled flight deck. The carrier returned to service in August of that year and began a six-month deployment with the 7th Fleet in the western Pacific.
She underwent a further conversion, completed at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in 1958, and was subsequently redesignated CVS-12, an “anti-submarine warfare support” (ASW) aircraft carrier. USS Hornet served in that role, operating helicopters and piston-engine aircraft. In November 1961, the carrier’s crew helped fight the Hollywood Hills fire, and two of the ship’s diesel generators were used to supply electricity to the Southern California power grid.
Vietnam War and the Space Program
Although USS Hornet didn’t see service during the Korean War, she took part in three WestPac cruises during the Vietnam War, supporting the U.S. Navy and other allies in Southeast Asia and the Gulf of Tonkin. During those deployments, the carrier tracked Soviet Navy submarines and was even over flown by Soviet aircraft on more than one occasion.
As CVS-12, the carrier supported U.S. Navy and U.S.M.C. aircraft on around-the-clock SAR (search and rescue) missions in the early stages of the conflict, with her assigned A-4E Skyhawks taking part in 110 combat missions.
It was also in 1969 that USS Hornet served as the Prime Recovery Ship (PRS) for the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 missions, successfully recovering the astronauts and their command modules. On July 24 of that year, the carrier recovered Apollo 11, along with its crew — Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins — who were greeted by President Richard Nixon. In November, Apollo then served as the PRS for Apollo 12, the second moon landing with Charles “Pete” Conrad, Alan Bean, and Richard Gordon.
Both times, a “quarantine trailer” was placed onboard the carrier to prevent the spread of potentially dangerous lunar pathogens.
Two months after the Apollo 12 mission, the United States Navy announced CVS-12 would be deactivated. In February, an S-2E Tracker made the last arresting landing aboard the warship, and in March 1970, her deactivation began.
Saving the Carrier
The carrier spent nearly the first two decades of her retirement mothballed at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility. When she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in July 1989, there were concerns she would be scrapped, the fate of many Essex-class carriers.
Thanks to the efforts of the Aircraft Carrier Hornet Foundation, she was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991. The United States Navy donated the warship to the group in May 1998 and moved her to the ship’s current home in Alameda, California.
CV/CVA/CVS-12 is one of five U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, and one of four Essex-class, to be preserved as a museum ship.
The USS Hornet was painstakingly restored, still featuring an angled flight deck, and she is well-maintained today. As the carrier is located near Hollywood, the USS Hornet Museum has been the set for multiple movies and TV shows, including the 2007 film Rescue Dawn. Each year since 2019, the retired USS Hornet has played host to CarrierCon, a fan convention for anime, video games, comics, and cosplay.
However, for aviation and history buffs, the carrier continues to preserve the legacy of the United States Navy and those who served on her.
Among the aircraft currently on display are an A-4 Skyhawk (TA-4J trainer model), an FM-2 Wildcat, an F-4J Phantom II, an F-14A Tomcat, an F/A-18C Hornet, and a US-2B Tracker. A HUP-1 Retriever, SH-2 Seasprite, SH-3H SeaKing, and UH-34D Seahorse are also preserved and on display on the retired flattop. The museum also features the largest Apollo Program exhibit on the West Coast, including the Apollo Command Module CSM-011, which was used for the AS-202 uncrewed suborbital flight tests, and the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) used by the Apollo 14 astronauts.
USS Hornet remains a popular museum and National Park Service site, paying homage to veterans of the Second World War and Vietnam War, as well as to NASA’s Apollo program.
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