USS Yorktown

USS Yorktown is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. She was named after the Battle of Yorktown of the American Revolutionary War, and is the fourth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name. Initially to have been named Bonhomme Richard, she was renamed Yorktown while still under construction to commemorate the loss of USS Yorktown during the Battle of Midway in June 1942. Yorktown was commissioned in April 1943, and participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning 11 battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation.

Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in February 1953 as an attack carrier , and served with distinction during the Korean War. The ship was later modernized again with a canted deck, eventually becoming an antisubmarine carrier and served for many years in the Pacific, including duty in the Vietnam War, during which she earned five battle stars. Late in her career, the carrier served as a recovery ship for the Apollo 8 space mission, and was used in the film Tora! Tora! Tora!, which recreated the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and in the science fiction film The Philadelphia Experiment.

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