Battle of Midway: Repairing the Yorktown After the Battle of the Coral Sea

Defense Media Network ^ | May 26, 2012 | Dwight Jon Zimmerman

[SunkenCiv]

Dated May 25 and delivered by plane while the Yorktown was about a hundred miles from Oahu, the report that Nimitz read was sobering...

One day ahead of schedule, on May 27, the Yorktown limped into Pearl Harbor. The next morning, after Nimitz had cut orders voiding the safety rule of spending a day purging her tanks of stored aviation fuel, the Yorktown eased into Drydock Number One. The caissons closed behind her, and pumps began draining out the water. With at least a foot of water still remaining in the drydock, men in waders gathered to inspect the hull. One of them was Nimitz. After staring at the burst seams and other damage on the hull, Nimitz turned to the technicians and said, "We must have this ship back in three days." After a long silence, hull repair expert Lt. Cmdr. H. J. Pfingstag gulped and said, "Yes, sir."

Within minutes the first of 1,400 repairmen, who would work around the clock, swarmed into the drydock to begin repairing the Yorktown. To satisfy the enormous power needs of the repair crews the Navy contacted Leslie Hicks, president of the Hawaiian Electric Company, who arranged a series of rolling blackouts in Honolulu...

At 11:00 a.m. on May 28, Drydock Number One was flooded and the Yorktown was towed into the harbor with workmen still busy aboard. On the morning of May 30, more patched than repaired but fit enough to fight, Yorktown steamed out of Pearl Harbor. With an air group composed of aircraft from three carriers, Yorktown sped to a rendezvous with the Enterprise and Hornet at "Point Luck" to participate in one of the most decisive battles in naval history.

[null and void]

Thanks for these great pics, nully!

Never seen them before. Fascinating.

Nor had I, they're from the article.

Fascinating, amazing, terrifying...

[maddog55]

It would take many years to do that now.... Regulations and rules supercedes common sense.

[1Old Pro]

I cannot imagine Nimitz telling the crews “You have three days” when the first estimates were 90 days.

Sounds like something Trump would say and the media would laugh.

[SunkenCiv]

Ocean Exploration Trust’s survey of USS Yorktown during our Ala 'Aumoana Kai Uli expedition was the first time the world could witness this Battle of Midway wreck in real-time. The site was discovered 25 years ago, located during a joint U.S. Navy and National Geographic Society expedition led by Dr. Robert Ballard, president and founder of Ocean Exploration Trust. All dives in the Battle of Midway battlefield were launched and closed with protocol ceremonies to honor this place and all who lost their lives in ways that reflected their significance to Kānaka 'Oiwi (Native Hawaiian), Japanese, and U.S. military families and communities.

This historic, noninvasive, visual survey dive was conducted during a 27-day NOAA-funded mission to explore never-before-seen deep-water habitats to collect baseline data needed to support management in the most remote and northwestern section of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM). PMNM is a UNESCO World Heritage site distinguished for both its cultural and natural significance, the only site with this special distinction in the U.S. It is currently being considered for national marine sanctuary designation to safeguard further its diverse natural, cultural, and maritime heritage resources for generations to come.

The Battle of Midway surveys were made possible by the expertise, support, and collaboration of many partners, including Ocean Exploration Trust, NOAA Ocean Exploration, NOAA Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute, NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, SEARCH, Inc., U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command, International Midway Memorial Foundation, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the State of Hawai'i, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, University of Maryland, University of Rhode Island, University of Hawai'i, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Air/Sea Heritage Foundation, and Japanese archaeological colleagues from Teikyo University, Tokai University, and Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology.

E/V Nautilus Reveals USS Yorktown for First Time in 25 Years | Nautilus Live | 27:46
EVNautilus | 573K subscribers | 279,747 views | September 18, 2023

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks!

[SunkenCiv]

Also, the US sub fleet at the end of 1941 consisted of I think three dozen subs, most of them at least ten years old. By the end of the war the US had something like 250 subs, over and above the wartime losses. It’s similar to what occurred in all other types of vessels, vehicles, and aircraft during that quite short period of about 3 2/3rds years. :^)

The carriers which survived were for the most part superseded by the newer, larger, more state of the art carriers, and by August ‘45 the count of carriers in service or still under construction was something like 25. US response to the war built the worldwide naval superiority we still enjoy today.

Stalin uncharacteristically expressed something like awe regarding the US’ industrial capability, and said the war wouldn’t have been won without it. And he was 100 per cent correct.

[Grampa Dave]

This reality was in the background during the pre and post Battle of Midway!

Joseph John Rochefort was an American naval officer and cryptanalyst. He was a major figure in the United States Navy’s cryptographic and intelligence operations from 1925 to 1946, particularly in the Battle of Midway. His contributions and those of his team were pivotal to victory in the Pacific War. Wikipedia

[FreedomPoster]

Have you ever read the tables in From Major Jordan’s Diaries? They catalog all the logistics support we gave the Soviets. It’s mind boggling.

[1Old Pro]

Stalin uncharacteristically expressed something like awe regarding the US’ industrial capability, and said the war wouldn’t have been won without it. And he was 100 per cent correct.

is it safe to assume that in a U.S. war with China, China's industry would still supply all our military needs?

[SunkenCiv]

If we wanted to try to use defective weapons, yes. :^)

[SunkenCiv]

The USSR needed logistical help due to loss of farmland and labor to work it. Also, during the runup to and for the duration of their theater of war, they had (not all at the same time) something north of 80,000 tanks, and at the fall of Berlin, they had something less than 10,000 left.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Grampa Dave. Imagine the one-step-back reaction by his doubters when it turned out he was correct about Midway. :^) The US built a great codebreaking organization during and after WWI, but lucky for us (sarc) it was dumped in budget cuts.

This looks interesting, and maybe free (PDF):

https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/joe-rocheforts-war-the-odyssey-of-the-codebreaker-who-outwitted-yamamoto-at-midway/

[FreedomPoster]

Also, the early war submarine torpedoes were defective, they would often not explode on a direct square hit due to poor design of the fusing mechanism. Glancing blows were more likely to explode.

Those guys overcame much.

At the end of the war, there really wasn’t much left of the Japanese merchant marine. It was small stuff you could take out quickly with a deck gun if you had to.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“Sounds like something Trump would say and the media would laugh.”

Exactly right! Gales of laughter from the media. Somewhat like the wall. Look at the heaven and earth Trump had to move to get something done on the border and they constantly derided it and laughed at it. “Walls don’t work” they said as the elites built walls all around their compounds all over the country.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for posting this and pinging me.

https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/joe-rocheforts-war-the-odyssey-of-the-codebreaker-who-outwitted-yamamoto-at-midway/

[daniel1212]

And of interest, the

USS Yorktown (CV/CVA/CVS-10) is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. Initially to have been named Bonhomme Richard, she was renamed Yorktown while still under construction, after the Yorktown-class aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-5), which was sunk at the Battle of Midway. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Yorktown_(CV-10)

80 years later,

The U.S. Navy announced Monday it will decommission, rather than repair or repurpose, the USS Bonhomme Richard because of extensive damage from a fire while the vessel was in port. The Wasp-class amphibious assault ship was docked in San Diego when a fire broke out on July 12. It took five days to extinguish the inferno... Repairing or repurposing the ship, according to Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite, would be a billion-dollar battle.

The Navy determined that the cost of restoring the ship could exceed $3 billion and it would take five to seven years from start to finish. Rebuilding and repurposing the ship could exceed $1 billion. The Navy says it could construct a new hospital ship, submarine tender, or command-and-control ship for the same price, or less. - https://www.npr.org/2020/11/30/940302619/navy-will-dismantle-uss-bonhomme-richard

[desertfreedom765]

All that was accomplished with faulty torpedoes the first half of the war.

After Perl Harbor the Germans had 6-9 months to knock the Soviets out of the war in order to have a chance to at least not totally lose the war.

The only combination that could have beat the Axis was UK, US and Soviet Union all fighting at the same time against the Axis. 2 of the 3 would not be enough to defeat the Axis.

Hitler was not only evil but also stupid for bringing about this alliance against him.

Of course the US was heavily involved in the war prior to Perl Harbor.

[dfwgator]

After Perl Harbor the Germans had 6-9 months to knock the Soviets out of the war in order to have a chance to at least not totally lose the war.

If it wasn't for Hitler having to bail out Mussolini in the Balkans, he may very well may have won.

[Nailbiter]

flr

[SunkenCiv]

Yup.

https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4211339/posts?page=13#13