A Mighty Tech Arsenal on Display
Destroying 1,410 enemy aircraft and more than a million tons of enemy shipping, the Essex-class aircraft carrier, known ominously as the "Grey Ghost," played a pivotal role in virtually all of the assault landings in the Pacific from March 1944 until the end of World War II.
Its planes stopped the Japanese super-battleship Yamato and played a major part in sinking that vessel. It launched the first strikes in the liberation of the Philippines, and, in February 1945, made the first strikes on Japan since the Doolittle Raid in 1942.
For 16 continuous months during WWII, the USS Hornet was in action in the forward areas of the Pacific combat zone, sometimes within 40 miles of the Japanese home islands.
Following World War II, the Hornet served in the Korean War, Vietnam War, and then played a part in the Apollo space program, recovering the astronauts from the first moon landing mission, Apollo 11, in 1969.
The ship was eventually restored and designated a National Historic Landmark, and in 1998 the USS Hornet opened to the public as the USS Hornet Museum in Alameda, Calif.
Inside the CIC, as seen from the ranking officer's platform, are the illuminated panels used to keep track of weather conditions, friendly contacts, and dispatched aircraft, as well as their assignments and the status of the vehicles.
All contacts (surface, submerged, and air) are identified and tracked from the CIC. The boards in this photo give their contact type, distance, and bearing. The small circular screens (orange-colored at bottom center and bottom right) are radar displays.
Airborne contacts shown as triangles in the upper right corner, designated B13 and B14, are at bearings 21 and 38 degrees, respectively, from the Hornet.
The linked arrows protruding from the triangles indicate the contact's heading, and the numbers beside each arrowhead indicate the time the contact heading was recorded.
The radarscope operators gave range and bearing data from the radar contacts on the radarscopes, which were then plotted on the board backwards and in grease pen so the planners on the opposite side of the transparent master display could read it.
During the Vietnam War, the Marines aboard the Hornet were responsible for keeping watch over the potentially devastating weapons, which thankfully never had to be used.
Sealed below in the door on the left, Marines stationed at the gatehouse on the right kept a 24-hour watch.
An alarm rigged to sound if the Marine moved from his secure watch position platform ensured the weapons would never be left unattended. horn5 Along with performing general security duties aboard the ship and protecting the officers while at port, the 50 Marines stationed on board the USS Hornet had another vital duty--securing the cache of nuclear weapons the Hornet was carrying.
During the Vietnam War, the Marines aboard the Hornet were responsible for keeping watch over the potentially devastating weapons, which thankfully never had to be used.
Sealed below in the door on the left, Marines stationed at the gatehouse on the right kept a 24-hour watch.
An alarm rigged to sound if the Marine moved from his secure watch position platform ensured the weapons would never be left unattended.
Sikorsky No. 66 of Helicopter Squadron 4, operating from the USS Hornet, recovered five manned space missions, including Apollo 11 and 12 in 1969.
The Sea King has been used for presidential transport, torpedo and drone recovery missions, search and rescue missions, and combat support roles. It was also the first helicopter to fly non-stop across the United States, when on March 6, 1965, a Sea King took off from the USS Hornet in San Diego and landed aboard the USS Roosevelt near Jacksonville, Fla., 15 hours, 52 minutes, and 2,2116 miles later.
Sikorsky Sea Kings have participated in nearly every American space program, and have recovered Gemini, Apollo, and Skylab mission crews.
The Sikorsky seen here, currently on display aboard the USS Hornet, was used as the lead helicopter in the film "Apollo 13."
Built to the specification of the actual module to be used in the manned mission, the module was used for NASA research in parachute development and water drop tests, stability and vibration characteristics testing, and recovery simulations.
NASA speculated that travelers to space might return with exotic viruses, and decided to quarantine the astronauts, equipment, and lunar samples returning from the moon for 21 days.
Before being moved to the more permanent quarantine facility, the Lunar Recovery Laboratory at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, NASA used this pressurized mobile facility, the MQF.
All waste was stored inside the facility with the astronauts and kept for the duration of the 21-day period.
Once locked inside the MQF, the Hornet continued on to port in Hawaii, where the MQF was put aboard an airplane and flown to Houston, Texas, to the more permanent Lunar Recovery Laboratory.
The MQF is a specially designed facility based on a standard 1969 Airstream trailer. The trailer has no wheels and instead is welded to a 35-foot pallet with special tie-downs.
In addition to portability aboard the USS Hornet, the MQF was made to be attached to larger Air Force transport planes while the inhabitants under quarantine are moved to a more permanent facility.
Comfortably housing six people for up to 10 days, the mobile building has bunks, toilets, a kitchen, table, chairs, and medical diagnostic equipment.
Along with a flight surgeon and an MQF technician, the astronauts were moved immediately into the facility via a plastic corridor, along with the moon rocks and other equipment used on the moon.
The rock samples were packaged into airtight containers and sent back to Texas, and the astronauts remained inside the MQF until they, too, were airlifted from Hawaii back to Texas and placed inside the Lunar Recovery Laboratory for the remainder of the 21-day quarantine period.
All told, in its 27 years of active service, more than 300 people lost their lives aboard the USS Hornet.
Sailors have walked into aircraft's spinning props, been sucked into air intakes, and blown off deck by aircraft exhaust.
Dropped ordinance has exploded, burning and maiming sailors. Snapping flight arrest cables are known to have decapitated at least three men on the USS Hornet.
The medical department spaces are located amidships on the second deck. Hornet is equipped with a variety of specialized medical facilities, including an audiometry chamber, X-ray equipment, and a full-size operating room.
Inside the mission briefing room, teams reviewed intelligence and mission details before embarking from the ship.
One former Navy crew member described to me the thick clouds of smoke that would hang in these briefing rooms as the fighter pilots received their orders.
Originally, the ready rooms were located below the flight deck but above the hangar deck, on the "O" levels. However, wartime experience convinced the Navy to relocate their aircrew spaces to a less vulnerable location, beneath the armored hangar deck.
Climbing multiple ladders to reach the flight deck became a problem for heavily laden aircrews, however. This issue was later solved with the installation of an escalator directly to the flight deck.
The Hornet also has the distinction of once being hit by a torpedo, which bounced off of the Hornet's hull and failed to detonate.
During its career, planes launched from the Hornet destroyed 1,410 Japanese aircraft and destroyed or damaged 1,269,710 tons of enemy shipping.
Earning service awards for excellence in battle, the Hornet earned nine battle stars for its service in WWII and was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for its WWII operations, a distinction only nine carriers have achieved.
Supporting nearly every Pacific amphibious landing after March 1944, the Hornet famously shot down 255 aircraft in a month, and shot down 72 enemy aircraft in one day during WWII.
Its reputation as a warrior in the history of the U.S. Navy is punctuated by the distinction of scoring the critical first hits in the sinking of the super battleship Yamato, which had been declared by the Japanese as unsinkable.
The rifles seen here lined up in their quarters belonged to the 50 Marines assigned specifically to guard the officers of the Hornet.
For the legendarily battle-hungry Marines, duty aboard a Navy ship was considered somewhat of a boring assignment.
Nitrogen mustards, chloracetophenone, sulphur trioxide, and nerve gas are just a few of the potent chemicals featured in the Chemical Warfare Agents guide.
See a larger view of the chart here.
The one-time use devices, which when activated are live for 1, 4, or 8 hours, use hydrophones and omnidirectional arrays that descend to depths of 1,000 feet. The detected sounds are transmitted back to the aircraft, enabling the planes to locate and attack the submarines.
The beds in the sick bay, seen here, had thick mattresses that were much nicer than the standard canvas cots that were crammed into the regular sleeping quarters.
Immediately sinking one of the battleship's escorts, the Hornet's Avenger Bombers scored the first torpedo hits on the Yamato.