| USS Yorktown (CV-5) In Dry Dock # 1, receiving urgent repairs for damage received in the Battle of the Coral Sea. She left Pearl Harbor the next day to participate in the Battle of Midway. USS West Virginia (BB-48), sunk in the December 7 Japanese air attack, is being salvaged in the left distance. On May 27, 1942, USS Yorktown, still trailing a 10-mile (16-kilometer) long oil slick, appeared off the entrance to Pearl Harbor, 1 day ahead of schedule. At dawn the next morning, she crept cautiously into Drydock Number 1, where special blocks had been set up to receive her. Ordinarily, safety concerns would have required her to spend a day purging her stored aviation fuel, but Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (February 24, 1885 – February 20, 1966), Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, was in a hurry; he issued a special order voiding the rule. When the massive gates of the drydock were closed and the water pumped out, the giant Yorktown settled onto the blocks, and gradually her damaged hull was exposed. Among those who inspected Yortown’s hull was Nimitz. Wearing big hip boots over his khaki slacks, he sloshed through the foot or more of water in the bottom of the not-quite-dry drydock as he looked over the damage. Fletcher had radioed ahead that while the Yorktown had lost her radar and refrigeration system, her main power plant was still operating, the airplane elevators were working, and the bomb hole in the flight deck had been patched. The real concern was the Yorktown’s hull. The several near misses in the Coral Sea had opened seams in the skin of her hull from frames 100 to 130 and ruptured the fuel-oil compartments, which were still leaking. Rear Admiral Aubrey W. “Jake” Fitch (June 11, 1883 – May 22, 1978), who had commanded Task Force 17.5 at the Battle of the Coral Sea, had estimated that it would take 90 days in a shipyard to repair Yorktown’s hull. Nimitz didn’t have 90 days. Even before Yorktown arrived, he had sent the yard superintendent and a team of specialists out to her to make a preliminary study. They radioed back that she might be patched up in time, but that it would take a supreme effort. Now, as he looked over the ship, Nimitz turned to the members of the inspection party. “We must have this back in three days.” There was an awkward moment of silence, and a few men exchanged glances, but there was only 1 possible response: “Yes, sir.” Nimitz authorized shore liberty for the Yorktown’s crew, partly as a reward for their long cruise and partly to get them out of the way of the yard workers. Soon, some 1,400 fabricators, shipfitters, and welders were swarming over the big carrier. They went to work with a purpose and intensity that suggested every minute counted, which it did. Whereas Yamamoto assumed that the loss of the Shōkaku and Zuikaku only narrowed the Kidō Butai’s margin of superiority, Nimitz knew that if the Americans were to have any chance against the oncoming juggernaut, they would need all 3 of their carriers. The work continued around the clock. Though Honolulu was still blacked out for fear of enemy air raids, the dockyard at Pearl Harbor was lit up by giant floodlights and acetylene torches that burned through the night. The demand for electricity became so great that some districts in Honolulu endured power outages so that the yard could get all the power it needed. Pushed to make quick fixes rather than permanent repairs, t he men did not bother with blueprints or plans. They cut plywood templates on board to match the gaping holes, sent the templates ashore to be duplicated in steel, then welded or bolted the patches into place. Deep inside the ship, work parties shored up sagging bulkheads instead of replacing them. Early the next morning, May 29, Drydock Number 1 was reflooded, the Yorktown floated off her blocks, and the gates were opened. The big flattop backed gingerly out into the main harbor and over to a loading dock, where she began to take on board the fuel, ammunition, and provisions she would need over the next several days. By then, Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance (July 3, 1886 – December 13, 1969) commanding Task Force 16 in USS Enterprise (CV-6) along with USS Hornet (CV-8) was already at sea. The next day, Nimitz came aboard and talked to Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher (April 29, 1885 – April 25, 1973), commanding Task Force 17 from Yorktown, and her captain, Elliott Buckmaster (October 19, 1889 – October 10, 1976). He had no more instructions; he merely wished them “good luck and good hunting.” Soon afterward, the Yorktown was under way. Once in open water she joined the ships of her escort for the cruise northward to a rendezvous with Spruance’s Task Force 16 at a predetermined point 1,400 miles north of Oahu and 325 miles north of Midway that had optimistically been designated as “Point Luck.” There, the American carriers would be on the flank of the Kidō Butai as it approached. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1999.jpg |
| Image Size | 2.41 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 5734 x 4622 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Navy |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | May 29, 1942 |
| Location | Pearl Harbor |
| City | Oahu |
| State or Province | Hawaii |
| Country | United States |
| Archive | Naval History and Heritage Command |
| Record Number | 80-G-13065 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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