CV-8 Hornet

"The seventh USS Hornet CV 8 was a Yorktown class aircraft carrier of World War II. The USS Hornet or CV-8 Hornet was launched December 14, 1940 by Newport News Ship Building & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Virginia, and commissioned at Norfolk on October 20, 1941. USS Hornet is notable for launching sixteen Army B-25s in the Doolittle Raid, as a participant in the Battle of Midway, and for action in the Solomons before being lost to an overwhelming air attack in the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands. The Doolittle Raid weighed 19,800 tons and stretched 809 feet 9 inches. She had a speed of 33 knots and could carry a crew of 1,889. Planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, the Doolittle Raid was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese home islands during World War II. It was the only time in US military history that US Army Air Forces (USAAF) bombers were launched from a US Navy aircraft carrier on a combat mission. "