find a book; a story about the repair of the Yorktown

Just finished some books on the naval war in pacific. Something I found interesting was the repair of the Yorktown. It was not treated as the main subject in any of these books and I was hoping to find something more about it. There must have been a hundred human interest stories there. Did anyone write a book on the repair of the Yorktown just before the Battle of Midway?

 

Well. Here’s a squib of an article, though it really doesn’t tell you much
Battle of Midway: Repairing the Yorktown After the Battle of the Coral Sea | Defense Media Network

and this is mildly more interesting
Modeling War Damage – USS Yorktown (CV-5) at Coral Sea

On the other hand, most books specifically about Yorktown describe it, some in more detail than others; grabbing right off my Midway shelf . . .

Harrington, Joseph and Frank, Pat, Rendezvous at Midway – USS Yorktown and the Japanese Carrier Fleet, John Day and Company, 1967
Cressman, Robert, That Gallant Ship – USS Yorktown (CV-5), Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, 1985
Nesmith, Jeff, No Higher Honor – The USS Yorktown at the Battle of Midway, Longstreet, Inc., 1999

How extensive was the damage at Coral Sea? Here’s a copy of a thesis paper on damage control efforts, covers both Coral Sea and Midway.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3224&context=td

There is the BuShips War Damage Report #23 which covers Yorktown’s damage from Coral Sea action. Just happen to have a copy, but too large to load here. PM me with your email address & we can try that. Otherwise, if you're a member, you can get a lesser quality copy from Fold3 but the pictures there are negative reversed and you have to down load one page at time. Were I to email it to you, it would be the complete report with the pictures positive.

 

Larry, when I looked there I didn't see No 23, though s'truth my eyes are wearing out.

 

It's a little hard to get the full report. I've seen at least one version floating about but without the pictures and I can't find it now. I got my copy from the BuShips site when it was up, but it has been down now for years.

 

Just finished "Rendezvous at Midway" as suggested above. For the following reason,
it had little to say about repairs made during the 3 days in Pearl.

"To this day, the story has persisted that 1,400 shipyard workmen fully repaired
Yorktown in three days and nights."

Frank and Harrington, the book authors, went on to explain that this 3 day episode
was primarily replenishment; the ship having been at sea for over 100 days.

"These workmen were chiefly a supply and reprovisioning force."

The one story that will stick with me is about Machinist Oscar Myers, a veteran
of the Battle of the Coral Sea. He had been aboard the Enterprise and now was aboard
the Yorktown. His suggestion to clear and charge gas lines and tanks with CO2 is
an interesting story about how the Navy learned from battle.

(If I read this book's account of the Lexington's last action correctly, and considering Myers'
suggestions, it seems the ship may, MAY, not have sunk had they been in practice.
The book's description shows the Lexington held her own, even landing planes
after the bombing, only to succumb to ".. rocked by another explosion..".
There were at least three after landing planes by my reading. Was it lack of combustibles hygiene?
Having not read anything about the Lexington's last action this hunch of mine my
just be fantasy.)

On to the next one. This was a good read.

 

Don't know anything about MACH Oscar W Myers being aboard USS Enterprise. By the time the Battle of the Coral Sea rolled around, he had been aboard Yorktown for twenty one months according to the NAV-37 report of 1 May 42. Considering he made Warrant in August 1940, that would have him aboard from the time of his warrant promotion. He was in the Air Department, assigned as the Assistant Assembly & Repair Officer with his battle station on the flight deck. His cabin number was 325, phone 412.

 

You are correct sir. Caulk this up to a first time read and assumptions. Here was the text:

"Aboard Yorktown certain precautions suggested by Machinist Oscar Myers after the Battle of Coral Sea were put into effect." I assumed he came from the Lexington. But indeed Yorktown has seen much action also.

A bit latter after describing the ideas, this: "Lexington, Myers remembered, had been swept by fires sparked by ruptured gas lines and gas tanks." I think this is where I assumed too much.

Sorry about that.

 

Wrong Yorktown, Larry. Looking at CV-5.

 

I knew a man who served on the USS Chicago as a welder; he swam off the deck of that ship. He was then transferred to the Yorktown (of which he later jump off of), and he said the crews were cutting and welding right up until they reached Midway. He later served on the USS San Francisco...He was wounded when a torpedo took (IIRC) something like 30ft off the bow.

He may have been the guy who told me the welding rods they were using were considered secret, and they had to account for all rod stubs at the end of the day. I think he said they used 6010 normally, and the "secret" rod ended up being a 7018. I may be mis-remembering that last part, I know someone told me that; but I have never been able to verify that information. But everything else Cecil told me is solid history.

 

USS Yorktown went down 6 Jun 1942. USS Chicago went down 30 Jan 1943. It might seem your friend has his sequence backwards.

Also, USS Chicago was in the SoWesPac theater during the time period of the Midway action assigned to Task Force 44 under RAdm J G Crace, RN. On 4 June 1942 TF 44, including USS Chicago were conducting training operations outside of Moreton Bay near Brisbane. Chicago's 1200 noon local position was 26-50-00S, 153-16-30E; 2000 local position was 27-18-00S, 155-03-00E. Next destination was Newstead Wharf, Brisbane, arriving there at 1113 5 Jun 1942.

Any "cutting and welding" done on Yorktown after leaving Pearl Harbor enroute to the vicinity of Midway would have been of a minor nature conducted by ships company (and they did not go exactly to Midway, but to a point at sea, as I recall without looking it up, about 125 miles NNE of the atoll). According to my sources who were on the scene, ships company and air group, everyone had enough to do to prep for the upcoming action without conducting major repairs.

Some pop-histories like to mention civilian yard workers from Pearl along for the deployment because they did not leave the ship in time, but that is simply not true.
.

 

If there is any failure to remember, it is me. He died in 2006 so it's been a LONG time since we talked. Perhaps it wasn't the Yorktown he was transferred to. Apologies to all for my mis-remembering.

 

Not to worry, happens all the time . . . sometimes I worry about MY memory.

 

Memory can be tricky, no one's fault really. San Francisco was never torpedoed, but two of her sisters were. SF was heavily damaged in the battle of Guadalcanal, Nov 12-13, 1942, twin-engine bomber crashing into her aft superstructure, then numerous gunfire hits 5-14". Sisters New Orleans and Minneapolis were torpedoed at Tassafaronga Nov 29-30, 1942, both losing their bows, one as far as #1 turret, the other including the loss of #1 turret. All this was before the sinking of Chicago as RLeonard noted.

It's possible that a man could have served on Yorktown, then San Fran, then New Orleans or Minneapolis, then Chicago, transferring as ships were lost or so damaged that they had to be sent stateside for repair. He'd probably feel like he'd used up his luck by then!