The Real Story Of The Uss Hornet's

In October 1942, the United States and Japan had been engaged in a battle of attrition on and around the island of Guadalcanal for over two months. The 1st Marine Division and Army's 164th Infantry Regiment retained full control of Henderson Field and its surrounding area. However, Japan's strength had waned after defeats at Tenaru in August and Edson's Ridge the following month. The Imperial Navy was determined to defeat the American aircraft carriers around Guadalcanal once and for all.

American forces were meager at best, with the battered carrier Enterprise (CV-6) and the carrier Hornet (CV-8) being the only American carriers on station until they were joined by the "Big E" on October 24. The Imperial navy's Kido Butai was bursting with power and strength, with four aircraft carriers at the heart of the powerful battle fleet. The scales were heavily in favor of the Japanese.

The Japanese launched their land offensive on the night of October 23. In what became known as the Battle for Henderson Field, the Imperial army's efforts to recapture the airfield were again dashed as Marine and Army units beat back the charging Japanese. Kido Butai proceeded on its mission assigned to support the "victorious" land forces by sweeping the seas clear of the enemy.

On October 26, American scouts located the Japanese "main body" consisting of Shokaku and Zuikaku, and not 15 minutes later, Japanese scouts located the Hornet's task force. Both fleets readied their attack groups and launched their aircraft. Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Clayton Fisher, flying with Hornet's Bombing Squadron 8 (VB-8), was tail-end Charlie in a formation of 16 SBDs bound for the Japanese fleet. As the formation neared the Japanese fleet, Fisher's group came under attack by Japanese combat air patrol. The enemy Zeroes from the carrier Zuiho riddled the escorting Wildcats with gunfire, and Fisher and his formation pressed on alone.

The Japanese were relentless in their attacks, dropping one or two SBDs per pass and heavily damaging those that didn't go down. Fisher's plane dropped like a rock as it shot downward toward the Japanese carrier Shokaku, holing her flight deck and rendering her useless for the remainder of the battle.

Clay Fisher, a pilot on the Santa Cruz, was attacked by an enemy Zero while attempting to land on the Hornet. The Zero exploded with a 20mm round, killing Fisher's gunner and leaving him with critical wounds. As they approached the American task force, it became clear that they would not be able to land aboard their carrier.

The Hornet had sustained heavy damage from the enemy strike group that had passed Fisher earlier that morning. Fisher decided to pull alongside a destroyer and plopped his bird into the Pacific, but the antiaircraft cruiser Juneau threw him and his gunner out of the water. After several hours in the air and suffering critical wounds, Fisher's Santa Cruz ordeal was over. However, his carrier's ordeal continued as Japanese strike groups approached the Hornet's task force.

Around 10 minutes after the Japanese strike group passed Fisher, American combat air patrol was vectored to intercept the inbound enemy. However, radio miscommunication allowed only a small number of American fighters to engage. The few fighters that did engage performed well, splashing several enemy aircraft. However, twenty "Kate" torpedo bombers and sixteen "Val" dive-bombers struck hard on the Hornet, causing severe damage but no loss of life.

As the Japanese dive bombers began to pull away, the first enemy torpedo bombers appeared, piercing Hornet's hull with two torpedoes. An enemy dive bomber overshot the carrier in his dive and deliberately crashed his airplane into the ship. Heavily damaged, taking water and afire, Hornet came to a stop, dead in the water at around 9:40 a.m. Her damage control crews fought the ship's fires courageously, and with help from her three escorting destroyers, the fires were under control 40 minutes after the last Japanese plane had departed.

The Battle of Santa Cruz was a significant naval battle between the United States and Japan in 1942. The Japanese attacked the Hornet, causing serious damage to the ship and leaving one elevator stuck in the up position. The Enterprise survived due to the intense antiaircraft fire of her escorts, her own antiaircraft fire, and the actions of one of her fighter pilots, Stanley "Swede" Vejtasa.

Back aboard the Hornet, salvage crews worked desperately to restore power, but the heavy cruiser Northampton attempted to pull the carrier from the battle zone. However, another attack wave appeared and the Hornet was a target for another attack wave. One Japanese torpedo struck the Hornet, proving the final straw. The Task Force pulled away, leaving the derelict Hornet afloat and smoldering. The Japanese administered the coup de grace, sinking the ship with four torpedoes.

The Battle of Santa Cruz was claimed as a victory by both the Japanese and the Americans, but postwar analysis suggests that it was more likely a Japanese victory. The high cost in human lives, particularly the elite aircrews, crippled Japan's ability to wage a successful naval campaign against the US fleet after 1942.

Despite their tactical victory on October 26, the Japanese were unable to maintain their success for long. Just two weeks after Santa Cruz, the "Big E" returned to the waters off Guadalcanal, becoming the sole surviving American flattop in the Pacific theater. Today, thanks to the research team and crew aboard the RV Petrel, the legendary ship can be seen again, standing upright in decent condition after the battle.