On October 26, 1942, the Hornet, the last large American aircraft carrier built before the United States joined World War II, was severely damaged by Japanese warplanes and had to be abandoned at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.
The Battle of Guadalcanal was the first offensive against Japan. On this day, near the Santa Cruz Islands, two U.S. Navy task forces had to block a superior Japanese fleet that was heading to Guadalcanal with reinforcements.
At 9:09 a.m., the Hornet, along with its escort ships and anti-aircraft guns, was countering the incoming enemy aircraft. At that time, 20 Japanese torpedo bombers and the remaining 16 dive bombers had begun to attack the aircraft carriers.
At 9:12 a.m., a dive bomber dropped a 551-pound (250 kg) semi-armor-piercing shell onto the flight deck of the Hornet, crossed the bridge and exploded through deck 3, killing 60 people.
A row of 20 mm Oerlikon guns aboard the Essex-class aircraft carrier Hornet in 1945
After a while, a 534-pound (242 kg) heavy "ground-to-ground" bomb hit the flight deck, causing an explosion and creating an 11-foot (3.4 m) hole and killing 30 people.
A minute or so later, the third bomb hit the Hornet and was located near the site where the first bomb hit, penetrating 3 decks before the explosion, causing serious damage but no immediate fatal danger.
At 9:14, the anti-aircraft fire of the Hornet hit 1 dive bomber. The damaged plane crashed inside the Chimney of the Hornet, and burning aviation fuel spread across the signal deck.
During dive bomber attacks, torpedo bombers also approached Hornet from two different directions. At this time, the anti-aircraft artillery of the Hornet suffered heavy losses, and it was difficult to intercept the incoming enemy aircraft.
At 9:13 and 9:17 the torpedo bomber dropped 2 torpedoes that hit the Hornet, hitting its engine.
As the Hornet lost power and stopped, a Japanese dive bomber approached and purposefully crashed into the side of the aircraft carrier, causing a fire in the ship's main aviation fuel tank.
At 9:20 a.m., the surviving Japanese planes left, leaving the Hornet parked on the surface of the sea and burning. In the first attack on the Hornet, 26 Japanese and 6 American aircraft were shot down. With the assistance of the fireline of the 3 escort destroyers, the fire of the Hornet was under control at 10 a.m.
The wounded were evacuated from the aircraft carrier, while the cruiser Northampton tried to tow The Hornet out of the theater. However, some time was wasted in order to maneuver the tow cables, and more Waves of Japanese aircraft attack followed.
After the first and second waves of attacks, the Northampton finally began to slowly drag the Hornet away from the battlefield at 2:45 p.m.
However, at 3:20 p.m., Hayabusa's second round of attack fleet arrived, attacking the hull that had almost stopped on the surface.
At 3:23 a.m., a torpedo struck the Hornet, destroying the power system under repair, causing a severe inflow into the water and a 14-degree tilt in the hull. With no power pump pumping into the water, the Hornet was unable to return to the sky and the entire crew abandoned the ship.
At this time, the 3rd wave of attack troops from the "Tsuru" attacked the "Hornet" again, and a bomb hit the sinking hull. All crew members of the Hornet detached the ship at 4:27 p.m. The last japanese attack fleet dropped the last bomb on the sinking hull at 5:20 a.m.
The U.S. Navy destroyers Uss martin and USS Anderson were ordered to sink the Hornet with shipboard gunfire and torpedoes, while the remaining U.S. warships had sailed southeast to escape the attack range of Kondo and Abe's approaching warships.
As the Japanese destroyer was just 20 minutes away, two U.S. destroyers abandoned the Hornet, which was already in flames, at 8:40 p.m.
The remaining warships of Kondo and Abe arrived at the location of the Hornet at 10:20 p.m., decided that the ship had been badly damaged and could not be captured and torpedoed at 1:35 a.m. on 27 October (08°38′S 166°43′E).
As Hayabusa and Terugetsu were attacked at night by radar-equipped Catalina seaplanes, intelligence was known that U.S. warships had withdrawn from the area, and critical fuel conditions prompted Japan to reconsider whether it should pursue the U.S. fleet further.
After refueling near the Northern Solomon Islands, the Japanese fleet returned to their main base, Truk, on October 30. As the U.S. fleet withdrew to Espirito Santo and New Caledonia, the Uss South Dakota collided with the destroyer USS Mahan, causing serious damage to the destroyer.
The USS Hornet had fought in the raid on Tokyo under Durit (then commander Marc Mitscher was promoted to admiral and would be an important player in the victory over Japan) and the Battle of Midway.
Although the Americans suffered heavy losses in Santa Cruz, the Cost of Japanese aircraft was so high — more than 100, including 25 of the 27 bombers that attacked the Hornets — that they were ultimately unable to reinforce forces on Guadalcanal, paving the way for American victory.
Morning attack location
Afternoon attack
Figure III: Damage that can be caused by bombs and plane crashes
Plate IV: Possible water ingress and torpedo damage