USS Yorktown (CV-5): From Design and Construction to the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway

Built during the Great Depression as the lead ship in its class, USS Yorktown was purpose-built as a carrier from the keel up based on the U.S. Navy's experience with earlier carriers built on converted cruiser hulls. Commissioned in 1937, the 824-foot ship played a critical role in slowing Japanese advances in the first year of World War II in the Pacific before being lost at the Battle of Midway.

David Doyle details the ship's life in the Schiffer's Legends of Warfare Naval - USS Yorktown (CV-5): From Design and Construction to the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway. Using hundreds of photos, he traces the carrier's design, commissioning, construction, and prewar service. Then, focus shifts to wartime, with Yorktown's Neutrality Patrols in mid 1941 and the spring 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea with great photos of aircraft on deck and damage the ship received. The final sections deal with the carrier's final deployment at the Battle of Midway in June 1942, concentrating on its wounding by Japanese bombs and subsequent efforts to salvage it before being fatally struck by torpedoes.

USS Yorktown has been well-represented in kit form, and this premium 112-page hardcover is a great resource if you plan to build one of them.