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Description
This model of U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) at the Planes of Fame Museum depicts the ship launching U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) North American B-25 Mitchell bombers for the April 1942 "Doolittle Raid" on Tokyo that unnerved Japan and boosted American morale. Later that year, USS Hornet fought in the Battle of Midway, where its bombers sank HIJMS Mikuma and damaged HIJMS Mogami. After fighting in the Solomon Islands and the Guadalcanal Campaign, USS Hornet became the last American fleet carrier lost in action when it was attacked and irreparably damaged by Japanese bombers during the October 1942 Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. Rather than let the ship and crew be captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy, Admiral "Bull" Halsey ordered USS Hornet scuttled. All but 140 of the 3000 officers and crewmen were saved, and the last sailor to leave the ship was Captain Charles P. Mason, who made his way to a destroyer and watched as the U.S. Navy tried to sink its own ship. After launching nine torpedoes and 400 shell with little effect, the Americans spotted the approaching IJN ships and sailed away, and USS Hornet was finally sunk by Type 93 "Long Lance" oxygen torpedoes from the destroyers HIJMS Akigumo and HIJMS Makigumo. The next year, CV-12 was renamed from USS Kearsarge to USS Hornet while under construction, and that ship is now a floating museum in Alameda, California.

Description
This model of U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) at the Planes of Fame Museum depicts the ship launching U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) North American B-25 Mitchell bombers for the April 1942 "Doolittle Raid" on Tokyo that unnerved Japan and boosted American morale. Later that year, USS Hornet fought in the Battle of Midway, where its bombers sank HIJMS Mikuma and damaged HIJMS Mogami. After fighting in the Solomon Islands and the Guadalcanal Campaign, USS Hornet became the last American fleet carrier lost in action when it was attacked and irreparably damaged by Japanese bombers during the October 1942 Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. Rather than let the ship and crew be captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy, Admiral "Bull" Halsey ordered USS Hornet scuttled. All but 140 of the 3000 officers and crewmen were saved, and the last sailor to leave the ship was Captain Charles P. Mason, who made his way to a destroyer and watched as the U.S. Navy tried to sink its own ship. After launching nine torpedoes and 400 shell with little effect, the Americans spotted the approaching IJN ships and sailed away, and USS Hornet was finally sunk by Type 93 "Long Lance" oxygen torpedoes from the destroyers HIJMS Akigumo and HIJMS Makigumo. The next year, CV-12 was renamed from USS Kearsarge to USS Hornet while under construction, and that ship is now a floating museum in Alameda, California.