Note bearded Chief Petty Officer walking by, flight deck clothing worn by some of those present and fire extinguisher in the lower left. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives. This hole, about twelve feet in diameter, was caused by a 250 Kilogram bomb that exploded on contact with the flight deck. Its explosion killed and injured many men on nearby guns and set fires on the hangar deck. Two of the dead are under a cover in the top center, by a battery of .50 caliber machine guns.
Photograph looks aft and slightly to starboard from the rear edge of the midships aircraft elevator.
The hole was quickly repaired with a timber and steel plate cover, allowing resumption of flight deck activities. This hole, minus the repair, was clearly visible when Yorktown 's wreck was examined in May 1998, and looked much as it does in this view. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives. This rather fuzzy time exposure looks directly aft, with the sloping inner uptake sides at left. One bomb, which detonated on the flight deck just aft of the midships aircraft elevator, set fires in the area seen in the left distance.