page_title: USS Hornet (CV-12)
section_title: South China Sea raid
hierarchical_section_title: USS Hornet (CV-12) / Construction and career / Liberation of the Philippines / South China Sea raid
caption_attribution_description: English: The Japanese cruiser Kashii sinking off the coast of French Indochina after an attack by U.S. Navy carrier aircraft, 12 January 1945. The ship was underway with convoy HI-86 which consisted of 16 ships (four tankers, six cargo ships and six escorts). On 12 January 1945, shortly after departing Qui Nhon Bay, Indochina, bombers from the U.S. Task Force 38 comprising the aircraft carriers Lexington, Hornet, Hancock, Essex, Ticonderoga, Langley and San Jacinto attacked the convoy during the South China Sea raid, sinking most of the convoy's ships. Kashii was hit starboard amidships by a torpedo from a Grumman TBF Avenger, then a Curtiss SB2C Helldiver struck with two bombs aft, setting off the depth charge magazine. Of Kashii's crew, 621 men went down with the ship and only 19 were rescued.
context_page_description: USS Hornet is an Essex-class aircraft carrier built for the United States Navy during World War II. Completed in late 1943, the ship was assigned to the Fast Carrier Task Force in the Pacific Ocean, the navy's primary offensive force during the Pacific War. In early 1944, she participated in attacks on Japanese installations in New Guinea, Palau and Truk among others. Hornet then took part in the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign and most of the subsidiary operations, most notably the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June that was nicknamed the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" for the disproportionate losses inflicted upon the Japanese. The ship then participated in the Philippines Campaign in late 1944, and the Volcano and Ryukyu Islands campaign in the first half of 1945. She was badly damaged by a typhoon in June and had to return to the United States for repairs.
  After the war she took part in Operation Magic Carpet, returning troops to the U.S. and was then placed in reserve in 1946. Hornet was reactivated during the Korean War of 1950–1953, but spent the rest of the war being modernized to allow her to operate jet-propelled aircraft.
context_section_description: On 30 December, TF 38 departed Ulithi to attack Japanese airfields and shipping in Formosa, French Indo-China, Luzon, China, the Ryukyus and the Pescadores Islands in support of the scheduled landings at Lingayen Gulf in Luzon on 9 January 1945 and to interdict the maritime traffic between the Japanese home islands and her conquests in Southeast Asia. The carriers first attacked Formosa on 3–4 January before turning to Luzon for airstrikes on the 6th and 7th and then returned to bomb targets in Formosa on the 9th. While claiming to have destroyed over 150 aircraft with little aerial opposition, the Americans lost 46 aircraft in combat and 40 more in accidents. With his obligation to cover the Lingayen Gulf area until the landings were done, Halsey's ships entered the South China Sea during the night of 9–10 January in search of the two Ise-class battleships that had been partially turned into seaplane carriers and had been mistakenly reported at Cam Ranh Bay. After refueling on the 11th, the carriers flew off almost 1,500 sorties against targets in French Indochina and off the coast. Halsey turned his ships northward and attacked Formosa and the Hong Kong area on 15–16 January and reattacked Formosa on the 21st after having exited the South China Sea. Until this date, the Third Fleet had not been attacked by the Japanese, but the kamikazes badly damaged Hornet's sister Ticonderoga. En route back to Ulithi, TF 38's planes flew  reconnaissance missions over Okinawa on 22 January to aid the planned invasion of that island while also attacking Japanese positions. All told the carriers destroyed some 300,000 GRT of shipping and claimed to have destroyed 615 aircraft while losing 201 aircraft to all causes during their excursion.
caption: Aerial photograph of the light cruiser Kashii sinking, 12 January 1945
exif: {}