Yorktown - class aircraft carrier The " Yorktown " class was a class of three aircraft carrier s built by the U . S . and completed shortly before World War II . They immediately followed the , the first U . S . aircraft carrier built as such , and benefited in design from experience with the and the earlier " Lexington " class . These ships bore the brunt of early action in the Pacific War , and two of the three were lost : " Yorktown " , sunk at the Battle of Midway , and " Hornet " , sunk in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands . " Enterprise " , the sole survivor of the class , became the most decorated ship in the history of the U . S . Navy . After efforts to save her as a museum ship failed , she was scrapped in 1960 . Development . The lessons learned from operations with the large converted battlecruiser " Lexington " class in comparison with the smaller purpose - built had taught the Navy that large carriers were more flexible in operational terms and were more survivable than smaller ones . As the result of this experience , the U . S . Navy built and , commissioned in 1937 and 1938 respectively . These were fast and versatile carriers able to carry and operate over 80 warplanes which was almost as many as the much larger " Lexington " class . With the addition of the 14 , 700 ton , a scaled down version of the class , the U . S . Navy used up its full 135 , 000 ton Washington Naval Treaty limit of aircraft carrier tonnage . The abandonment of the arms limitation treaties system in 1937 allowed the US to begin building more carriers , and the first of this new carrier program was , another of the class , commissioned in 1941 . Improvements to the " Yorktown " design and freedom from the Washington Treaty limitations brought about the " Essex " - class carriers . Like the earlier ships of the " Lexington " - class , the " Yorktown " s carried a seldom used catapult on the hangar deck level . This catapult was subsequently eliminated from U . S . carriers as it was relatively useless in operation . The hangar deck catapult was removed from and in late June 1942 . All three ships of the " Yorktown " class were built at the Newport News Shipbuilding Company , Newport News , Virginia . Operational history . The three ships of this class are noted for bearing the brunt of the fighting in the early months of the Pacific war , most notably during the Battle of the Coral Sea , the Battle of Midway , and the Guadalcanal campaign . During the latter campaign , " Hornet " and later " Enterprise " had the distinction of being the only operational carrier in the U . S . Pacific fleet . " Enterprise " aircraft saw action at Pearl Harbor when a flight of her scout aircraft were engaged by both Japanese fighters and American gunners when they arrived in the middle of the attack . " Enterprise " later participated in the first offensive actions against Japan , launching attacks against the Marshall Islands , Wake , and Marcus Island . " Yorktown " transferred to the Pacific on 16 December 1941 and later raided the Gilbert Islands in the same operation as " Enterprise " . Along with " Lexington " , she raided bases in New Guinea , then participated in the Battle of Coral Sea . Her planes helped sink the " Shoho " and damaged the " Shokaku " . Damaged by Japanese carrier aircraft , " Yorktown " returned to Pearl Harbor and was hastily repaired in time to participate in the Battle of Midway . " Hornet " spent the first months of the war training in Norfolk , Va , before being assigned to the Doolittle Raid . Loaded with a squadron of B - 25 bombers and escorted by " Enterprise " , the ship launched the first air raids against the Japanese mainland . All three ships of the class saw action during the Battle of Midway ( 4 – 7 June 1942 ) , " Enterprise " and " Yorktown " aircraft were responsible for sinking all four Japanese carriers engaged in the battle , while " Hornet " assisted in the sinking of one heavy cruiser and severely damaging another . All three carriers suffered severe losses among their air groups , most notably " Hornet " ' s Torpedo Squadron 8 , which lost 15 aircraft with only a single surviving airman . " Yorktown " was damaged by aerial bombs and torpedoes and abandoned on 4 June . Later re - manned by repair crews , the ship was spotted and torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and eventually sank on 7 June 1942 . " Enterprise " was assigned to the invasion of Guadalcanal and participated in preliminary strikes on the island . She suffered moderate damage during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons but was repaired in time to join " Hornet " in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands . " Hornet " was severely damaged during the latter engagement and had to be abandoned . Attempts to scuttle the ship by her escorts failed , and she was left adrift before finally being sunk by Japanese destroyers on 27 October 1942 . " Enterprise " was again damaged during the battle , but was repaired enough to deliver her air group to Guadalcanal , where it participated in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal . " Enterprise " aircraft assisted in finishing off the heavily damaged battleship " Hiei " and were instrumental in destroying the Japanese transport fleet , thereby ending Japan ' s last serious attempt at reclaiming the island . After a lengthy overhaul and repair period at Bremerton , Washington , " Enterprise " joined the Central Pacific Fleet as part of the Fast Carrier Task Force . She participated in every major invasion of the Central Pacific campaign , including the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the Battle of Leyte Gulf . Her air groups contributed to the development of carrier night operations , executing a night air raid on Truk Lagoon and operating as a specialized night air group towards the end of the war . " Enterprise " was finally put out of action on 14 May 1945 when she was struck in the forward elevator by a kamikaze aircraft flown by Japanese pilot Lt . Shunsuke Tomiyasu , which destroyed the elevator and severely damaged her hangar deck . She was still out of action on V - J Day but was subsequently fitted out for Operation Magic Carpet , ferrying over 10 , 000 veterans home from Europe . By the end of World War II , " Enterprise " had been considerably modified . Her final displacement was 32 , 060 tons and her final armament was 8 single 5 inch / 38 caliber DP guns , 40 40 mm Bofors AA guns , 6 quad and 8 twin ( replacing the ineffective 1 . 1 " / 75 caliber gun quad mounts which the " Yorktown " class had initially been fitted with ) and 50 single 20 mm Oerlikon AA cannons . The " Yorktown " s had proved to be vulnerable to torpedoes , and while undergoing repairs at Bremerton , Washington , from July to October , 1943 , " Enterprise " received an extensive refit , which included an anti - torpedo blister that significantly improved her underwater protection . With the commissioning of the more advanced " Essex " - class and " Midway " - class carriers , " Enterprise " was surplus for post war needs . She entered New York Naval Shipyard on 18 January 1946 for deactivation , and was decommissioned on 17 February 1947 . Stricken from the list in 1959 after multiple attempts to preserve her as a museum and memorial , ex - " Enterprise " met her fate in the breaker ' s yards at Kearny , New Jersey in 1960 , although several artifacts were retained .