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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images -- Picture Data

Photo #: 80-G-312020

Battle of Midway, June 1942


Repairing bomb damage on board USS Yorktown (CV-5), shortly after the carrier was hit by Japanese bombs on 4 June 1942. 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 National Archives.

Online Image: 126KB; 700 x 675 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 

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If you want higher resolution reproductions than this digital image, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

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Originally posted 23 March 1999
Coding updated 14 October 2001