|
KIT: |
Trumpeter 1/700
USS Yorktown CV-10 |
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KIT #: |
05729 |
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PRICE: |
$29.95 |
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DECALS: |
One option and a
zillion planes |
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REVIEWER: |
Scott Van Aken |
|
NOTES: |
Can be built
waterline or full hull and includes base |
"The fourth Yorktown (CV-10)
was laid down on 1 December 1941 at Newport News, Va., by the Newport News
Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. as Bon Homme Richard; renamed Yorktown
on 26 September 1942; launched on 21 January 1943, sponsored by Mrs.
Eleanor Roosevelt; and commissioned on 15 April 1943 at the Norfolk Navy
Yard, Capt. Joseph J. ("Jocko") Clark in command.
Yorktown remained in the
Norfolk area until 21 May 1943 at which time she got underway for shakedown
training in the vicinity of Trinidad. She returned to Norfolk on 17 June
and began post-shakedown availability. The aircraft carrier completed
repairs on 1 July and began air operations out of Norfolk until the 6th. On
the latter day, she exited Chesapeake Bay on her way to the Pacific Ocean.
She transited the Panama Canal on 11
July and departed Balboa on the 12th. The warship arrived in Pearl Harbor
on 24 July 1943 and began a month of exercises in the Hawaiian Islands. On
22 August, she stood out of Pearl Harbor, bound for her first combat of the
war. Her task force, TF 15, arrived at the launching point about 128 miles
from Marcus Island early on the morning of 31 August. She spent most of
that day launching fighter and bomber strikes on Marcus Island before
beginning the retirement to Hawaii that evening. The aircraft carrier
reentered Pearl Harbor on 7 September and remained there for two days.
On the 9th, she stood out to sea,
bound for the west coast of the United States. She arrived in San Francisco
on 13 September, loaded aircraft and supplies, and returned to sea on the
15th. Four days later, the aircraft carrier reentered Pearl Harbor. After
10 days in the Hawaiian Islands, Yorktown returned to sea to conduct
combat operations on the 29th. Early on the morning of 5 October 1943, she
began two days of air strikes on Japanese installations on Wake Island.
After retiring to the east for the night, she resumed those air raids early
on the morning of the 6th and continued them through most of the day. That
evening, the task group began its retirement to Hawaii.Yorktown
arrived at Oahu on 11 October and, for the next month, conducted air
training operations out of Pearl Harbor.
On 10 November, Yorktown
departed Pearl Harbor in company with Task Force (TF) 50 — the Fast Carrier
Forces, Pacific Fleet — to participate in her first major assault
operation, the occupation of certain of the Gilbert Islands. On the 19th,
she arrived at the launch point near Jaluit and Mili and, early that
morning, launched the first of a series of raids to suppress enemy
air-power during the amphibious assaults on Tarawa, Abemama, and Makin. On
the 20th, she not only sent raids back to the airfield at Jaluit but some
of her planes also supported the troops wresting Makin from the Japanese.
On 22 November, her air group concentrated upon installations and planes at
Mili once again. Before returning to Pearl Harbor, the aircraft carrier
made passing raids on the installations at Wotje and Kwajalein Atolls on 4
December 1943. The warship reentered Pearl Harbor on 9 December and began a
month of air training operations in the Hawaiian Islands.
On 16 January 1944, the warship
exited Pearl Harbor once again to support an amphibious assault,
Operation Flintlock, the Marshall Islands operation. Her task group,
Task Group (TG) 58.1, arrived at its launching point early on the morning
of 29 January, and its carriers — Yorktown, USS Lexington
(CV-16), and USS Cowpens (CVL-25) — began sending air strikes aloft
at about 0520 for attacks on Taroa airfield located on Maloelap Atoll.
Throughout the day, her aircraft hit Maloelap in preparation for the
assaults on Majuro and Kwajalein scheduled for the 31st. On the 30th,Yorktown
and her sister carriers shifted targets to Kwajalein to begin softening up
one of the targets itself. When the troops stormed ashore on January 31st,
Yorktown aviators continued their strikes on Kwajalein in support of
the troops attacking that atoll. The same employment occupied the
Yorktown air group during the first three days in February. On the 4th,
however, the task group retired to the Fleet anchorage at recently secured
Majuro Atoll.
Over the next four months,
Yorktown participated in a series of raids in which she ranged from the
Marianas in the north to New Guinea in the south. After eight days at
Majuro, she sortied with her task group on 12 February 1944 to conduct air
strikes on the main Japanese anchorage at Truk Atoll. Those highly
successful raids occurred on 16 and 17 February. On the 18th, the carrier
set a course for the Marianas and, on the 22d, conducted a single day of
raids on enemy airfields and installations on Saipan. That same day, she
cleared the area on her way back to Majuro. The warship arrived in Majuro
lagoon on 26 February and remained there, resting and replenishing until 8
March. On the latter day, the carrier stood out of Majuro, rendezvoused
with the rest of TF 58, and shaped a course for Espiritu Santo in the New
Hebrides. She reached her destination on 13 March and remained there for 10
days before getting underway for another series of raids on the Japanese
middle defense line. On 30 and 31 March, she launched air strikes on enemy
installations located in the Palau Islands; and, on 1 April, her aviators
went after the island of Woleai. Five days later, she returned to her base
at Majuro for a week of replenishment and recreation.
On 13 April 1944, Yorktown
returned to sea once more. On this occasion however, she laid in a course
for the northern coast of New Guinea. On 21 April, she began launching
raids in support of General Douglas MacArthur's assault on the Hollandia
area. That day, her aviators attacked installations in the Wakde-Sarmi area
of northern New Guinea. On the 22d and 23d, they shifted to the landing
areas at Hollandia themselves and began providing direct support for the
assault troops. After those attacks, she retired from the New Guinea coast
for another raid on Truk lagoon, which her aircraft carried out on 29 and
30 April. The aircraft carrier returned to Majuro on 4 May; however, two
days later she got underway again, bound for Oahu. The warship entered
Pearl Harbor on 11 May and, for the next 18 days, conducted training
operations in the Hawaiian Islands. On 29 May, she headed back to the
central Pacific. Yorktown entered Majuro lagoon again on 3 June and
began preparations for her next major amphibious support operation-the
assault on the Marianas.
On 6 June 1944, the aircraft carrier
stood out of Majuro with TF 58 and set a course for the Mariana Islands.
After five days steaming, she reached the launch point and began sending
planes aloft for the preliminary softening up of targets in preparation for
the invasion of Saipan. Yorktown aircrews concentrated primarily
upon airfields located on Guam. Those raids continued until the 13th when
Yorktown, with two of the task groups of TF 58, steamed north to hit
targets in the Bonin Islands. That movement resulted in a one-day raid on
the 16th before the two task groups headed back to the Marianas to join in
the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Task Force 58 reunited on 18 June and
began a short wait for the approaching Japanese Fleet and its aircraft.
On the morning of 19 June 1944,
Yorktown aircraft began strikes on Japanese air bases on Guam in order
to deny them to their approaching carrier-based air and to keep the
land-based planes out of the fray. Duels with Guam-based aircraft continued
until mid-morning. At about 1017, however, she got her first indication of
the carrier plane attacks when a large bogey appeared on her radar screen.
At that point she divided her attention, sending part of her air group back
to Guam and another portion of it out to meet the raid closing from the
west. Throughout the battle, Yorktown's planes continued both to
strike the Guam airfields and intercept the carrier raids. During the first
day of the Battle of the Philippine Sea, Yorktown aircraft claimed
37 enemy planes destroyed and dropped 21 tons of bombs on the Guam air
bases.
On the morning of the 20th
Yorktown steamed generally west with TF 58 while search planes groped
for the fleeing enemy task force. Contact was not made with the enemy until
about 1540 that afternoon when a USS Hornet (CV-12) pilot spotted
the retiring Combined Fleet units. Yorktown launched a 40-plane
strike between 1623 and 1643 and sent it winging after the Japanese. Her
planes found Admiral Ozawa's force at about 1840 and began a 20-minute
attack during which they went after Zuikaku on whom they succeeded
in scoring some hits. They, however, failed to sink that carrier. They also
attacked several other ships in the Japanese force though no records show a
confirmed sinking to the credit of the Yorktown air group. On 21
June, the carrier joined in the futile stern chase on the enemy carried out
by TF 58 but gave up that evening when air searches failed to contact the
Japanese. Yorktown returned to the Marianas area and resumed air
strikes on Pagan on June 22 and 23. On the 24th, she launched another
series of raids on Iwo Jima. On 25 June, she laid in a course for Eniwetok
and arrived there two days later. On the 30th, the aircraft carrier headed
back to the Marianas and the Bonins. She renewed combat operations on 3 and
4 July with a series of attacks on Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima. On the 6th the
warship resumed strikes in the Marianas and continued them for the next 17
days. On 23 July, she headed off to the west for a series of raids on Yap,
Ulithi, and the Palaus. She carried out those attacks on 25 July and
arrived back in the Marianas on the 29th.
On July 31, 1944, she cleared the
Mariana Islands and headed, via Eniwetok and Pearl Harbor, back to the
United States. Yorktown arrived in the Puget Sound Navy Yard on 17
August and began a two-month overhaul. She completed repairs on 6 October
and departed Puget Sound on the 9th. She stopped at the Alameda Naval Air
Station from 11 to 13 October to load planes and supplies and then set a
course back to the western Pacific. After a stop at Pearl Harbor from the
18th to the 24th, Yorktown arrived back in Eniwetok on 31 October
1944. She departed the lagoon on 1 November and arrived at Ulithi on the
3d. There, she reported for duty with TG 38.4. That task group left Ulithi
on 6 November, and Yorktown departed with it.
On 7 November, the aircraft carrier
changed operational control to TG 38.1 and, for the next two weeks,
launched air strikes on targets in the Philippines in support of the Leyte
invasion. Detached from the task force on 23 November, Yorktown
arrived back in Ulithi on the 24th. She remained there until 10 December at
which time she put to sea to rejoin TF 38. She rendezvoused with the other
carriers on 13 December and began launching air strikes on targets on the
island of Luzon in preparation for the invasion of that island scheduled
for the second week in January 1945. On December 17, the task force began
its retirement from the Luzon strikes. During that retirement, TF 38
steamed through the center of the famous typhoon of December 1944. That
storm sank three destroyers, USS Spence (DD-512), USS Hull
(DD-350), and USS Monaghan (DD-354), and Yorktown
participated in some of the rescue operations for the survivors of those
three destroyers. She did not finally clear the vicinity of Luzon until the
23d. The warship arrived back in Ulithi on 24 December.
The aircraft carrier fueled and
provisioned at Ulithi until 30 December 1944 at which time she returned to
sea to join TF 38 on strikes at targets in the Philippines in support of
the landings at Lingayen. The carriers opened the show on 3 January 1945
with raids on airfields on the island of Formosa. Those raids continued on
the 4th, but a fueling rendezvous occupied Yorktown's time on the
5th. She sent her planes against Luzon targets and on antishipping strikes
on the 6th and 7th. The 8th brought another fueling rendezvous; and, on the
9th, she conducted her last attack — on Formosa — in direct support of the
Lingayen operation. On 10 January, Yorktown and the rest of TF 38
entered the South China Sea via Bashi Channel to begin a series of raids on
Japan's inner defenses. On 12 January, her planes visited the vicinity of
Saigon and Tourane Bay, Indochina, in hopes of catching major units of the
Japanese fleet. Though foiled in their primary desire, TF 38 aviators still
managed to rack up a stupendous score, 44 enemy ships of which 15 were
combatants. She fueled on the 13th and, on the 15th, launched raids on
Formosa and Canton in China. The following day, her aviators struck at
Canton again and paid a visit to Hong Kong. Fueling took up her time on 17,
18, and 19 January; and, on the 20th, she exited the South China Sea with
TF 38 via Balintang Channel. She participated in a raid on Formosa on the
21st and another on Okinawa on the 22d before clearing the area for Ulithi.
On the morning of 26 January. she reentered Ulithi lagoon with TF 38.
Yorktown remained at Ulithi
arming, provisioning, and conducting upkeep until 10 February 1945. At that
time, she sortied with TF 58, the 3d Fleet becoming the 5th Fleet when Adm.
Spruance relieved Adm. Halsey, on a series of raids on the Japanese and
thence to support the assault on and occupation of Iwo Jima. On the morning
of 16 February, the aircraft carrier began launching strikes on the Tokyo
area of Honshu. On the 17th, she repeated those strikes before heading
toward the Bonins. Her aviators bombed and strafed installations on Chichi
Jima on the 18th. The landings on Iwo Jima went forward on 19 February, and
Yorktown aircraft began support missions over the island on the
20th. Those missions continued until the 23d at which time Yorktown
cleared the Bonins to resume strikes on Japan proper. She arrived at the
launch point on the 25th and sent two raids aloft to bomb and strafe
airfields in the vicinity of Tokyo. On the 26th, Yorktown aircrewmen
conducted a single sweep of installations on Kyushu before TG 58.4 began
its retirement to Ulithi. Yorktown reentered the anchorage at Ulithi
on 1 March.
She remained in the anchorage for
about two weeks. On 14 March 1945, the aircraft carrier departed the lagoon
on her way to resume raids on Japan and to begin preliminary support work
for the Okinawa operations scheduled for 1 April. On 18 March, she arrived
in the operating area off Japan and began launching strikes on airfields on
Kyushu, Honshu, and Shikoku. The task group came under air attack almost as
soon as operations began. At about 0800, a twin-engine bomber, probably a
Frances, attacked from her port side. The ship opened fire almost
immediately and began scoring hits quickly. The plane began to burn but
continued his run passing over Yorktown's bow and splashing in the
water on her starboard side. Just seven minutes later, another Frances
tried his luck; but he, too went down, a victim of the combined fire of the
formation. No further attacks developed until that afternoon; and, in the
meantime, Yorktown continued air operations. That afternoon, three
Judys launched attacks on the carrier. The first two failed in their
attacks and were shot down for their trouble. The third succeeded in
planting his bomb on the signal bridge. It passed through the first deck
and exploded near the ship's hull. It punched two large holes through her
side, killed five men, and wounded another 26. Yorktown, however,
remained fully operational, and her antiaircraft gunners brought the
offender down. She continued air operations against the three southernmost
islands of Japan on the 19th but retired for fueling operations on the
20th.
On March 21, 1945, she headed for
Okinawa, on which island she began softening-up strikes on the 23d. Those
attacks continued until the 28th when she started back to Japanese waters
for an additional strike on the home islands. On the 29th, the carrier put
two raids and one photographic reconnaissance mission into the air over
Kyushu. That afternoon, at about 1410, a single Judy made an
apparent suicide dive on Yorktown. Her antiaircraft gunners opened
up on him and scored numerous hits. He passed over the ship, very near to
her island, and splashed about 60 feet from her portside.
On 30 March, Yorktown and the
other carriers of her task group began to concentrate solely on the island
of Okinawa and its surrounding islets. For two days the 30th and 31st, they
pounded the island in softening-up strikes. On 1 April, the assault troops
stormed ashore; and, for almost six weeks, she sent her planes to the
island to provide direct support for the troops operating ashore. About
every three days, she retired to the east to conduct fueling rendezvous or
to rearm and reprovision. The only exception to that routine came on 7
April when it was discovered that a Japanese task force built around the
elusive battleship, Yamato, was steaming south for one last,
desperate, offensive. Yorktown and the other carriers quickly
launched strikes to attack that valued target. Air Group 9 aviators claimed
several torpedo hits on Yamato herself just before the battleship
exploded and sank as well as at least three 500-pound bomb hits on light
cruiser Yahagi before that warship followed her big sister to the
bottom. The pilots also made strafing runs on the escorting destroyers and
claimed to have left one afire in a sinking condition. At the conclusion of
that action, Yorktown and her planes resumed their support for the
troops on Okinawa.
On 11 April, she came under air
attack again when a single-engine plane sped in on her. Yorktown's
antiaircraft gunners proved equal to the test, however, and splashed him
just inside 2,000 yards' range. Sporadic air attacks continued until her 11
May departure from the Ruykyus, but Yorktown sustained no additional
damage and claimed only one further kill with her antiaircraft battery. On
11 May, TG 58.4 was detached to proceed to Ulithi for upkeep, rest, and
relaxation.
Yorktown entered the lagoon
at Ulithi on 14 May 1945 and remained there until 24 May at which time she
sortied with TG 58.4 to rejoin the forces off Okinawa. On 28 May, TG 58.4
became TG 38.4 when Adm. Halsey relieved Adm. Spruance and 5th Fleet again
became 3d Fleet. That same day, the carrier resumed air support missions
over Okinawa. That routine lasted until the beginning of June when she
moved off with TF 38 to resume strikes on the Japanese homeland. On 3 June,
her aircraft made four different sweeps of airfields. The following day,
she returned to Okinawa for a day of additional support missions before
steaming off to evade a typhoon. On the 6th and 7th, she resumed Okinawa
strikes. She sent her aviators back to the Kyushu airfields and, on the
9th, launched them on the first of two days of raids on Minami Daito Shima.
After the second day's strikes on June 10, Yorktown began retirement
with TG 38.4 toward Leyte. She arrived in San Pedro Bay at Leyte on 13 June
and began replenishment, upkeep, rest, and relaxation.
The warship remained at Leyte until
1 July when she and TG 38.4 got underway to join the rest of the fast
carriers in the final series of raids on the Japanese home islands. By 10
July, she was off the coast of Japan launching air strikes on the Tokyo
area of Honshu. After a fueling rendezvous on the 11th and 12th, she
resumed strikes on Japan, this on the southern portion of the northernmost
island of Hokkaido. Those strikes lasted from the 13th to the 15th. A
fueling retirement and heavy weather precluded air operations until the
18th at which time her aviators returned to the Tokyo area. From the 19th
to the 22d, she made a fueling and underway replenishment retirement and
then, on the 24th, resumed air attacks on Japan. For two days, planes of
her air group pounded installations around the Kure naval base. Another
fueling retirement came on the 26th, but the 27th and 28th found her planes
in the air above Kure again. On the 29th and 30th, she shifted targets back
to the Tokyo area before another fueling retirement and another typhoon
took her out of action until the beginning of the first week in August. On
8 and 9 August, the carrier launched her planes at northern Honshu and
southern Hokkaido. On the 10th, she sent them back to Tokyo. The 11th and
12th brought another fueling retirement and a typhoon evasion, but, on the
13th, her aircraft hit Tokyo for the last time. On the 14th, she retired to
fuel destroyers again; and, on the 15th, Japan agreed to capitulate so that
all strikes planned for that day were canceled.
From 16 to 23 August 1945,
Yorktown and the other carriers of TF 58 steamed around more or less
aimlessly in waters to the east of Japan awaiting instructions while peace
negotiations continued. Then, on the 23d, she received orders to head for
waters east of Honshu where her aircraft were to provide cover for the
forces occupying Japan. She began providing that air cover on the 25th and
continued to do so until mid-September. After the formal surrender on board
USS Missouri (BB-63) on 2 September, the aircraft carrier also began
air-dropping supplies to Allied prisoners of war still living in their
prison camps. On 16 September, Yorktown entered Tokyo Bay with TG
38.1. She remained there, engaged in upkeep and crew recreation through the
end of the month. On 1 October, the carrier stood out of Tokyo Bay on her
way to Okinawa. She arrived in Buckner Bay on 4 October, loaded passengers
on the 5th, and got underway for the United States on the 6th. Thus
ended the Yorktown's WWII career. She is currently berthed at
Patriot's Point, South Carlolina as a museum ship"
Reference:
www.chinfo.navy.mil
Solidly
packed in Trumpeters stiff cardboard containers, one is greeted by the now
standard thick vacuformed plastic base into which you can place the
completed waterline model. The rest of the box is crammed with bags of
sprues and a box of clear plastic aircraft. A well printed painting guide
for the Measure 33 camo scheme as carried in 1945, instructions and nicely
done decal sheet complete the mix.
Now I know there will be screams of
protest about this, but with 32 sprues holding 637 parts, there is no way
to really do justice to the various parts by showing a photo of sprues so
I've cheated a bit and scanned the sprue layout from the instruction sheet.
This will give you an idea of what is there and probably be a bit more
understandable than a mass sprue shot.
Looking over the parts I was very
impressed with the quality of the moldings. There are teensy bits of flash
from place to place and, of course, one side of all parts of any size had
ejector pin marks, but the vast majority if not all of them will disappear
during construction as they are hidden away.
The kit basically builds from the
hangar deck up and down. You install the hangar deck onto the main hull and
go from there. Though none of the side doors are open, the really
adventurous could build a lot of detail into the hangar deck if they wanted
something really special. The rest of us will forego the honor of spending
hundreds of hours manufacturing fittings and teeny little sailors and build
this pretty well stock!
One continues in this fashion until
all the lower hull bits are attached then the two piece flight deck is
assembled. The two center deck and side elevator are separate and can be
built in the down position, but one is then tasked with putting something
down there to see, so most will opt for up. By this time of the war,
capital ships were festooned with AA guns and this one is no exception.
There are zillions of them ringing the deck and so much time will be spent
attaching those and the life rafts. The ship also had several dual purpose
5 inchers along side the island and those are included as well. Unlike the
larger scale ships these are a single casting.
The island is one of the last things
to build and that seems to be a rather easy job compared to the earlier
part of the build. The last things are deciding whether to do full hull or
waterline and then there is the air wing. Apparently the Yorktown
carried Hellcats, Dauntlesses, Helldivers and Avengers. Actually, I doubt
there were any Dauntlesses aboard by 1945 as the Helldivers were their
replacements.
Typical of Trumpeter kits, the
instructions are well printed, have clearly drawn construction steps, and
provide an excellent full color painting and markings guide. The decals
sheet is well done and provides deck markings and numbers as well as
insignia for all the aircraft included.
Not wanting to put it too bluntly, but if you are a 1/700
WWII ship enthusiast, you'd be nuts to pass this one up. The kit is
superbly crafted, the price is very reasonable, and you'll have hours of
modeling pleasure ahead of you, the result of which will be an outstanding
representation of a famous ship. Don't just think about it. Buy it!
December 2005
Many thanks to
Stevens International for providing the review kit.
If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly by a
site that has over 300,000 visitors a month, please
contact
me or see other details in the
Note to
Contributors.
Back to the Main Page
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Solidly
packed in Trumpeters stiff cardboard containers, one is greeted by the now
standard thick vacuformed plastic base into which you can place the
completed waterline model. The rest of the box is crammed with bags of
sprues and a box of clear plastic aircraft. A well printed painting guide
for the Measure 33 camo scheme as carried in 1945, instructions and nicely
done decal sheet complete the mix.