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USS Hornet Museum, Alameda, California!

USS Hornet (CV-12) Museum, Alameda, California

We visited the USS Hornet Museum in Alameda, California, on December 30, 2013. The museum consists of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-12), exhibits of the NASA Apollo moon exploration missions (the Hornet picked up astronauts from Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 after reentry), and “several retired aircraft from the Second World War and the transonic and early supersonic jet propulsion period” (Wikipedia article). USS Hornet (CV-12) is an aircraft carrier of the Essex class and is the most-decorated U.S. naval vessel of World War II (WW II). She was named after the USS Hornet (CV-8), famous for the “Dolittle Raid” on the Japanese Home Islands, immortalized in the film, “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo,” and sunk in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, the largest naval battle in history.

I lived in Alameda for awhile during my first year in California. At that time, the active, Nimitz-class, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), was based there. The superstructure of the Abraham Lincoln’s “island” was visible from the windows of my third-floor walk-up apartment, and the carrier became like an old friend. Nimitz-class carriers like the Abraham Lincoln are roughly TWICE the size of the USS Hornet (CV-12)!

The USS Hornet (CV-12) was commissioned in November 1943 and was finally decommissioned in 1970. During WW II, the USS Hornet (CV-12) played a major part in the battles of the Pacific War. She  took part in Operation Magic Carpet, which returned troops to the U.S. after WW II. Hornet served in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and she also picked up astronauts from the Apollo Program. After decommission in 1970, the carrier became BOTH an National Historic Landmark and a California Historical Landmark. In 1996, the vessel opened to the public as the USS Hornet Museum.

My wife and I took advantage of Groupon-discounted tickets for our visit. I toured the “island,” the flight deck, and the hangar deck. I plan to go back to tour the lower regions of the ship. To reach the flight deck requires climbing a stopped escalator (which can be restarted in some circumstances), and to tour the “island” superstructure requires climbing 5 sets of 10-step “ladders” with chain bannisters.

The Wikipedia articles about the USS Hornet (CV-12) and the museum provide the historical detail about the carrier.

My advice is to see her “in person.”

-Bill at

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