Battered at Santa Cruz: The Sinking of USS Hornet (CV-8)

By the fall of 1942, the Pacific War had turned into a brawl on and around the Solomon Islands. As the land battle raged over who controlled the unsinkable aircraft carrier on Guadalcanal, Henderson Field, the United States Navy (USN) and Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) fought for control over the seas. At Santa Cruz, the final carrier battle of 1942 until the Battle of the Philippine Sea in 1944, USS Hornet (CV-8) would meet her fateful end. 

Why Santa Cruz Happened

The Battle of Santa Cruz Islands was the naval extension of the brutal fight for Guadalcanal. Since U.S. Marines landed there in August (along with U.S. Army forces later), both sides had poured men, aircraft, and ships into the region. Henderson Field gave the Americans air superiority by day, but Japanese naval forces still dominated the waters at night. The result was a grinding contest of attrition. 

For the USN, the objective was defensive but vital: protect Guadalcanal, shield reinforcement convoys, and prevent Japanese carriers from isolating the island. For the IJN, Santa Cruz offered a chance to regain the initiative. By destroying the remaining U.S. carriers in the South Pacific, Japan hoped to reassert naval dominance and set the conditions for retaking Guadalcanal.

The U.S. Task Force

At Santa Cruz, the U.S. Navy fielded Task Force 61, centered on two fleet carriers USS Hornet (CV-8) and USS Enterprise (CV-6). They were supported by USS South Dakota (BB-57), and several cruisers and destroyers formed the screen. USS Enterprise had been badly damaged but was rushed back since USS Saratoga (CV-3) was torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-26 and required repairs. USS Wasp (CV-7) was hit by two to three torpedoes by Japanese submarine I-19 and was scuttled, leaving only Hornet and Enterprise. 

Opposing them was a powerful Japanese main body carrier force under Vice Admiral Nagumo, including Shōkaku, Zuikaku, Zuihō, and heavy cruiser and destroyer escorts. The light carrier, Jun'yō, part of the vanguard force, would also race to enter the fray, launching a strike at the US Task Force. 

The Morning Race to Strike

The Battle of Santa Cruz opened as so many carrier battles did in 1942: with a race against time and distance. Shortly after dawn on 26 October, American and Japanese scout aircraft began reporting enemy carriers almost simultaneously. The difference was that Japanese reconnaissance found the U.S. task force first—and with greater clarity. By early morning, Vice Admiral Nagumo had a workable fix on USS Hornet’s position and immediately ordered his carriers to launch a full strike.

The Japanese attack force lifted off between roughly 8:15 and 8:30 a.m., a large, well-coordinated group of dive bombers, torpedo planes, and fighter escorts drawn from Shōkaku, Zuikaku, and Zuihō. 

The Japanese Strikes

As the Japanese carrier strike force approached, radar aboard Hornet first detected enemy aircraft at about 08:55, roughly 40 miles away.  Combat air patrol Wildcats were vectored to intercept, but communication problems and primitive fighter control meant most Japanese attackers reached their objective largely unopposed.  At 09:09, Hornet’s anti-aircraft batteries and those of her escorting warships opened fire as approximately 36 Japanese aircraft, a mix of dive bombers and torpedo planes, bore in from multiple directions.

Just a few minutes later, at about 09:12, the first devastating blow landed: a Val dive bomber placed a 551-pound semi-armor-piercing bomb dead center on Hornet’s flight deck nearly abreast the island superstructure. It penetrated three decks before exploding, instantly killing scores of men and igniting raging fires. Moments later, a second bomb struck the flight deck, creating an 11-foot hole and inflicting further casualties and destruction.  Within another minute or so, a third bomb slammed into the ship near the first impact point, punching deep below decks and wreaking structural damage.

Operational map of the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, 26 October 1942, illustrating U.S. and Japanese carrier task force movements, air strike pathways, engagement areas, and referenced coordinates.

Around 09:14, one of the Japanese dive bombers, already damaged by anti-aircraft fire, crashed into Hornet’s funnel and island area, spreading burning aviation fuel across the deck and killing additional personnel.  At nearly the same time, Nakajima Kate torpedo bombers pressed in from two directions.

Between about 09:13 and 09:17, two torpedoes found their marks in Hornet’s starboard side — one in the engine room, which opened a substantial hole below the waterline and knocked out propulsion; the second struck further aft, contributing to progressive flooding.

By 09:20, surviving elements of the attacking force withdrew, leaving Hornet dead in the water, power knocked out, steering lost, and fires blazing with terrifying intensity.  Within the space of roughly ten minutes, three bombs, two torpedoes, and an aircraft crash had effectively ended the carrier’s ability to continue the fight.

The American Counterblow

Even as Hornet was being mauled, American aircraft were already on their way toward the Japanese carriers. Strike groups launched from both Hornet and Enterprise earlier that morning, but disorganization, navigation errors, and Japanese fighter interception scattered the formation.

Despite those problems, a determined group of American dive bombers pressed through to the enemy fleet. Their attacks fell primarily on Shōkaku. One after another, bombs smashed into her flight deck, blowing craters through steel plating, wrecking aircraft below, and starting fires that her crew struggled to contain. Though she did not sink, Shōkaku was so badly damaged that she was forced to withdraw from the battle—and would remain out of action for months.

Zuihō was also hit; her flight deck was damaged badly enough to prevent further air operations. In strategic terms, the Americans had neutralized two Japanese carriers but tactically lost the battle with the sinking of USS Hornet, a carrier they could not afford to lose at this point in the war.

The Second Japanese Strike

With Hornet already crippled, the Japanese redirected their next major strike toward USS Enterprise. This second wave arrived later in the morning, finding Enterprise maneuvering aggressively and supported by heavy antiaircraft fire from her escorts.

Bombs struck Enterprise, punching through her flight deck and igniting fires below. Near misses rocked the ship violently, damaging internal systems and briefly disrupting flight operations. But unlike Hornet, Enterprise retained propulsion and steering. Damage control teams acted quickly, and within hours, she was again able to perform limited flight operations.

Afternoon Attacks and the Fading Hope of Rescue

Throughout the late morning and early afternoon, American destroyers clustered around Hornet, attempting to control fires and rig towing lines. For a time, there was genuine hope she might be saved. Power was partially restored. Fires were beaten back. Lines were secured.

That hope vanished when another Japanese air group—launched from the carrier Junyō—arrived in the early afternoon. These aircraft struck both the American escorts and Hornet herself, inflicting additional damage and making continued salvage efforts impossible. With Japanese surface forces reported nearby and air attacks ongoing, the risk to the rest of the task force became too great.

By mid-afternoon, the decision was made. Hornet would have to be abandoned.

Her Final Resting Place

American destroyers attempted to scuttle the carrier with torpedoes and gunfire, but once again, the American torpedo problem resulted in these failing to sink Hornet. Gunfire did not do the job either, and so the USN left her in the water as she still floated. 

That night, Japanese destroyers Akigumo and Makigumo found the drifting carrier. Using Long Lance torpedoes, they delivered the final blows. In the early hours of 27 October 1942, USS Hornet finally rolled over and slipped beneath the Pacific, ending her short but extraordinary career.

In reality, the battle told a more complicated story. Japan had sunk a carrier, but at enormous cost to experienced aircrews it could not replace. The United States, meanwhile, would build carriers faster than Japan could destroy them. The task force for Operation Galvanic in November of 1943 featured seventeen US carriers, with nine of the new Essex-class carriers rolling off the lines that year. 

Seventy-Seven Years of Silence

After October 1942, Hornet vanished into the deep. She lay undisturbed for nearly 77 years, her resting place unknown, her steel hull slowly surrendering to time and pressure.

That silence ended in 2019, when the research vessel R/V Petrel, operated by a team funded by Paul G. Allen, set out to locate her. The mission combined archival research, battle reports, and survivor accounts to narrow the search area to the vicinity of the Solomon Islands.

On the mission’s first deep-sea dive, autonomous underwater vehicles detected a massive wreck nearly 5,400 meters (17,500 feet) below the surface—it was Hornet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBOPqNR_nN0

Video footage revealed a carrier resting upright on the seafloor, remarkably intact given the violence of her end. The flight deck still bore scars from bomb impacts. Anti-aircraft guns remained in place. Her island structure stood as it had when the crew abandoned ship. She is now recognized as a war grave, protected and undisturbed.

USS Hornet served barely a year—but in that year, she launched the Doolittle Raid, fought at Midway, and died at Santa Cruz holding the line when the United States needed her most. Her sinking was a tactical defeat. Strategically, it marked the last time Japan would destroy a U.S. fleet carrier in open combat.  At the bottom of the Pacific, Hornet remains what she always was: a testament to American courage under impossible odds.

If you want a more detailed account of the battle, I highly recommend you check out The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War Episode 120:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FB0aDzoBl8

Sources

1. History.navy.mil. (n.d.). USS Hornet action report – World War II Battle of Midway. Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved February 2026, from https://www.history.navy.mil/research/archives/digital-exhibits-highlights/action-reports/wwii-battle-of-midway/uss-hornet-action-report.html

2. Navy.mil. (2019, February 12). Final resting place of USS Hornet CV-8 located in South Pacific. U.S. Department of the Navy. https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/Article/2240189/final-resting-place-of-uss-hornet-cv-8-located-in-south-pacific/ 

3. Warfare History Network. (2009, May). Action off Santa Cruz: Last stand of the USS Hornet. https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/the-imperial-japanese-navy-action-off-santa-cruz/ 

4. Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Santa_Cruz_Islands 

5. YouTube. (2019, February 12). Wreckage of USS Hornet located by R/V Petrel in the South Pacific [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBOPqNR_nN0

6. YouTube. (n.d.). [Title unavailable] [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FB0aDzoBl8

Images

1. Public Domain. (1942). Japanese aircraft attack USS Hornet (CV‑8) during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on 26 October 1942 [Photograph]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Japanese_aircraft_attack_USS_Hornet_(CV-8)_during_the_Battle_of_the_Santa_Cruz_Islands_on_26_October_1942_(80-G-33947).jpg

2. Public Domain. (n.d.). Map of the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands [Map]. Wikimedia Commons. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/SantaCruzNavyMap.jpg