USS Yorktown had a very short service career, only about 5 years from her commissioning in 1937 and loss in 1942 at the Battle of Midway. Only 6 months were
actually served in wartime but she played an important role during those months. Yorktown supported the Marine landings during the Marshall-Gilbert Raids,
participated in the Battle of Coral Sea and in The Battle of Midway, which was a turning point in the Pacific War. Yorktown is the topic of Warship Pictorial 44, the
latest volume from Classic Warships Publishing. The three ships in the Yorktown Class were already covered in Warship Pictorial 9, but Yorktown is given the full
treatment in this 72-page soft-cover book.
Warship Pictorial 44 follows the common format for this series. The book begins with a 6-page history of the ship and is followed by 79 (according to my count) black
and white photos that for the vast majority are crystal clear. Those that aren’t as clear are due to the quality of the original images and not to printing or layout issues.
Inside the front and back covers are images captured from a color film of Hornet, Yorktown’s sister-ship, during Midway. Although not actually of the Yorktown, the
images are still useful since they cover common features. The front and back covers have colorized images of two black and white images contained within the volume.
The majority of the photos are full-page and four span across two pages without gutters to break up the image. I personally have not seen most of the photos in this
volume before but some are very familiar to modelers. Overall the photos cover the different fits Yorktown had during her short life and provide clear views of various
sections and details of the carrier that should be very helpful to modelers. Page 43 describes the Measure 12 camouflage scheme that Yorktown was painted in late 1941
with a drawing and photo to illustrate it. To further aid modelers, pages 54 and 55 have a plan view drawing and some photos of Yorktown showing the positions of the
twenty-four .50 caliber machine guns that were fitted on the ship as well as the 20mm Oerlikons. To supplement the photos, the bomb and torpedo damage suffered by
Yorktown at Coral Sea (page 47) and Midway (pages 65 and 68) are shown via illustrations. The illustrations of the damage from Midway are reproduced from the
“Loss in Action” report, but the Coral Sea illustration was created by Steve Wiper using the format used in the Midway report.
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