I can’t think of another aircraft carrier that has been the subject of more books than the USS Yorktown. She had a very short service career, only about 5 years from
her commissioning in 1937 and loss in 1942 at the Battle of Midway, with only 6 months served in wartime. But here is where quality clearly outweighs quantity.
Yorktown was the first purpose built aircraft carrier for the U.S. Navy, incorporating lessons learned from her predecessors. During her short wartime career,
Yorktown played a significant role, supporting the Marine landings during the Marshall-Gilbert Raid, participating in the Battle of Coral Sea and taking part in the Battle
of Midway, which was the turning point in the Pacific War.
David Doyle’s newest title “Yorktown (CV-5) – From Design and Construction to the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway” is also the first volume in a new series of
books called "Legends of Warfare - Naval" from publisher Schiffer Books. The 112-page, hardbound book covers the history of the ship from her keel laying to loss
at Midway. The book contains about 180 photos, spread across six chapters, each focusing on a different part of Yorktown’s brief life. Each chapter starts with a
concise introduction to that phase of Yorktown’s career before the story unfolds with great photos supplemented with excellent captions that explain what you are
seeing.
The photos range from clear and detailed dockyard images to some fuzzier wartime pictures that all in all tell Yorktown’s story. Many of the photos are “new” in that
they have not been published before and there are some that are more familiar but appear to have been cleaned up a bit to improve them. The detail shots are a modeler’
s dream, focusing on different sections of the carrier. While the detail and action shots are important to modelers and naval buffs, David also makes sure to include
photos of the crew that show their lives on the ship. Supplementing the photos is a set of line drawings from A. D. Baker, which are excellent but a shame that they
are not larger or even printed on a fold out page to maximize their value.
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