Doolittle’s Raid Stood in Way of Hornet Air Group’s Training

As senior aviator on a new ship, Cmdr. Stanhope Cotton Ring drew up an ambitious training regimen for the Hornet to get his fliers ready for combat in the Pacific. Jimmy Doolittle got in its way.

Commissioned Oct. 20, 1941, Hornet was on its shakedown cruise off Norfolk, Va., on Dec. 7 when Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor. Two months later the ship was ordered to port. Two B-25 Mitchell bombers were hoisted aboard, taken to sea and launched to prove the large land-based planes could fly from a flight deck.

In March 1942 Hornet steamed into the Alameda Naval Air Station, where on April 1, 16 B-25s were brought aboard. Lt. Col. James Doolittle and the 134 men of his squadron came with them.

The ship headed toward Midway the next day. At sea, Capt. Marc Mitscher informed the crew that they were going to launch Doolittle’s raiders for an attack on Tokyo.

The raid, which 73 of the 80 crew survived, caused little damage in Japan but gave a morale boost to Americans after Pearl Harbor.

The raid also disrupted Ring’s training schedule. With Army Air Corps planes on the flight deck for 18 days, training flights with Navy planes were impossible.