History Channel - Hero Ships: USS Yorktown

Yorktown received 11 battle stars for her World War II service and was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. She was also the star of an Academy Award winning documentary movie "Fighting Lady" in 1945. Though no formal credit was given her in the film, the majority of the footage used in the film was shot on her decks by Navy combat photographers. Yorktown and other Essex class carriers comprised the core of the U.S. post-war fleet. After her Korean War duty, Yorktown was modernized for anti-submarine warfare and was deployed to Vietnam. For her service off Vietnam she was awarded four battle stars. In 1968 the carrier recovered the crew of Apollo 8, the first manned flight to orbit the moon. Decommissioned in 1970, Yorktown became the centrepiece of the fleet of ships at Patriots Point in 1975.