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1999 SESSION

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HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 849 Honoring the Virginians who served on the USS Yorktown.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 12, 1999 Agreed to by the Senate, February 18, 1999

WHEREAS, the USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier built in Newport News, played a crucial role in two of the most pivotal naval battles of World War II; and

WHEREAS, launched at Newport News in 1936 and commissioned in 1937, the USS Yorktown patrolled the Atlantic for much of 1941 as part of a task force assisting the British in their search for the German battleship Bismarck; and

WHEREAS, following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the USS Yorktown joined the Pacific Fleet and saw almost immediate action in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands in early 1942; and

WHEREAS, in May of 1942 the USS Yorktown was part of the first aircraft carrier duel in history, the Battle of the Coral Sea, in which United States forces succeeded in preventing the Japanese invasion of New Guinea; and

WHEREAS, badly damaged during the Battle of the Coral Sea, the USS Yorktown returned to Pearl Harbor for repairs but was immediately ordered to resume action, in one of the most important sea battles of all time, the Battle of Midway; and

WHEREAS, during that battle, which turned the tide of the war in the Pacific against the Japanese, the Yorktown's men performed valiantly, bearing the brunt of the Japanese attack and launching the planes that successfully destroyed three Japanese carriers; and

WHEREAS, despite the heroic efforts of her crew, the USS Yorktown was mortally wounded and sank on June 7, 1942; and

WHEREAS, many brave Virginians served on the USS Yorktown, which was discovered 16,650 feet deep in the Pacific Ocean on May 19, 1998, by renowned undersea explorer Robert Ballard; and

WHEREAS, the survivors of the Yorktown, many of them Virginians, meet annually on June 7 to commemorate the final day of the great ship on which they saw action; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly honor the brave Virginians who served with such gallantry aboard the USS Yorktown; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the General Assembly honor the memory of those who died on the USS Yorktown during her brief but heroic service in the United States Navy.