Things In Midway You Won't Believe Were True

When audiences see the USS Yorktown after the Battle of Coral Sea, she's in dismal state. She's in dry dock, gaping holes in her deck, with crews that are dwarfed by the sheer size of the damage they're trying to fix. But in the film, she's back on the water and sailing in to save the day just hours afterwards. Unlikely? Yes. But also true. 

According to the US Navy, the Yorktown (pictured, in Pearl Harbor's dry dock) returned to Pearl Harbor with an open hull, leaking oil, and sporting enough damage it was estimated that — best case scenario — it would be 90 days before she was operational again. A 551-pound bomb had sliced through the deck and detonated 50 feet into the ship, destroying six compartments, lighting systems on three decks, radar, refrigeration, and rupturing fuel-oil compartments. Her hull was cracked, elevators non-functional, and she had left 10 miles of oil and fuel in her wake. 

When she returned to Pearl Harbor, plans for Midway were already underway. Admiral Nimitz gave them three days to get the Yorktown back in the water ... and they did it. Around 1,400 workers labored for 72 hours straight on repairs that were so intensive the island was subjected to a series of blackouts to funnel electricity to the repair docks and — as requested — Yorktown left for Midway where she was torpedoed, capsized, and sunk after launching the aircraft that sank one of Japan's carriers (via ThoughtCo.)

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