What Its Like To Survive An Aircraft Carrier Being Sunk

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National Interest/Warfare History Network: What Its Like to Survive an Aircraft Carrier Being Sunk

A young sailor aboard the doomed carrier Yorktown recounts the battle that sank the ship and almost cost him his life.

After surviving the war and moving to Spokane, Washington, Ray Daves married his girlfriend, Adeline Bentz. He became an air traffic controller in 1946––a job he held until retiring in 1974.

After working in a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp in Idaho, Ray Daves enlisted in the Navy in the spring of 1938 and reported for basic training the following year. He was at Pearl Harbor, serving at Pacific Fleet Headquarters as a radioman, when the Japanese attacked; he was wounded in the hand. Afterward, he requested sea duty on a warship and was assigned to the submarine Dolphin (SS-169), on which he served one war patrol before being reassigned as a radioman second class aboard the aircraft carrier Yorktown (CV-5).

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WNU Editor: A fascinating read.