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Online Library of Selected Images -- Picture Data

Photo #: 80-G-21929 (complete caption) USS Yorktown (CV-5) Marines man the ship's forward port side 20mm gun battery, circa Spring 1942. Camera is looking aft. Note details of gun mountings and shields, rubber non-skid mats on deck and splinter protection on the outboard side of the gun gallery. Aircraft arresting gear is visible on the flight deck, at left. As a result of combat experience, 20mm gun shields were later modified with angled cut-outs on the inside top of each plate, providing the gunner with better vision to each side of the aiming point. 20mm guns were fitted when the ship was at Norfolk Navy Yard in December 1941. Those in this gun gallery were jettisoned during salvage efforts on 6 June 1942. When Yorktown's wreck was examined in May 1998, this area was observed in detail, and all the guns and mountings seen here were missing, as were the middle segments of each gun position's splinter protection plating. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 126KB; 740 x 625 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

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