USS Yorktown (CV-5) was an aircraft carrier commissioned in the United States Navy from 1937 until she was sunk at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. Yorktown played an important part in the battle, assisting in the destruction of multiple enemy aircraft carriers, and absorbing the majority of enemy counter-attacks. She was named after the Battle of Yorktown in 1781 and the lead ship of the Yorktown class which was designed after lessons learned from operations with the large converted battlecruiser Lexington class and the smaller purpose-built USS Ranger. She was sunk by Japanese submarine I-168 on 6 June 1942 during the Battle of Midway. wiki