In Battle

Smoke pours from the Lexington - During the Battle of the Coral Sea the Lexington (CV-2) was hit by several bombs and three to five torpedoes. Damage-control efforts seemed effective, and the carrier began to steam back to Pearl Harbor, but gas fumes later ignited and her insides blew up. She had to be abandoned and finally sunk by five torpedoes from the American destroyer Phelps. She was the first U.S. carrier lost to enemy action.
(Source:"The Naval Air War" by Nathan Miller)
Over the side - Coral Sea, May 1942. Following the order to abandon ship, the crew of the Lexington (CV-2) slides down ropes to be rescued by small boats. A destroyer can barely be seen alongside evacuating the sick and wounded.
(Source: U.S. Navy)
Lady Lex burns - The USS Lexington (CV-2) burns after Japanese hits in the Battle of the Coral Sea on May 8, 1942.
(Source:"The Naval Air War" by Nathan Miller)
The Lexington explodes - As the end nears for the Lex, a tremendous explosion wrenched the ship and tossed aircraft skyward.
(Source:"The Naval Air War" by Nathan Miller)
The Yorktown under heavy attack - The carrier USS Yorktown endures numerous attacks by Japanese carrier planes at the Battle of Midway. Despite all-out efforts to defend her, she received numerous hits, and was eventually knocked out of the battle. Here we see the first of a pair of aerial torpedos scoring a hit on the Yorktown.
(Source:"The Carrier War" by Clark G. Reynolds & Time-Life)
The Yorktown is damaged at Midway - smoke pours from the Yorktown's damaged island while repairs are made to her flight deck during the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942.
(Source:"The Naval Air War" by Nathan Miller)
The damaged island of the Yorktown - This photo show some of the damage done to the Yorktown's island by a Japanese bomb at Midway.
(Source:"The Naval Air War" by Nathan Miller)
Aerial view of Yorktown's fatal torpedo hit - In this image of a diorama created by Bel Geddes, the USS Yorktown is struck by a torpedo from a Japanese submarine at the end of the Battle of Midway in June 1942. The destroyer USS Hammann (DD-412) is seen alongside, already broken in half and sinking from a torpedo hit during the same attack. The Yorktown rolled over and sank the next morning.
(Source: The Aircraft Carrier Photo Index, part of the "US Surface Warship Photo Archives" website)
Fatal torpedo hit (Take Two) - Another view of the USS Yorktown and the destroyer Hammann as torpedos from the Japanese submarine I-168 rips into them. Taken from the same diorama as in the previous photo.
(Source: The Smithsonian Air and Space Library)
Deadly bomb blast - This is what it was like when a bomb burst on the flight deck of the Enterprise on August 24, 1942, during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons (the first carrier battle of the Guadalcanal campaign). The photographer of this shot was killed by the blast.
(Source:"Carrier Wars" by Edwin P. Hoyt)
USS Enterprise in the Battle of Santa Cruz - A bomb explodes next to the Enterprise during the thick of the Battle of Santa Cruz (the second carrier battle of the Guadalcanal campaign).
(Source: U.S. Navy)
USS Hornet (CV-8) in the Battle of Santa Cruz - A Japanese Val dive bomber plummets toward the U.S. carrier Hornet on October 26, 1942, during the Battle of Santa Cruz off Guadalcanal. A Japanese Kate torpedo bomber that has recently released its torpedo can also be seen flying past. The Hornet was sunk in this battle.
(Source:"Carrier Wars" by Edwin P. Hoyt)
Six photo sequence of a shootdown - In a remarkable sequence of pictures in recording the destruction of a Japanese torpedo bomber, sailors hit the deck (#1) as the plane attacks their carrier near the Marshall Islands. The attacker passes inside bursting anti-aircraft shells (#2,#3), before being struck in one of its fuel tanks. Within seconds, a wing burns away (#4). The aircraft loses altitude and a wheel drops down (#5), then - hidden by smoke and flames - falls into the sea (#6).
(Source:"The Carrier War" by Clark G. Reynolds & Time-Life)
USS Kitkun Bay under attack - A Japanese plane attacking the carrier Kitkun Bay on June 18, 1944, has just been shot down.
(Source:"Carrier Wars" by Edwin P. Hoyt)
USS Gambier Bay bracketed by shellfire - The Gambier Bay, smoking in the background is straddled by shellfire from Japanese capital ships during the Battle of Leyte Gulf on October 25, 1944, when the Japanese tried to destroy the American landing forces. The Gambier Bay was the only US carrier sunk by naval gunfire from enemy ships.
(Source:"Carrier Wars" by Edwin P. Hoyt)
A smoking bomb hole - On October 25, 1944, a 250-kilogram bomb, dropped by a Japanese kamikaze, sliced between the flight and hanger decks of the USS Suwannee and exploded.
(Source:"The Naval Air War" by Nathan Miller)
A classic photo - A kamikaze Zero attempts to score on the USS Missouri. It is easy to imagine the variety of thoughts and emotions going through the heads of the guncrews. Some idea of the plane's speed is indicated by the gun crews, some of whom are just ducking for cover.
(Source: "The Divine Wind" by Inoguchi, Nakajima, and Pineau)
The USS Bunker Hill burns - Crew on the USS Randolph (CV-15) watch as the carrier Bunker Hill burns in the distance. The Bunker Hill was the victim of a kamikaze off of Okinawa on May 11, 1945.
(Source:"Air War Over The Pacific" by Robert C. Stern)