On April 1, 1942, sixteen B-25 bombers were hoisted to the flight deck of the carrier Hornet and parked there while it was moored at Pier No. 3 at U.S. Naval Station in Alameda. The B-25 detachment consisted of seventy officers and one hundred thirty enlisted men under the command of Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle, U.S. Army. At 1000 hours on April 2, 1942, Task Force 18, consisting of the USS Hornet, Nashville, Vincennes, Cimarron, and Destroyer Division 22, departed Alameda Naval Air Station, Pier No. 3, under sealed orders and sailed out of San Francisco Bay in fog that reduced visibility to about 1,000 yards. From the deck of the Hornet at 0825 hours on April 18, 1942, Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle led sixteen B-25 bombers on a raid over Japan, hitting targets in Tokyo, Yokohama, and other cities. It was the first Allied strike on the Japanese homeland following the attack on America’s Pacific Fleet. The mission remained an official secret for a year, until President Roosevelt referred to the origin of the Tokyo raid only as Shangra-La. For this exploit, Jimmy Doolittle, a native of Alameda, California, born December 14, 1896, received the Congressional Medal of Honor.
