The USS Hornet (CV-12) is a World War II aircraft carrier that now serves as a museum ship at the former Naval Air Station Alameda, in Alameda, California. It recovered the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 astronauts after their moon missions, and it is a National Historic Landmark. Its docents and after-hours tour guides also describe it as haunted.
The service history is well documented by the National Park Service, the Navy and the museum. The ghost stories come from the museum’s own tour programs and from news reports of them, and they are personal accounts rather than evidence. This guide keeps the two apart.
A carrier with a borrowed name
CV-12 is not the carrier that fought at Midway and Santa Cruz. That ship, USS Hornet (CV-8), was sunk in the Battle of Santa Cruz on October 26, 1942. The Essex-class carrier under construction at Newport News as Kearsarge was renamed Hornet that same month. She was launched on August 30, 1943, and commissioned on November 29, 1943. The National Park Service notes that the new Hornet was launched about ten months after her predecessor was sunk.
World War II service
The carrier joined the Pacific Fleet’s fast carrier force in 1944. Her service included the invasion of Saipan, the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the landing on Palau, the Philippines campaign, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and strikes on the Japanese home islands. The Park Service credits her and her air groups with shooting down 688 aircraft and destroying 742 more on the ground, and with helping to sink the battleship Yamato. She earned seven battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation. Wikipedia records that she was badly damaged by Typhoon Connie in June 1945 and returned to the United States for repairs.
After the war she carried troops home in Operation Magic Carpet and was decommissioned on January 15, 1947, then placed in the reserve fleet.
Korea, Vietnam and Apollo
Hornet was reactivated during the Korean War era and modernized to operate jet aircraft. In 1958 she was reclassified as an antisubmarine warfare carrier, designated CVS-12, and her last combat deployment was to the Vietnam War. The Park Service says she was used as an antisubmarine carrier there.
On July 24, 1969, she recovered the Apollo 11 crew after splashdown. The astronauts went into quarantine aboard, and the President welcomed them back to Earth on the carrier. She recovered the Apollo 12 crew later that year. The Navy announced her retirement in January 1970, and she was decommissioned in June 1970. Sources differ on the day, June 26 in Wikipedia and June 30 in the Park Service, so only the month is given here.
From the reserve fleet to museum
The ship was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 4, 1991. She was donated to a nonprofit foundation on May 26, 1998, and opened to the public as the USS Hornet Museum on October 17, 1998. California designated her a State Historic Landmark in 1999. In 1997 she served as the filming location for a season opener of the TV series JAG titled “Ghost Ship.”
The ghost stories and who tells them
The reports come from three kinds of sources: the museum’s own after-hours programs, volunteer guides who talk with reporters, and visitors who join the programs.
A 2018 KALW radio report quoted a docent who served on a sister carrier. He said he woke on a night alone aboard to hear the ship’s red night lights click on one by one, and he believes the spirits turned them on for his safety. He and other docents said they believe most of the spirits are fellow servicemen. One said some died aboard and others died of old age, and that none of the spirits is evil. Another docent described being unable to move forward in an old operating room in the sick bay. That report also included a story from a past tour in which a thermal imaging camera showed warmth on office furniture.
A 2024 KQED report on an overnight program described guides placing a coffin-shaped motion-detecting box on a sick bay bed, loosening flashlights so that they could be turned on by spirits, and using pendulums and dowsing rods. One guest said something gripped her foot in the surgery room, and another said she saw a black shadow pass in a compartment deeper in the ship. A guide told the reporter that the ship hosts spirits from all over, not only those from its active years.
The sick bay, the surgery room, Radio Central and the dark compartments below decks come up most often. Each of these accounts is a personal report, and none was independently documented.
Why the claims deserve caution
The tools used on these tours, including pendulums, dowsing rods, electromagnetic field meters and flashlights with loosened battery caps, are not accepted scientific methods for detecting spirits. A loosened flashlight can switch on when the ship moves, and a meter responds to ordinary electrical wiring. A decommissioned carrier is also dark, enclosed and creaking, and tours begin with the expectation of finding something.
The sources read for this article did not give a count of deaths aboard the ship in her service years or any documented event tied to a specific death, so no such claim is made here.
Visiting the Hornet
The museum is at 707 W Hornet Avenue in Alameda, California. Daytime visits and special programs are listed on its official site, which should be used to confirm hours and prices.
The official History Mystery after-hours page lists tour dates for 2026 on October 15, October 16, October 31, November 13 and December 3, along with a Ship of Spirits dinner and tour on October 23. Participants must be at least 13 years old, are asked to bring a flashlight, and must climb steep ladders. Visitors who cannot manage steep ladders or tight spaces are advised against these tours. The site also offers a history-focused group on those evenings for visitors more interested in history than spirits.
USS Hornet FAQ
Is the USS Hornet really haunted?
No evidence has confirmed it. The reports come from museum guides, news stories and visitors on its after-hours tours.
Is this the same ship as the earlier USS Hornet?
No. The earlier carrier, USS Hornet (CV-8), was sunk at the Battle of Santa Cruz in October 1942. The museum ship is CV-12.
What happened on the USS Hornet in Apollo 11?
It recovered the Apollo 11 crew and their command module on July 24, 1969, after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Can the ship be toured at night?
The museum lists History Mystery after-hours tours on specific dates. Check the official page for the dates and tickets.
Sources
- USS Hornet Museum, History Mystery after-hours tour
- National Park Service, USS Hornet
- Wikipedia, USS Hornet (CV-12))
- KALW, A visit to the haunted USS Hornet in Alameda (2018)
- KQED, The USS Hornet in Alameda is a destination for paranormal enthusiasts (2024)
Top image: USS-Hornet-CV-12-Dsc08437.jpg, PeterThoeny at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons