When injuries sustained during the attack incapacitated the carrier's executive officer, Commander Wiltsie assumed these duties and directed the organization of a salvage party which fought valiantly to save the ship.

When Yorktown eventually succumbed to her damage and the coup de grace administered by Japanese submarine I-168, Wiltsie directed the salvage party and the wounded to rescuing vessels alongside the doomed carrier.

In the predawn darkness of 24 November, Japanese submarine I-175 torpedoed Liscome Bay—the flagship of Rear Admiral Henry M. Mullinnix—which caused a mass detonation of aircraft bombs and ammunition and started fires fed by aviation gasoline.

Damage control efforts failed, however, and the carrier sank in less than 30 minutes thereafter, carrying down with it Captain Wiltsie, Admiral Mullinix, and 644 officers and men, including Third Class Cook Dorie Miller, who was awarded a Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism on a battleship during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The citation for Captain Wiltsie's posthumous Navy Cross noted his "calm, courageous action and valiant devotion to duty" which inspired the surviving members of the crew.