Yorktown was commissioned in April 1943, and participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning 11 battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation.

The ship was later modernized again with a canted deck, eventually becoming an anti-submarine carrier (CVS) and served for many years in the Pacific, including duty in the Vietnam War, during which she earned five battle stars.

Yorktown was decommissioned in 1970 and in 1975 became a museum ship at Patriots Point, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, where she was designated a National Historic Landmark.

When TG 58.1 arrived at its launching point early on the morning of 29 January, carriers Yorktown, Lexington, and Cowpens began sending air strikes aloft at about 05:20 for attacks on Taroa airfield located on Maloelap Atoll.

After eight days at Majuro, she sortied with her task group on 12 February to conduct air strikes on the main Japanese anchorage at Truk Atoll.

After five days steaming, she reached the launch point and began sending planes aloft for the preliminary softening up of targets in preparation for the invasion of Saipan.

That movement resulted in a one-day raid on 16 June before the two task groups headed back to the Marianas to join in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

At that point she divided her attention, sending part of her air group back to Guam and another portion of it out to meet the raid closing from the west.

During the first day of the Battle of the Philippine Sea, Yorktown aircraft claimed 37 enemy planes destroyed and dropped 21 tons of bombs on the Guam air bases.

On the morning of 20 June, Yorktown steamed generally west with TF 58 while search planes groped for the fleeing enemy task force.

On 21 June, the carrier joined in the futile stern chase on the enemy carried out by TF 58 but gave up that evening when air searches failed to contact the Japanese.

On 7 November, the aircraft carrier changed operational control to TG 38.1 and, for the next two weeks, launched air strikes on targets in the Philippines in support of the Leyte invasion.

Yorktown fueled and provisioned at Ulithi until 30 December 1944, at which time she returned to sea to join TF 38 on strikes at targets in Formosa (now known as Taiwan) and the Philippines in support of the landings at Lingayen.

On 10 January, Yorktown and the rest of TF 38 entered the South China Sea via Bashi Channel to begin a series of raids on Japan's inner defenses.

On 12 January, her planes visited the vicinity of Saigon and Tourane (now named Da Nang), Indochina, in hopes of catching major units of the Japanese fleet.

On 14 March, the carrier departed the lagoon on her way to resume raids on Japan and to begin preliminary support work for the Okinawa operations scheduled for 1 April.

The only exception to that routine came on 7 April when it was discovered that a Japanese task force built around the elusive battleship Yamato was steaming south for one last, desperate, offensive.

Sporadic air attacks continued until her 11 May departure from the Ryūkyūs, but Yorktown sustained no additional damage and claimed only one further kill with her anti-aircraft battery.

The warship remained at Leyte until 1 July when she and TG 38.4 got underway to join the rest of the fast carriers in the final series of raids on the Japanese home islands.

A fueling retirement and heavy weather precluded air operations until 18 July, at which time her aviators attacked the Japanese naval base at Yokosuka.

After a non-stop voyage, Yorktown entered San Francisco Bay on 20 October, moored at the Alameda Naval Air Station, and began discharging passengers.

On 2 November, while still at the navy yard, she reported to the Service Force, Pacific Fleet, for duty in conjunction with the return of American servicemen to the United States.

She did, however, take periodic breaks from that schedule to make frequent port visits to Yokosuka; and, during the Christmas holidays, she made a liberty call at Hong Kong on the Chinese coast.

On 21 March 1955, she was placed in reserve while still in commission at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard where she was to receive extensive modifications—most significantly, an angled flight deck to increase her jet aircraft launching capability.

On 1 September, her home port was changed from Alameda to Long Beach, California, and she was reclassified an antisubmarine warfare (ASW) aircraft carrier with the new designation CVS-10.

During that deployment, she earned additional stars for her Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for duty in Vietnamese waters at various times in March, April, May, and June.

On 30 March 1961 The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show Season 5 Episode 26 was filmed aboard the Yorktown to commemorate 50 years of US Navy aviation.

That tour of duty in the Far East consisted of a normal schedule of anti-air and antisubmarine warfare exercises as well as the usual round of port visits.

On 26 October 1962, the warship left Long Beach in her wake and set a course for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, then on to Japan, Hong Kong, and the Philippines in the Far East.

On 2 September 2003, Yorktown served as the backdrop for the formal announcement of Senator John Kerry's candidacy as he sought, and ultimately won, the Democratic nomination for President of the United States for the 2004 election.