Meanwhile, Captain Buckmaster had selected a salvage party of 29 officers and 141 men to return to the ship in an attempt to save her. Five destroyers formed an antisubmarine screen while the salvage party boarded the listing carrier about noon. They found a fire still smouldering in one compartment. USS Hammann came alongside and started supplying electrical power and pumps.
Yorktown's repair party followed a carefully predetermined plan of action to be carried out by men from each department - damage control, gunnery air engineering, navigation, communication, supply and medical.
By mid-afternoon, efforts were paying off. The process of reducing topside weight was proceeding well - one 5-inch (127 mm) gun had been dropped over the side, and a second was ready to be cast loose; planes had been pushed over the side; the submersible pumps (powered by electricity provided by Hammann) had pumped a lot of water out of the engineering spaces. The efforts of the salvage crew had reduced the list about two degrees. Removing weight high in the ship had a greater proportional benefit for stability - hence the effort to remove the guns, mounted alongside the flight deck.
In the meantime, Yamamoto had dispatched submarine I-168 to locate and sink the damaged carrier. The submarine eluded the destroyer screen, found her target and about 3:35 that afternoon, fired four torpedoes. One missed, two hit Yorktown and one struck Hammann, immediately sinking the destroyer.
Once again, the crew abandoned Yorktown, planning to return the following day to continue salvage efforts. About 5:00 the following morning, Yorktown rolled over on her port side and sank in 3,000 fathoms of water.
Task Force 16 was well to the west, searching for Yamamoto's fleet, and sinking a few Japanese surface ships.
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