Loss of USS Hornet (CV-8) October 26 1942

I have been reading as many accounts of Hornet's sinking as I can find.

I keep wondering exactly why the ship was abandoned. Her sister ship, Yorktown, was lost at the Battle of Midway because of progressive flooding and loss of electrical power to drive the dewatering pumps. Yorktown reached a maximum list of 24 degrees before the decision to abandon ship the day after the battle at Midway.  But Captain Buckmaster intended to put a salvage crew back aboard the following day.

I also learned from reading Yorktown's loss report that loss of electrical power was apparently due to the ship's electricians setting up the electrical switchboards in parallel. This meant that when torpedo damage destroyed the forward switchboard and killed the electricians in that space, the after switchboard shorted out whenever the emergency diesel generator tried to come on line. That's why electrical power was lost.

Long experience with damaged capital ships, going back to the bombing experiments promoted by Army Air Corps General Billy Mitchell, made it plain that slow progressive flooding was survivable with a crew aboard well trained and equipped for damage control.

To abandon ship prematurely was a death sentence (for the ship).

But I can find no evidence that Hornet had progressive flooding, even after the second Japanese air attack. The damage report here suggests the ship was on the verge of getting her steam propulsion plant back into operation.The ship's list never exceeded 14 degrees.

After the ship was abandoned, US destroyers tried to sink the ship with more than 500 rounds of 5-inch ammunition and with torpedoes without success.

The empty, blazing vessel was finally left adrift. Japanese navy ships attempted to take Hornet under tow and finally sank her with two large Japanese Long Lance torpedoes.

I also wonder why USS Enterprise, still in the vicinity and able to operate aircraft despite damage, didn't do a better job of protecting Hornet against Japanese air attacks.

It's hard to be certain that a better outcome was possible. I suspect so, but second-guessing officers who were there at the time is a hazardous undertaking. Still, I don't see why the ship was abandoned.

The accounts all say that when the ship's list reached 14 degrees, Captain Mason "knew the ship was doomed." How did he know?  Did the Damage Control Assistant make an inaccurate calculation of reserve stability?