USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) was launched in December, 1942 after the Empire of Japan conquered the American territory of Hawaii and had rebuffed one American attempt to reclaim them. Bunker Hill was part of the larger invasion fleet the Americans sent to Hawaii in 1943. She sustained damage when, after the Japanese fleet had been broken and most of its planes downed, Lieutenant Saburo Shindo, piloting a makeshift Zero, crashed his failing plane onto the deck of the Bunker Hill. American flyer Joe Crosetti was based on the Bunker Hill, and helped contain the damage caused by Shindo's crash.