Midway

By mid-1942, the U.S. was losing terribly. The Philippines was lost, along with Guam and some of the Aleutian Islands. Japan could shell Los Angeles. The Navy faced defeat in every battle. And naval battles were different now. Battleships didn’t trade broadsides, but instead planes bombed other ships. Aircraft carriers, not battleships, were the key. But it did not matter how the battle was fought. The U.S. needed to win something fast; otherwise, an unfavorable peace treaty could follow.

On the other side of the globe, Japan was planning a surprise attack. It would smash the U.S., and they’d never see it coming…

Navy cryptologists, based in Pearl Harbor, had broken Japan’s cipher. The Purple Machine, Japan’s code machine, was not as good as the Enigma. One message, found during early 1942, said that Japan was planning to attack “AF.” Where was AF?

“A” was often used for places in Hawaii. Where would Japan strike in Hawaii? The logical choice would be Midway Island, the closest island to Japan with a military base. However, Admiral Nitmiz, the commander in the Pacific, could not go with just a guess.

In mid-May, a report came in from the Midway Garrison. The water plant had broken down, and the base was in desperate need of fresh water. No water came. Japan noticed and gave a report out. “AF is short of water.” Nitmiz could work with that. An ambush plan was hatched. There was no water plant malfunction at Midway. It was a ruse.

The ambush plans called for three aircraft carriers. The Enterprise and Hornet set sail for the rendezvous point. The third one, the Yorktown, was in port after taking damage in the Battle of the Coral Sea. It needed 2 weeks of repairs. Nitmiz told them to hurry it up. The Yorktown set sail 48 hours later, and the repairs only mostly finished.

On June 4th, the Japanese hit Midway with four carriers, Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu, along with 78 other ships. Unbeknownst to them, the Enterprise, Yorktown, and Hornet were hiding in radio silence. While the Japanese planes were attacking Midway, the Midway Garrison attacked the ships, with little effect. The Japanese now realized that Midway was not neutralized, and started changing out their torpedoes (for ships) into bombs (for Midway). At this point, Japan spotted the U.S. fleet. Hence, the Japanese began switching out their arms again. Around the same time, the Midway strike force came back, and the Aircraft Carriers’ decks and hangar became a gigantic tinderbox of fuel and weapons.

At this point, the U.S. planes struck. U.S. naval doctrine instructed that the front section of the attack aim for the far target, while the back section aim for the near target. However, the front section of the attack got demolished, and Richard Best decided to aim his back section squadron at the far carrier, the Akagi, seeing that the other carriers were already covered. One of his squadron mates bombed water, but managed to jam the rudder. Best swooped in and was the only pilot to hit the Akagi. Flames flew up behind him. Did it sink?

At military headquarters in Honolulu, the scene was tense. Was it a success? Suddenly, a Japanese radio message was intercepted. Although not uncoded, the message came from the Hiryu. Why not from the Akagi, the flagship? There was only one reason.

Back at the U.S. strike force, they knew that three carriers were down. Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu had been bombed. Only the Hiryu was left. Pilots, including Best, launched their planes. The U.S. landed four hits on the Hiryu. One of them was Best’s bomb.

In the meantime, the USS Yorktown was hit three times between two attacks and was slowly tilting over. It lost all power, and a ship abandonment ensued. Despite this loss, the already damaged Yorktown was an attack magnet, preventing damage to the other fully repaired carriers. The next day, the U.S. decided to save the ship, and a destroyer was wired to the ship for power. Although the attempts were succeeding, a Japanese submarine ultimately destroyed the ship. The destroyer went down with it.

At the Hiryu, the crew began to abandon the ship. Admiral Tamono Yamaguchi, the attack leader, went down the Hiryu, along with Hiryu’s captain. One of Japan’s best military minds was gone. The next day, the fleet was struck by a stark reality. There were no fighters to protect against U.S. aircraft, as they all went down with the Hiryu. The retreating fleet lost 2 ships, and 2 more were damaged. It was the high tide for Japan.