The Battle of Midway

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http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/midway/midway.htm



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Preparations for Battle, March 1942 to 4 June 1942 - Overview

By March 1942, Japanese Navy strategists had achieved their initial war goals much more easily than expected. They had therefore abandoned the prewar plan to then transition to a strategic defensive posture, but there was still dispute on how to maintain the offensive. Moving further south in the Pacific would isolate Australia, and possibly remove that nation as a threat to the freshly-expanded Japanese Empire.

However, the American island base at Midway was also an attractive target, and the Doolittle Raid on Japan prompted a decision to attack there as the next major offensive goal. Midway was a vital "sentry for Hawaii", and a serious assault on it would almost certainly produce a major naval battle, a battle that the Japanese confidently expected to win. That victory would eliminate the U.S. Pacific fleet as an important threat, perhaps leading to the negotiated peace that was Japan's Pacific War "exit strategy.

The Japanese planned a three-pronged attack to capture Midway in early June, plus a simultaneous operation in the North Pacific's Aleutian Islands that might provide a useful strategic diversion. In the van of the assault would be Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's aircraft carrier force, which would approach from the northwest, supress Midway's defenses and provide long-range striking power for dealing with American warships. A few hundred miles behind Nagumo would come a battleship force under Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto that would contain most of the operation's heavy gun power. Coming in from the West and Southwest, forces under Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondo would actually capture Midway. Kondo's battleships and cruisers represented additional capabilities for fighting a surface action.


Unfortunately for the Japanese, two things went wrong even before the Midway operation began. Two of Nagumo's six carriers were sent on a mission that resulted in the Battle of Coral Sea. One was badly damaged, and the other suffered heavy casualties to her air group. Neither would be available for Midway.

Even more importantly, thanks to an historic feat of radio communications interception and codebreaking, the United States knew its enemy's plans in detail: his target, his order of battle and his schedule. When the battle opened, the U.S. Pacific fleet would have three carriers waiting, plus a strong air force and reinforced ground defenses at the Midway Base.



Scouting and Early Attacks from Midway, 3-4 June 1942




Forewarned by Pacific Fleet codebreaking, Midway's patrol planes searched out hundreds of miles along probable Japanese approach routes. First contact was made with a pair of minesweepers some 470 miles to the west southwest at about 0900 on 3 June 1942. Within a half-hour, another PBY spotted the enemy's transport group, heading east about 700 miles west of Midway. Later that day, six Army B-17s bombed the transports, the Battle of Midway's first combat action, but only achieved near-misses. The Japanese were undeterred.

During the evening, four PBY-5A amphibians took off to make a night torpedo strike. Encountering the Japanese transport force in the early hours of 4 June, the slow patrol planes hit the oiler Akebono Maru with one torpedo, the only successful U.S. aerial torpedo attack of the entire battle. However, the damaged Japanese ship was able to keep up as the formation continued on.

Soon after 0530 on the morning of 4 June, about 200 miles northwest of Midway, a PBY reported the first contact with the Japanese carrier force, which had already launched over a hundred bombers and fighters to attack the American base. These were seen by another PBY several minutes later. The patrol planes' warnings prompted Midway to get all its aircraft in the air and to bring its defenses to full readiness. They also told the U.S. carrier task forces the enemy's approximate location and course, vital information sent from beyond the normal scouting range of the carriers' own planes. The Battle of Midway now began in earnest.

Japanese Air Attack on Midway, 4 June 1942


At 0430 in the morning of 4 June 1942, while 240 miles northwest of Midway, Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's four carriers began launching 108 planes to attack the U.S. base there. Unknown to the Japanese, three U.S. carriers were steaming 215 miles to the east. The two opposing fleets sent out search planes, the Americans to locate an enemy they knew was there and the Japanese as a matter of operational prudence. Seaplanes from Midway were also patrolling along the expected enemy course. One of these spotted, and reported, the Japanese carrier striking force at about 0530.

That seaplane also reported the incoming Japanese planes, and radar confirmed the approaching attack shortly thereafter. Midway launched its own planes. Navy, Marine and Army bombers headed off to attack the Japanese fleet. Midway's Marine Corps Fighting Squadron 221 (VMF-221) intercepted the enemy formation at about 0615. However, the Marines were immediately engaged by an overwhelming force of Japanese "Zero" fighters and were able to shoot down only a few of the enemy bombers, while suffering great losses themselves. This action convincingly demonstrated the inferiority of the Americans' Brewster F2A-3 "Buffalo" fighter, and the marginal capabilities of the somewhat better Grumman F4F "Wildcat", when confronted by the fast and nimble "Zero". Among the Marine losses was VMF-221's commanding officer, Major Floyd B. Parks.

The Japanese planes hit Midway's two inhabited islands at 0630. Twenty minutes of bombing and straffing knocked out some facilities on Eastern Island, but did not disable the airfield there. Sand Island's oil tanks, seaplane hangar and other buildings were set afire or otherwise damaged. As the Japanese flew back toward their carriers the attack commander, Lieutenant Joichi Tomonaga, radioed ahead that another air strike was required to adequately soften up Midway's defenses for invasion.

Burning oil tanks on Sand Island, Midway, following the Japanese air attack delivered on the morning of 4 June 1942.
These tanks were located near what was then the southern shore of Sand Island. This view looks inland from the vicinity of the beach.
Three Laysan Albatross ("Gooney Bird") chicks are visible in the foreground.

Damage on Sand Island, Midway, following the Japanese air attack delivered on the morning of 4 June 1942.
This view, probably photographed from the powerplant roof, looks roughly southwest, along what was then Sand Island's southern shore. Building in the foreground is the laundry, which was badly damaged by a bomb. Oil tanks are burning in the distance.
Note pilings and surf in the left distance.

 

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U.S. Attacks on the Japanese Carrier Striking Force, 4 June 1942



While their aviators flew back from Midway, the Japanese carriers received several counterstrikes from Midway's own planes. Faced with overwhelming fighter opposition, these uncoordinated efforts suffered severe losses and hit nothing but sea water. Shortly after 0700, torpedo attacks were made by six Navy TBF-1s and four Army Air Force B-26s. Between 0755 and 0820, two groups of Marine Corps bombers and a formation of Army B-17s came in. The only positive results were photographs of three Japanese carriers taken by the high-flying B-17s, the sole surviving photos of the day's attacks on the Japanese carriers.

Meanwhile, a tardy Japanese scout plane had spotted the U.S. fleet and, just as Midway's counterattacks were ending, reported the presence of a carrier. Japanese commander Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo had begun rearming his second group of planes for another strike on Midway. He now had to reload the aircraft with anti-ship weapons, recover the planes returning from Midway and reorganize his flight decks to launch an attack on the U.S. ships. Nagumo's force barely missed having enough time.

In the hour after about 0930, U.S. Navy planes from the carriers Hornet, Enterprise and Yorktown made a series of attacks, initially by three squadrons of TBD torpedo planes that, despite nearly total losses, made no hits. The sacrifice of the TBDs did slow Japanese preparations for their own strike and disorganized the defending fighters. Then, at about 1025, everything changed. Three squadrons of SBD scout bombers, two from Enterprise and one from Yorktown, almost simultaneously dove on three of the four Japanese carriers, whose decks were crowded with fully armed and fueled planes that were just starting to take off. In a few minutes, Akagi, Kaga and Soryu were ablaze and out of action.



Of the once-overwhelming Japanese carrier force, only Hiryu remained operational. A few hours later, her planes crippled USS Yorktown. By the end of the day, though, U.S. carrier planes found and bombed Hiryu. Deprived of useful air cover, and after several hours of shocked indecision, Combined Fleet commander Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto called off the Midway operation and retreated. Six months after it began, Japan's great Pacific War offensive was over.


After the 4 June mid-morning U.S. Navy attacks on the Japanese carrier force, only the Hiryu remained operational. Shortly before 1100 she launched eighteen dive bombers, escorted by six fighters, to strike a retaliatory blow. At about noon, as these planes approached USS Yorktown (CV-5), the most exposed of the three American aircraft carriers, they were intercepted by the U.S. combat air patrol, which shot down most of the bombers. Seven, however, survived to attack, hitting Yorktown with three bombs and stopping her.


While Yorktown's crew worked to repair damage and get their ship underway, a second force left Hiryu, this one consisting of ten torpedo planes and six fighters.


Though the U.S. carrier was moving again by 1430, and even launched more fighters, the Japanese aircraft penetrated heavy air and gunfire opposition to hit Yorktown with two torpedoes, opening a huge hole on her midships port side. The stricken ship again went dead in the water and took on a severe list. Concerned that she was about to roll over, her Captain ordered his crew to abandon ship.


Hiryu Bombed, Abandoned and Sunk, 4-5 June 1942

With three of their four carriers blazing furiously by 1030 on 4 June, Hiryu, steaming ahead of the others, was the sole remaining Japanese hope. She responded aggressively, launching a strike force of eighteen dive bombers at about 1100 and a second force of ten torpedo planes some two-and-a-half hours later. The bombers hit USS Yorktown at about noon, temporarily stopping her. The other planes executed a successful torpedo attack on the same ship at about 1445, putting her completely out of action. Though most of the Japanese planes were lost, enough got back to allow Hiryu to prepare a third strike.

Just before Hiryu's bombers came in, Yorktown launched a group of ten SBDs to search for the Japanese carrier, which Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher suspected had survived the morning attack. Two planes, piloted by Lieutenants Samuel Adams and Harlan R. Dickson, spotted Hiryu at about the same time that her torpedo planes hit Yorktown. By about 1600, Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance's carriers Enterprise and Hornet had forty SBDs in the air. These found their target shortly before 1700, just as Hiryu was ready to launch her third attack with five bombers and four torpedo planes, all she had left.


The Enterprise planes (including ten refugees from Yorktown) put at least four bombs into the Japanese carrier, destroying her forward flight deck and setting her afire. Later, several Army B-17s attacked, hitting her only with machine gun bullets.

Hiryu, though incapable of offensive action, kept moving until about midnight, when flames and explosions finally stopped her engines. She was ordered abandoned and then torpedoed to hasten sinking, but remained afloat until about 0900 on 5 June. Soon after daybreak, a plane from the small carrier Hosho, accompanying Admiral Yamamoto's approaching battleship force, found the drifting ship, photographed her and reported that there were still men on board. The destroyer Tanikaze was sent to investigate, but found nothing. Later in the day, this destroyer was attacked by over fifty U.S. carrier planes and, in a notable feat of shiphandling, escaped. Further to the west, the rest of the once-invincible Japanese fleet was in full retreat.



Actions and Activities after 4 June 1942 Overview and Special Image Selection

Following the 4 June attack on Midway's facilities and the day's great battles between opposing aircraft carrier forces, the Japanese briefly considered continuing their campaign. However, as the full extent of their disaster became clear, they began a general retreat. After a brief withdrawal to avoid the risk of a night action, the two remaining U.S. carriers pursued the enemy forces, unsuccessfully attacking a destroyer on the 5th.

On 6 June, U.S. planes found and attacked two Japanese cruisers, sinking the Mikuma. Meanwhile, USS Yorktown had remained afloat. A salvage party returned to try to save her, but this effort was thwarted on the afternoon of the 6th, when a Japanese submarine found and torpedoed the carrier and the accompanying destroyer Hammann. The battered, gallant Yorktown sank the following morning.

As Battle of Midway combat activities gradually wound down, PBY patrol seaplanes and ships busied themselves rescuing downed aviators, the last of whom was recovered on 21 June. A U.S. submarine found two Mikuma survivors, and 35 of Hiryu's crewmen were picked up on 19 June. Earlier, men from Yorktown and Hammann had been taken to Pearl Harbor, where reinforcements were being forwarded to Midway and the nearby carriers. USS Saratoga arrived from the west coast on 6 June with a full load of aircraft. She quickly returned to sea, en route to join Enterprise and Hornet. Later in the month, fresh Marines were landed at Midway, which remained an important U.S. base for the rest of World War II, and beyond."


[video=youtube;1w30FkSXyTE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w30FkSXyTE[/video]

 

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World War II-era Flag Flown at Navy base in Honor of Fallen Midway Sailor

A World War II-era flag that flew over Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD), Dahlgren, Va., in honor of a Sailor on the 71st anniversary of his death at the Battle of Midway, was presented to his sister during a ceremony on base.


"The Sailor - Seaman 2nd Class George Luther Self - was killed in action the day before his 25th birthday when a Japanese submarine fired torpedoes that sunk the destroyer USS Hammann.

"I am so happy that my brother is recognized and his memory is kept alive," said Virginia Self Trent, 90, after the ceremony.

The Hammann was towing the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown back to Pearl Harbor when it was attacked near the end of the battle. The destroyer sank in four minutes with heavy loss of life, and the Yorktown went down early the next day.

Trent and other family members watched as NSWCDD Sailors lowered and ceremoniously folded a 48-star flag in honor of Self.

"I felt honored to be able to honor a fallen Sailor who gave the ultimate sacrifice for his family and the country that he loved so much," said Chief Fire Control Technician Christopher Morge. "We were extremely happy to be part of something that provided a little closure to a story that should have had the proper ceremony so many years ago."

NSWCDD Commander Capt. Michael Smith presented the flag to Trent, telling her that it's a symbol of appreciation for her brother's service to the United States and a grateful Navy.

Smith also presented Trent with a certificate stating that the flag was flown over NSWCDD in Self's honor with printed words expressing gratitude for Self's courageous service.

"This 48-star flag is just as alive as any flag today," said Trent's son, Bill Coleman, NSWCDD Rapid Development and Integration Branch Head. "It's keeping my uncle's memory alive."

Coleman located the vintage 48-state flag that would have been flown during World War II and contacted the NSWCDD commander in mid-May with a request to fly the flag at the NSWCDD headquarters building in honor of his uncle.

"Imagine finding out that your brother is missing in action and presumed dead several days after the battle was over," said Coleman. "That is how my grandfather's family found out, and my grandmother especially never got over losing her son or not having a way to honor her son."

As Coleman informed the command about his uncle's story, the request to fly a flag evolved into a long awaited ceremony for family members.

"We're thankful to everyone who made this possible," said Coleman. "The command's support is overwhelming. We greatly appreciate the Navy team's (three NSWCDD Sailors) flag folding ceremony. I could feel the gratitude from them for my uncle's sacrifice."

Trent said her brother enlisted in November 1941. The family saw him for a day in South Carolina the following month, where he was on shore leave. After that, he sent postcards from the Pacific.

"They were mainly about how much he missed us," she said. "There's not a day goes by that I don't think of him."

The Battle of Midway - fought June 4-7, 1942, near the Central Pacific island of Midway - was considered the decisive battle of the war in the Pacific, ending Japanese naval superiority. The U.S. Pacific Fleet surprised Japanese forces, sinking four Japanese carriers, while losing only one."

http://www.navy.mil/ah_online/ftrStory.asp?id=74755

 

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91-Year-Old Sailor Graduates Boot Camp

GREAT LAKES, Ill. (NNS) -- World War II veteran and Battle of Midway survivor, . Joe Sanes, Wilmette, Ill., became an honorary graduate of Recruit Training Command (RTC) here at Naval Station Great Lakes, more than 70 years after enlisting in the Navy, June 14.

Sanes enlisted in the Navy on Nov. 14, 1941, and attended boot camp at Great Lakes. However, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, four weeks into boot camp, Sanes was immediately assigned to the destroyer USS Hammann (DD 412). He never graduated.

During the Pass-In-Review (PIR) recruit graduation ceremony, Capt. John Dye, commanding officer of RTC, recognized Sanes' service, presented him with an honorary graduation certificate and designated him an honor graduate of the PIR.

"When we say the Sailor's Creed, when we say the words 'I represent the fighting spirit of the Navy and those who have gone before me to defend freedom and democracy around the world,' we are talking about men like Mr. Joe Sanes," said Dye to the new Sailors their friends and family members.

During the ceremony, nine divisions comprised of 701 Sailors, or 702 including Sanes, graduated from RTC, the Navy's only boot camp. The ceremony was attended by more than 1,500 friends and family, including Libby Sanes, Joe's wife of 65 years.

"After 72 years, I am proud and happy to be a part of this graduation," said Joe. "The Sailors today are better looking than the Sailors of my time. I was impressed with what I saw today. I am sure the graduations back in 1941 wouldn't have been anywhere close to this."

Joe was aboard Hammann during the Battle of the Coral Sea. Hammann helped rescue more than 500 Sailors from the crippled USS Lexington (CV 2). On June 6, 1942 during the battle of Midway, Hammann was assisting USS Yorktown (CV 5) recovery after the carrier had been damaged during the battle. While participating in a defensive screen of Yorktown, Hammann was struck by a torpedo from a Japanese submarine and sank in less than four minutes. Seventy-nine enlisted crew members died along with 10 of the 14 officers.



"My battle station was on the port side, I saw the torpedoes coming at the ship. I was in water up to my ankles by the time I got to the deck," said Joe. "Most of the casualties came when the Hammann exploded underwater after she sank. I was lucky. The survivors are not the heroes. The real heroes are the ones who never came back."

Joe also took part in the Solomon Islands Campaign, the Aleutian Islands Campaign, and the Mariana Islands Campaign, before receiving an honorable discharge on Nov. 14, 1947.

"The first thing the Navy Taught me was discipline," said Joe. "It's very important in battle. Everyone has to be coordinated; everyone has to do their job. Without discipline there will be failure."

Sanes participates in speaking engagements throughout the country educating the public, ensuring the legacy of Naval heritage, and honoring his fallen shipmates.
http://http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=74840

 

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James Muri, Bomber Pilot Honored for Valor in Battle of Midway, Is Dead at 94




James Muri survived the first half of June 4, 1942, on the strength of his Army Air Forces pilot training. That was the day of his first combat mission, and the first day of the Battle of Midway. He piloted an unwieldy B-26 twin-engine bomber through heavy antiaircraft fire, maneuvered it close to a Japanese aircraft carrier, dropped a torpedo and pulled away into a sky filled with enemy shells just as his bomb detonated.

He survived the second half of the day — getting back to base with three wounded crewmen on board — on the strength of a hunch.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/u...alor-in-battle-of-midway-dies-at-94.html?_r=0