The Japanese carriers launched strikes against the island, only to be found and attacked.
USN divebombers badly damaged three of the carriers on the morning of June 4th. All three were out of the fight, they were all abandoned and scuttled.
The fourth Japanese carrier struck back. Her planes badly damaged the USS Yorktown, which was later sunk by a Japanese submarine while under tow. This photo shows the Yorktown under attack.
The fourth Japanese carrier was sunk that afternoon.Turning points to a war are only apparent long after they happen. At this point, the US and her allies in the Pacific had been at war with Japan for six months, the war would continue on for three more years.
The person who saw this most clearly, though, was Admiral Yamamoto, who, in 1940, was quoted as saying this about the prospect of a general war in the Pacific: "In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success."
He was right and he was proven to be so 67 years ago today.
Dear Miss Fit:
ReplyDeleteIf you have not yet read it, I commend to your attention "Shattered Sword" by Parshall and Tully. It is a new analysis of the Battle of Midway drawing heavily on detailed records of how the IJN CV's were (mis-)handled. A good read.
FVH
Not to be anal-retentive or anything, but the U.S. actually had three carriers at Midway: Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, I forgot that TF 17 had two CVs. I'll fix it.
ReplyDelete"Turning points to a war are only apparent long after they happen. "
ReplyDeleteIndeed. In April 1943 the Navy assigned the name Midway to a new escort carrier, CVE-63, thinking they were just naming it after a battle that came off extra well. In October '44 they realized that they'd given the name of a world-changing battle to a second-string ship; the name was summarily taken away and given to a new fast carrier under construction, and CVE-63 was named after the Army's recent success at St. Lo.
Two weeks later, CVE-63 became the first major vessel sunk by Kamikaze attack.
Love the SBD Dauntless photos. That's my favorite aircraft of the Pacific War. Not fast, not pretty, but a real workhorse that simply got the job done.
ReplyDeleteHere at the Naval Aviation Museum, they have an SBD that was strafed at Pearl Harbor. The USN patched it up, put it back into action, and flew into battle seven months later at Midway.