[159] Clay Blair argued in 1975 that had Spruance pressed on, he would have been unable to launch his aircraft after nightfall, and his cruisers would have been overwhelmed by Yamamoto's powerful surface units, including Yamato. [147] Unaware of the exact location of Yamamoto's "Main Body" (a persistent problem since the time PBYs had first sighted the Japanese), Spruance was forced to assume the "four large ships" reported by Tambor represented the main invasion force and so he moved to block it, while staying 100nmi (190km; 120mi) northeast of Midway. Yorktown hoisted a flag signal to indicate a speed of 5 knots. The single vote against Congress's declaration of war against Japan came from Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana. [26], In order to obtain support from the Imperial Japanese Army for the Midway operation, the Imperial Japanese Navy agreed to support their invasion of the United States through the Aleutian Islands of Attu and Kiska, part of the organized incorporated Alaska Territory. The IJA occupied these islands to place the Japanese home islands out of range of U.S. land-based bombers in Alaska. They reasoned that without access to money and goods, and especially essential supplies like oil, Japan would have to rein in its expansionism. The only US ship surrendered to Japanese during World War II Azio-class: Gunboat: Okitsu: 625 Salvaged from the Italian wreck Insect-class: River gunboat: Suma: 635 Salvaged from the British wreck Atami-class: River gunboat: Atami Futami: 249 Seta [22] To this end, he dispersed his forces so that their full extent (particularly his battleships) would be concealed from the Americans prior to battle. The distance between Yamamoto and Kondo's forces and Nagumo's carriers had grave implications during the battle. [142] For his part, Yamamoto initially decided to continue the engagement and sent his remaining surface forces searching eastward for the American carriers. Several minutes later, Best and his two wingmen dove on Akagi. [21], Yamamoto felt deception would be required to lure the U.S. fleet into a fatally compromised situation. The raid, while militarily insignificant, was a shock to the Japanese and showed the existence of a gap in the defenses around the Japanese home islands as well as the vulnerability of Japanese territory to American bombers. All Rights Reserved. In it, one of the more striking revelations is the comment on the Mobile Force Commander's (Nagumo's) estimates: "The enemy is not aware of our plans (we were not discovered until early in the morning of the 5th at the earliest). [94], Spruance judged that, though the range was extreme, a strike could succeed and gave the order to launch the attack. [123], Within six minutes, Sry and Kaga were ablaze from stem to stern, as fires spread through the ships. Updated: December 6, 2022 | Original: October 29, 2009. President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress on December 8, the day after the crushing attack on Pearl Harbor. [23] This tactic was doctrine in most major navies of the time. WebPassenger and cargo ship Japan: 9 April 1945: USS Tirante United States: 667: Taito Maru: Cargo ship serving as evacuation ship Japan: 22 August 1945: L-12 Soviet Union: 658: Tateyama Maru: Troopship Japan: 1 March 1945: USS Sterlet United States: 656: Sanka Maru: Troopship Japan: 10 March 1945: USS Kete United States: 654: Ceramic: Ocean The torpedo bombers were armed with torpedoes should any American warships be located. [191] Parshall and Tully have stated that the heavy losses in veteran aircrew (110, just under 25 percent of the aircrew embarked on the four carriers)[192] were not crippling to the Japanese naval air corps as a whole; the Japanese navy had 2,000 carrier-qualified aircrews at the start of the Pacific war. This concern was acutely heightened by the Doolittle Raid on 18 April 1942, in which 16 United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) B-25 Mitchell bombers launched from USSHornet bombed targets in Tokyo and several other Japanese cities. The four Japanese fleet carriersAkagi, Kaga, Sry, and Hiry, part of the six-carrier force that had attacked Pearl Harbor six months earlierwere sunk, as was the heavy cruiser Mikuma. [64], Midway's radar picked up the enemy at a distance of several miles, and interceptors were scrambled. [130] Captain Buckmaster had his signalmen hoist a huge new (10 feet wide and 15 feet long) American flag from the foremast. Critically, Yamamoto's supporting battleships and cruisers trailed Vice Admiral Chichi Nagumo's carrier force by several hundred miles. [196] By 1942 the United States was already three years into a shipbuilding program mandated by the Second Vinson Act of 1938. [160] Also, by this time Spruance's destroyers were critically low on fuel. This article is about the 1942 battle. In any case, the Japanese apparently made no serious attempt to get Zuikaku ready for the forthcoming battle. As a result, the U.S. Navy was able to rebound relatively quickly from the attack. Despite initial hopes that Akagi could be saved or at least towed back to Japan, all three carriers were eventually abandoned and scuttled. [100], Waldron's squadron sighted the enemy carriers and began attacking at 09:20, followed at 09:40[101] by VF-6 from Enterprise, whose Wildcat fighter escorts lost contact, ran low on fuel, and had to turn back. [106][121][nb 2], Simultaneously, Yorktown's VB-3, commanded by Max Leslie, went for Sry, scoring at least three hits and causing extensive damage. [168] A possible reason Nagumo wasn't relieved of command was that he reported two American carriers had been sunk, not one actually sunk. [165], On the return of the Japanese fleet to Hashirajima on 14 June the wounded were immediately transferred to naval hospitals; most were classified as "secret patients", placed in isolation wards and quarantined from other patients and their own families to keep this major defeat secret. I looked up to see three black enemy planes plummeting towards our ship. After the Pearl Harbor attack, and for the first time during years of discussion and debate, the American people were united in their determination to go to war. The Japanese plan was simple: Destroy the Pacific Fleet. ", "VP-44 at Ford Island and the Battle of Midway", Interrogation of: Captain Toyama, Yasumi, IJN; Chief of Staff Second Destroyer Squadron, flagship Jintsu (CL), at Midway, "Office of Naval Intelligence Combat Narrative: "Midway's Attack on the Enemy Carriers", "Recollections of Lieutenant George Gay, USNR", "Douglas TBD Devastator Torpedo Bomber (1937)", "The Hard Lessons of World War II Torpedo Failures", "IJN Kirishima: Tabular Record of Movement", "HIJMS Nagara: Tabular Record of Movement", The Japanese Story of the Battle of Midway (a Translation), "HyperWar: The Japanese Story of the Battle of Midway", "War crimes of the Imperial Japanese Navy", Interrogation of Japanese Prisoners Taken After Midway Action, 9 June 1942, "The Turning Point of the Pacific War: Two Views", "Operation Vengeance: The Mission to Kill Admiral Yamamoto", "A brief history of the U.S.S. A few TBDs managed to get within a few ship-lengths range of their targets before dropping their torpedoesclose enough to be able to strafe the enemy ships and force the Japanese carriers to make sharp evasive maneuversbut all of their torpedoes either missed or failed to explode. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Mikuma was eventually sunk by Dauntlesses,[150] while Mogami survived further severe damage to return home for repairs. [71][72] Another B-26, piloted by Lieutenant Herbert Mayes, after seriously damaged by anti-aircraft fire, did not pull out of its run, and instead headed directly for Akagi's bridge. Almost the entire Pacific Fleet was moored around Ford Island in the harbor, and hundreds of airplanes were squeezed onto adjacent airfields. The dive bombers were as yet unarmed (this was doctrinal: dive bombers were to be armed on the flight deck). The Kid Butai would sail into range at best speed so as to increase the chance of surprise, and would not have ships spread out across the ocean guiding the enemy toward it. Nimitz calculated that the aircraft on his three carriers, plus those on Midway Island, gave the U.S. rough parity with Yamamoto's four carriers, mainly because American carrier air groups were larger than Japanese ones. Some of our machineguns managed to fire a few frantic bursts at them, but it was too late. Fletcher transferred his flag to Saratoga on the afternoon of 8 June and resumed command of the carrier force. If the other parts of the invasion force needed more defense, the Kid Butai would make best speed to defend them. Parks, which included six F4Fs and 20 F2As,[65] intercepted the Japanese and suffered heavy losses, though they managed to destroy four B5Ns, as well as a single A6M. As it flew down the length of the ship, the B-26 strafed Akagi, killing two men. The crew of the research vessel RV Petrel, in conjunction with the U.S. Navy, announced on 18 October 2019 that it had found the Japanese carrier Kaga lying 17,700ft (5,400m) beneath the waves. Air Group Commander C. Wade McClusky, Jr. decided to continue the search, and by good fortune spotted the wake of the Japanese destroyer Arashi, steaming at full speed to rejoin Nagumo's carriers after having unsuccessfully depth-charged U.S. submarine Nautilus, which had unsuccessfully attacked the battleship Kirishima. As a result, Air Group Eight's dive bombers missed the Japanese carriers. [63], At 04:30 on 4 June, Nagumo launched his initial attack on Midway itself, consisting of 36 Aichi D3A dive bombers and 36 Nakajima B5N torpedo bombers, escorted by 36 Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters. The destroyers Arashio and Asashio were also bombed and strafed during the last of these attacks. Although their crews reported hitting four ships,[62] none of the bombs actually hit anything and no significant damage was inflicted. (Middlebrook, Convoy) Other sources count 1,664 ships sunk, 1,097 of them in the North Atlantic. He mistakenly reported this group as the Main Force. Soon after being spotted, Hiry sank. [189] The Guadalcanal Campaign is also regarded by some as a turning point in the Pacific War. Additionally, 1,178 people were wounded. 5 days ago. [52] Since early 1942, the U.S. had been decoding messages stating that there would soon be an operation at objective "AF". He was killed when his aircraft crashed near Midway Island. These inexperienced pilots were fed into front-line units, while the veterans who remained after Midway and the Solomons campaign were forced to share an increased workload as conditions grew more desperate, with few being given a chance to rest in rear areas or in the home islands. At 02:55, these ships received Yamamoto's order to retire and changed course to comply. [40], Thus, Carrier Division 5, consisting of the two most advanced aircraft carriers of the Kido Butai, was not available, which meant that Vice-Admiral Nagumo had only two-thirds of the fleet carriers at his disposal: Kaga and Akagi forming Carrier Division 1 and Hiry and Sry making up Carrier Division 2. Articles with the HISTORY.com Editors byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan and Matt Mullen. [123][nb 3] While Kaga was burning, Nautilus showed up again and launched three torpedoes at her, scoring one dud hit. Rankin was a pacifist who had also voted against the American entrance into World War I. Shortly afterward, the ship turned onto her port side revealing the torpedo hole in her starboard bilge. Thirteen Japanese dive bombers and three escorting fighters were lost in this attack (two escorting fighters turned back early after they were damaged attacking some of Enterprise's SBDs returning from their attack on the Japanese carriers). John Ford directed two films about the events: the 18-minute 1942 Movietone News documentary (released by the War Activities Committee) The Battle of Midway,[210] which received the 1942 Academy Award for Best Documentary; and the eight-minute documentary Torpedo Squadron 8, which describes the heroism of Torpedo Squadron 8 of the USSHornet. [146][147], Over the next two days, several strikes were launched against the stragglers, first from Midway, then from Spruance's carriers. Midway allowed this to occur before the first of the new Essex-class fleet carriers became available at the end of 1942. Japanese reconnaissance arrangements were flimsy, with too few aircraft to adequately cover the assigned search areas, laboring under poor weather conditions to the northeast and east of the task force. 29 Apr 2023 21:20:27 USS Hornet: American aircraft carrier torpedoed and sunk by Japanese destroyers on 27 October 1942, following damage from carrier-based aircraft during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. The carriers' escorting warships were deployed as visual scouts in a ring at long range, not as close anti-aircraft escorts, as they lacked training, doctrine, and sufficient anti-aircraft guns. The Germans and Japanese sank six ships The first plane took off from Spruance's carriers Enterprise and Hornet a few minutes after 07:00. [81], Nagumo quickly reversed his order to re-arm the bombers with general-purpose bombs and demanded that the scout plane ascertain the composition of the American force. USS Ommaney Bay (CVE-79) sunk by Kamikaze attack south of Mindoro, Philippine Islands, 4 January 1945. WebThere were 733 Merchant Marine ships sunk due to enemy attacks, and the Japanese captured 609 mariners as prisoners of war. She was discovered early the next morning by an aircraft from the escort carrier Hsh, prompting hopes she could be saved, or at least towed back to Japan. After expanding the war in the Pacific to include Western outposts, the Japanese Empire had attained its initial strategic goals quickly, taking British Hong Kong, the Philippines, British Malaya, Singapore, and the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia). Successes were numerous and significant. "[163] In reality, the whole operation had been compromised from the beginning by American code-breaking efforts. [102] Meanwhile, VT-6, led by LCDR Eugene E. Lindsey lost nine of its 14 Devastators (one ditched later), and 10 of 12 Devastators from Yorktown's VT-3 (who attacked at 10:10) were shot down with no hits to show for their effort, thanks in part to the abysmal performance of their unimproved Mark 13 torpedoes. No one believed that the Japanese would start a war with an attack on the distant islands of Hawaii. Re-arming had been underway for about 30 minutes when, at 07:40,[80] the delayed scout plane from Tone signaled that it had sighted a sizable American naval force to the east, but neglected to specify its composition. [85], The few aircraft on the Japanese flight decks at the time of the attack were either defensive fighters or, in the case of Sry, fighters being spotted to augment the combat air patrol. The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place from 47 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. [91] Furthermore, fueled and armed aircraft inside the ships presented a significant additional hazard in terms of damage to the carriers in an event of attack, and keeping them on the decks was much more dangerous than getting them airborne. The Japanese ship was transporting Allied prisoners of war when it was torpedoed by an American submarine in 1942, resulting in Australias largest maritime wartime loss. How Many People Died in Pearl Harbor? Congress approved Roosevelts declaration of war on Japan, https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor. However, considering the increased strength of American land-based airpower on the Hawaiian Islands since the 7 December attack the previous year, he judged that it was now too risky to attack Pearl Harbor directly. World Explorers find WWII ship sunk with over 1,000 Allied POWs The Japanese ship was transporting Allied prisoners of war when it was torpedoed by an [62], Harassed by heavy anti-aircraft fire, they dropped their bombs. Ballard's subsequent search for the Japanese carriers was unsuccessful. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. In desperation, instructors from the Yokosuka Air Corps were relieved of their duties to serve as pilots. [17] The U.S. did consider Midway vital: after the battle, the establishment of a U.S. submarine base on Naval Air Facility Midway Island allowed submarines operating from Pearl Harbor to refuel and re-provision, extending their radius of operations by 1,200mi (1,900km). Floatplanes were lost from the cruisers Chikuma (3) and Tone (2). [82], Nagumo was now in a quandary. [137], As darkness fell, both sides took stock and made tentative plans for continuing the action. Allied submarines in the Pacific sank 1,314 ships from Japan's navy and merchant marine. [156], In addition, the destroyers Arashio (bombed; 35) and Asashio (strafed by aircraft; 21) were both damaged during the air attacks which sank Mikuma and caused further damage to Mogami. [198] By the time of the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, the Japanese had nearly rebuilt their carrier forces in terms of numbers, but their planes, many of which were obsolete, were largely flown by inexperienced and poorly trained pilots. Instead, the sanctions made the Japanese more determined to stand their ground. On December 7, after months of planning and practice, the Japanese launched their attack. They hoped to lure the U.S. aircraft carriers into a trap, clearing the seas for Japanese attacks on Midway, Fiji, Samoa, and Hawaii. Around 08:20, she made an unsuccessful torpedo attack on a battleship and then had to dive to evade the escorts. He already had Vice Admiral William Halsey's two-carrier (Enterprise and Hornet) task force at hand, though Halsey was stricken with shingles and had to be replaced by Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, Halsey's escort commander. [32][33] Her flight deck was patched, and whole sections of internal frames were cut out and replaced. [41] Nonetheless, the First Carrier Strike Force sailed with 248 available aircraft on the four carriers (60 on Akagi, 74 on Kaga (B5N2 squadron oversized), 57 on Hiry and 57 on Sry). [92] Whatever the case, at that point there was no way to stop the American strike against him, since Fletcher's carriers had launched their planes beginning at 07:00 (with Enterprise and Hornet having completed launching by 07:55, but Yorktown not until 09:08), so the aircraft that would deliver the crushing blow were already on their way. Deep-sea explorers have found the wreck of a Japanese transport ship which sank off the Philippines, killing nearly 1,000 Australian troops and civilians in World [181] Another 35 crewmen from Hiry were taken from a lifeboat by USSBallard on 19 June after being spotted by an American search plane. (All but USS Arizona and USS Utah were eventually salvaged and repaired.). Spruance, a former submarine commander, was "understandably furious" at the vagueness of Murphy's report, as it provided him with little more than suspicion and no concrete information on which to make his preparations. With further salvage efforts deemed hopeless, the remaining repair crews were evacuated from Yorktown. [77], In accordance with Yamamoto's orders for Operation MI, Admiral Nagumo had kept half of his aircraft in reserve. Less than two hours later, the surprise attack was over, and every battleship in Pearl HarborUSS Arizona, USS Oklahoma, USS California, USS West Virginia, USS Utah, USS Maryland, USS Pennsylvania, USS Tennessee and USS Nevadahad sustained significant damage. [197], Both the United States and Japan accelerated the training of aircrew, but the United States had a more effective pilot rotation system, which meant that more veterans survived and went on to training or command billets, where they were able to pass on lessons they had learned in combat to trainees, instead of remaining in combat, where errors were more likely to be fatal. The other carrier was not sighted. For a variety of reasons, production of the "Val" had been drastically reduced, while that of the "Kate" had been stopped completely and, as a consequence, there were none available to replace losses. [114], McClusky's decision to continue the search and his judgment, in the opinion of Admiral Chester Nimitz, "decided the fate of our carrier task force and our forces at Midway"[115] All three American dive-bomber squadrons (VB-6, VS-6, and VB-3) arrived almost simultaneously at the perfect time, locations and altitudes to attack. At 06:20, Japanese carrier aircraft bombed and heavily damaged the U.S. base. [103] Midway was the last time the TBD Devastator was used in combat. One Japanese soldier was taken prisoner and 129 Japanese soldiers were killed. [96][97], While the Japanese were able to launch 108 aircraft in just seven minutes, it took Enterprise and Hornet over an hour to launch 117. This was a result of the attacks from Midway, as well as of the morning flight leader's recommendation of a second strike. And furthermore, it wasn't really needed to keep exact track of such things, as long as the Nimitz knew that the Japanese had negated their numerical advantage by dividing their ships into four separate task groups, so widely separated that they were essentially unable to support each other. [109], Despite their failure to score any hits, the American torpedo attacks achieved three important results. The Dutch East Indies, with its vital oil resources, was particularly important to Japan. This made it unlikely that they would be effective in an airstrike against the Japanese battleships, even if they had managed to catch them during the daytime. The Montevideo Maru was a Japanese war ship that was fired upon by the American submarine USS Sturgeon and sank near the Philippines St. The 10 F4Fs from Hornet ran out of fuel and had to ditch. During World War II, two dozen hospital ships were sunk by enemy fire, and a critical hospital ship sustained a damaging attack in the wars waning weeks. A one-day delay in the sailing of Nagumo's task force resulted in Operation AL beginning a day before the Midway attack. Journey through the "day that will live in infamy" by exploring the details that still surprise us 75 years later, including accounts from experts, military minds, and even those who lived through it. Finally, much of Yamamoto's planning, coinciding with the general feeling among the Japanese leadership at the time, was based on a gross misjudgment of American morale, which was believed to be debilitated from the string of Japanese victories in the preceding months. Towards the end of the day, he launched a search-and-destroy mission to seek out any remnants of Nagumo's carrier force. Lo (CVE-63) sunk by Japanese aircraft during the Battle of Leyte Gulf off Samar, Philippine Islands, 25 [51], Admiral Nimitz had one critical advantage: U.S. cryptanalysts had partially broken the Japanese Navy's JN-25b code. At the end of the battle, the U.S. lost the carrier Yorktown and a destroyer, Hammann. Only Emperor Hirohito and the highest Navy command personnel were accurately informed of the carrier and pilot losses. IE 11 is not supported. The strike planes returned to the carriers after nightfall, prompting Spruance to order Enterprise and Hornet to turn on their lights to aid the landings. USS St. These factors meant all carriers of the Kid Butai had fewer aircraft than their normal complement, with few spare aircraft or parts stored in the carriers' hangars. Akagi, having been struck by only one bomb, took longer to burn, but the resulting fires quickly expanded and soon proved impossible to extinguish; she too was eventually consumed by flames and had to be abandoned. [42], The main Japanese carrier-borne strike aircraft were the D3A1 "Val" dive bomber and the B5N2 "Kate", which was used either as a torpedo bomber or as a level bomber. [166] The remaining officers and men were quickly dispersed to other units of the fleet and, without being allowed to see family or friends, were shipped to units in the South Pacific, where the majority died in battle. [14], This, and other successful hit-and-run raids by American carriers in the South Pacific, showed that they were still a threat, although seemingly reluctant to be drawn into an all-out battle. Dead aboard the destroyers Tanikaze (11), Arashi (1), Kazagumo (1) and the fleet oiler Akebono Maru (10) made up the remaining 23 casualties. Ocean explorers announced Saturday that they have discovered the remains of a Japanese World War II vessel that sank with over 1,000 Allied POWs on board. The main carrier fighter was the fast and highly maneuverable A6M "Zero". [200], The Battle of Midway also caused the plan of Japan and Nazi Germany to meet up in the Indian subcontinent to be abandoned. [185] It was the Allies' first major naval victory against the Japanese. American anti-aircraft fire was intense and accurate, destroying three additional Japanese aircraft and damaging many more. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Fighting Three (VF-3) was reconstituted to replace VF-42 with sixteen pilots from VF-42 and eleven pilots from VF-3, with Lieutenant Commander John S. "Jimmy" Thach in command. [148], In reality, the ships sighted by Tambor were the detachment of four cruisers and two destroyers Yamamoto had sent to bombard Midway. At 05:34, a PBY reported sighting two Japanese carriers and another spotted the inbound airstrike 10 minutes later. Enterprise SBD Dauntless dive bomber pilot Norman "Dusty" Kleiss, who scored three hits on Japanese ships during the Battle of Midway (aircraft carriers Kaga and Hiry and heavy cruiser Mikuma), wrote: "From the experience in the Marshalls, at Wake and at Marcus, I thought our fleet learned its lessons. [23] The light carriers of the trailing forces and Yamamoto's three battleships were unable to keep pace with the carriers of the Kid Butai and so could not have sailed in company with them. Just before 8 a.m. on that Sunday morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base, where they managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. Crucially, U.S. cryptographers were able to determine the date and location of the planned attack, enabling the forewarned U.S. Navy to prepare its own ambush. [138][139], After futile attempts at controlling the blaze, most of the crew remaining on Hiry were evacuated and the remainder of the fleet continued sailing northeast in an attempt to intercept the American carriers. I saw [my] 500lb[230kg] bomb hit right abreast of the [carrier's] island. The Yorktown squadron (VB-3) had flown just behind VT-3, but elected to attack from a different course. For other uses, see, The code names "Val", "Kate" and "Zeke", which are often applied to these aircraft, were not introduced until late 1943 by the Allied forces. [175] The report filed by Nagumo tersely states that Osmus, "died on 6 June and was buried at sea";[178] O'Flaherty and Gaido's fates were not mentioned in Nagumo's report. After winning a clear victory, and as pursuit became too hazardous near Wake,[157] American forces retired. Chichi Nagumo's detailed battle report was submitted to the high command on 15 June. With his fleet in disarray and not realizing just how close he had [194], After the battle, Shkaku and Zuikaku were the only large carriers of the original Pearl Harbor strike force still afloat. Within the first few minutes, two F4Fs and 13 F2As were destroyed, while most of the surviving U.S. planes were damaged, with only two remaining airworthy. On 19 May 1998, Robert Ballard and a team of scientists and Midway veterans from both sides located and photographed Yorktown, which was located 16,650ft (5,070m) deep. Gasoline ignited, creating an "inferno", while stacked bombs and ammunition detonated. [43] In addition, many of the aircraft being used during the June 1942 operations had been operational since late November 1941 and, although they were well-maintained, many were almost worn out and had become increasingly unreliable. At about 8 a.m., Japanese planes filled the sky over Pearl Harbor. [19] It required the careful and timely coordination of multiple battle groups over hundreds of miles of open sea. Naval Oceanographic Office searched for the Japanese aircraft carriers. [186] Had Japan won the battle as thoroughly as the U.S. did, it might have been able to conquer Midway Island. [111] Better discipline and the employment of a greater number of Zeroes for the CAP might have enabled Nagumo to prevent (or at least mitigate) the damage caused by the coming American attacks. Hence the slower ships could not be with the Kid Butai. Although the fleet carrier Zuikaku escaped the battle undamaged, she had lost almost half her air group, and was in port at the Kure Naval District, Hiroshima, awaiting replacement planes and pilots. [63] Early the following morning, the Japanese oil tanker Akebono Maru sustained the first hit when a torpedo from an attacking PBY struck her around 01:00. Coming under an onslaught of bombs from almost two full squadrons, Kaga sustained three to five direct hits, which caused heavy damage and started multiple fires.
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