3 Aircraft Carriers Defeated 200 Warships？The Untold Truth of the Japanese Navy’s Fiasco in Midway

the Japanese Army overran most of the area from Burma the Philippines to New Guinea as its government cashed in on the chance and ordered massive attacks in the half year after the attack on Pearl Harbor 18 warships steered by the Japanese Navy in the battle of the Java sea at the end of February 1942 put the mixed Fleet of Allied countries consisting of 15 warships of the United States Australia Britain and the Netherlands to route the heavy burden of resisting the Japanese Navy was then loaded down onto the United States since the UK had lost its Naval power in the east of the Suez Canal by the summer of 1942 when the U.S Pacific Fleet only had four handy large aircraft carriers Lexington Enterprise Yorktown and hornet of the three smaller ones at hand Saratoga of the larger tonnage was under major repairs on the mainland and could barely offer any strength in actual combat as it has been hit and damaged by a Japanese submarine in early 1942 the WASP on mission of supporting the North African Battlefield around the Mediterranean Sea could not relieve itself and went back to the Pacific Ocean in time the ranger was off the list of fighting due to its small tonnage poor seaworthiness of deep sea fighting and the non-ideal capacity of aerial carrier the U.S military backed by absolute advantage in both overall strength and War potential would finally turn the table in one or two years at most once we fail to strike them down in a short period of time since we by comparison said the core leader of the Japanese Navy commander of the combined Fleet isiroku Yamamoto before planning to attack Pearl Harbor as a result the Japanese Army and government was lost in confusion and debates arguing next operation plan when the Japanese Army swept the Indian Ocean in the spring of 1942 five different directions of attack were proposed by the Japanese government exudaves attacking India to the west and joining forces with Germany in the Middle East despoiling Australia to the South which is the largest springboard and potential base for the United States to counter-attack Japan assaulting the Samoa Islands to the Southwest to completely sever ties between the United States and Mainland Australia thereby isolating Australia marching Eastward to Hawaii to expose the West coast of the United States directly to the Japanese front or capturing the Aleutian Islands northward shifting into a defensive stance in all rounds on April 18 1942 before the Battle of Midway the U.S Enterprise in Hornet would be 25 medium bombers of the Army Air Force on board rated Japan the U.S Boomers taking off from an aircraft carrier 400 miles away from the Japanese Coast in the depths of the ocean and landed in jujang China after bombing the Japanese Capital Tokyo and several major cities the direct attack by the United States on the Japanese Mainland has greatly aggravated the Japanese military Exodus who realized that the country would be at stake if the mission failed on annihilating American aircraft carrier in time from this on May 5th 1942 the Japanese Naval command officially approved the operational plan to attack Midway attacking this most important barrier in the northwest of the Hawaiian Islands would drive U.S military to defend it with all its strength which would open an opportunity for Japan to fight the main force of the U.S Fleet and thereby destroy its carrier in one Fell Swoop believed by Isoroku Yamamoto pre-war intelligence gathering and Analysis was of great significance for both counties of the Battle of Midway in this regard the U.S military outperformed the task in terms of both process and results Rockford the head of the encrypted monitor station under the intelligence Department of the Pacific Fleet made a great contribution to the intelligence system of the U.S military in the battle as the Pearl Harbor was in a pickle Joseph Rockford made a more accurate prediction on March 2nd 1942 that the Japanese would made its move on Hawaii on March 4. the Assumption was approved right as two large Japanese seaplanes carried out a sneak attack by the end of March the U.S Navy had deciphered a significant portion of the Japanese Navy's jn-25b telegrams Rockford then had developed 40 officers and more than 100 staff his most valuable achievement was considered the first discovery that Japan's communication code for Midway was AF Japanese were about to attack Port Moresby New Guinea set an intelligence intercepted by Rockford in early April more than that accurate prediction on Japanese operation of charging at the Coral Sea from May 7th to 8th enabled Nimitz then the commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet assembled and dispatched troops to intercept the Japanese Army in advance in early May Rockford said Nimitz had detected that the Japanese were planning a new major operation a clever strategy was once raised at a meeting of the Pacific Fleet Intelligence on May 19th that is to notify the naval Telegraph station on Midway by using a submarine cable and have them report to Pearl Harbor By Radio Code that the freshwater purifier on the island was malfunctioning and asked for a supply of fresh water this trick of the Pacific Fleet intelligence Department was played well nothing new was reporting trifle freshwater problems with a clear text telegram but useful was it to attract the attention of the Japanese two days later Rockford intercepted a Japanese Navy coded communication saying that the AF lacked fresh water and that the attacking Fleet should provide fresh water for themselves on the same day and on the 22nd the U.S listening Post in Melbourne Australia and the British Far East joint intelligence service in Colombo also reported that they were convinced that AF was midway Rockford in the early morning of May 24th visited Nimitz and told him about the information decoded that he judged Japan would attack the Aleutian Islands on June 3rd and go for Midway with an aircraft carrier the next day the Japanese would attack the U.S military at a 325 degree angle Northwest of Midway Island at about 6 a.m local time and would move into their field of vision 175 miles from Midway predicted the lieutenant colonel Edwin Layton head of the intelligence Department of Admiral Nimitz based on Rockford's intelligence the said judgment was surprisingly accurate as it turned out the core force of the Japanese combined Fleet a mobile force with four large aircraft carriers under the command of vice admiral nagumo chuchi was observed at 603 am on June 4th via the U.S reconnaissance plane from a distance of 180 miles from Midway and an Azimuth of 320 degree at 3am on June 4th 1942 400 nautical miles west of Midway the commander-in-chief of the Japanese combined Fleet isaroku Yamamoto issued a ready for battle telegram on the battleship Yamato by then the four aircraft carrier formations by chuchi nagumo commander of the Japanese first air fleet had already parked 240 nautical miles Northwest of Midway Island the Battle of Midway was declared officially as the four aircraft carriers akiji kaga hariu and suryu soared into the cloud successively a six and zero key 51 and Nakajima b5n Kate 36 flights each of 108 planes in total went straight to Midway for the first wave of bombing missions at the same time the second batch of aircraft with the same configurations was ready to take off in preparation for the possible attack of the U.S naval formation at any time soon afterwards the major general spruance immediately responded and prepared to strike back as the report of the discovery of the Japanese aircraft carrier by the reconnaissance planes sent by the U.S Midway Island came in the U.S Fleet with the Japanese Navy's jn-25 communication decoded has long been familiar with the Japanese military's plans early in the morning Japanese carrier aircraft launched a violent attack on Midway all the U.S fighter jets stationed their took off to beat back Japanese fighter jets at the same time the U.S bombers including these 17 bombers also fired back at the Japanese Fleet soon later the Japanese Fleet of the first attack on Midway turned back and sent a telegram to chuchi nagumo to request a second attack at this moment 117 fighter jets consisting of fighter jets torpedo planes and dive bombers took off from the 16th task force the aircraft carrier's Hornet and Enterprise led by Major General spruance to the nagumo fleet from 200 nautical miles away at the same time the first batch of 10 the U.S torpedo bombers from Midway was circling around the nagumo fleet the U.S planes lined up in a queue and rushed towards the Japanese aircraft carrier seven were shot down quickly due to the interception of the Japanese fighter jets and the fierce artillery fire of the Japanese warships at this time chuchi nagumo still questioned nothing about their defense unfortunately not a clue had he recived about the U.S aircraft carrier battle group he decided to change the original order to attack the U.S Fleet to a second bombardment of Midway at 7 15 am nagumo ordered akaji and kaga to send the aircraft with Torpedoes on the deck to the hangar unload the Torpedoes and replace them with high explosive bombs for ground attack the moment the Japanese reconnaissance planes returned they reported sightings of the American Fleet 240 nautical miles north of Midway nagumo immediately ordered they reconnaissance plane to take off to find out if they were escorted by aircraft carriers and suspended the order for changing weapons at the same time the second batch of 40 the U.S war bomber mixed flight formations flew away from Midway and launched an attack on the Japanese Fleet half of them were destroyed by the Japanese Army and half returned after dropping bombs due to the lack of escort Fighters this attack ended up with minor damages to the Japanese Fleet the attack by the U.S fighter jet in turn revealed its submarine to the Japanese after evading its torpedo attack the Japanese dispatched the Destroyer erisher to drive the submarine away the Japanese reconnaissance plane returned with the news that the U.S Fleet consisted of five Cruisers and five destroyers so nagumo resumed the order to wield ground weapons and launch a second bombing on Midway but a few minutes later another Japanese reconnaissance plane sent back a vague message that there seems to be an aircraft carrier behind the U.S Fleet putting nagumo into a dilemma the first option was to immediately take off the second batch of planes to attack the U.S Fleet but most of them have already been equipped with ground attack weapons an attack on the U.S Fleet would require replacing all ground bombs with anti-ship bombs and Torpedoes which would take a lot of time even so the first batch of planes that Bond Midway and the fleet escort planes were returning one after another if the second batch took off now the plane still in the air would inevitably fall into the sea before they could land due to insufficient fuel the second option was to recover the first batch of combat aircraft and escort aircraft and then sent off the second batch to attack a large-scale aircraft recovery however costed at least one hour and another hour for resupply this blank of Defense May encourage the U.S aircraft's attack at any time in the end chuchi nagumo turned to the second risky option betting that the U.S fighter jets would not attack during this period of open to no defense he ordered the aircraft in the hangar to unload their anti-ground weapons and replace them with anti-ship Torpedoes and bombs and at the same time fully recovered the returning Fighters bustling where the Japanese aircraft carrier Hangar and deck and Torpedoes and bombs were stacked in the hangar oil pipes and drums waiting to refuel the fighter jets were all piled aside with all aircraft recovered nagumo chuchi ordered the fleet to move Northeast at a speed of 30 knots approaching the U.S Fleet to avoid subsequent attacks from Midway Fighters at the same time the escort Fighters that were first to be replenished took off in turn the second batch of aircraft in the hangar were re-arming themselves and the first batch of aircraft recovered was refueled and supplied with ammunition at this time chuchi nagumo had no idea about the operation of the U.S aircraft carrier and carrier-based aircraft while the U.S Fleet on the other hand already located the Japanese aircraft carrier group at around 6 a.m in the morning the moment chochi nagumo made his second risky Choice air fleet of 35 SBD dauntless 15 torpedo bombers and 10 f4fs from task force 16 Hornet and Enterprise were running towards the Japanese Fleet in multiple air formations subsequently the 17th task force Yorktown aircraft carrier dispatched 17 SBD dauntless 12 torpedo bombers and six F4F fighter jets to join the formation and also rushed towards the Japanese Fleet flying covertly at a higher altitude through thick clouds that day plus that the Japanese Fleet had moved to the Northeast the two sides ran in opposite directions no Japanese fleet was in sight when they arrived at the predetermined sea area and the formations searched in multiple directions 15 torpedo bombers of the eighth torpedo bomber Squadron that took off from the Hornet found the Japanese Fleet after separating from the formation the eighth torpedo bomber Squadron launched an attack immediately after locking in the position of the Japanese Fleet however since the bombers needed to fly near the sea to drop Torpedoes at low-flying speed and altitude the Japanese escort Fighters had already taken off under the double team of Fleet anti-aircraft fire and a 6m0 most of the 50 aircraft arrived one after another were destroyed before dropping Torpedoes and a few drops also failed to hit the aircraft carrier as the torpedo bombers attacked 33 Douglas SBD dauntless that were still searching saw the Japanese Destroyer erisher which had just completed the mission of driving away the U.S submarine Nautilus and was about to return to the aircraft carrier formation the formation Commander Major McCluskey decided to search in the direction of the erisher Destroyer finally at 10 20 am the Japanese aircraft carrier formation came in sight all mission accomplished Japanese a-6m0 Fighters have just landed on the aircraft carrier the second batch of Japanese carrier-based aircraft was about to be reloaded and the first batch was being refueled and loaded after a while 33 Douglas The ussbd Dauntless targeted at the Japanese aircraft carrier and suddenly attacked from an altitude of 6 000 meters above the and launched dive bombing on the aircraft carrier's kaga and akaji the aircraft carrier kaga was damaged as was hit by four 500 pound bombs successfully three bombs hit the front middle and rear of the deck respectively one bomb fell right next to the bridge and hit the refueling truck on the deck the fire instantly wrapped the kaga at the same time the akaji aircraft carrier also suffered a fatal blow of the three one thousand pound bombs thrown two brushed the ship's side and did not cause fatal damage to the akogee while the key one directly penetrated the deck and exploded in the hangar instantly detonating the Torpedoes and bombs piled up in the hangar the whole ship exploded and a huge fire was soaring into the sky when the Japanese fleet was in a hurry to stop the loss the 17 Douglas SBD dauntless followed launched an attack on the suryu the three bonds accurately hit the front deck middle deck and elevator throwing Surrey towards the same fate as akaji and kaga in just five minutes the three main aircraft carriers of the Japanese Army were completely blown up at this moment the Japanese Army suffered heavy losses and could barely organize an effective air counter-attack with the only remaining aircraft carrier however giving up still was not an option for the Japanese Commander chuchi nagumo although only had one aircraft carrier and few Fighters left he had already locked down the U.S Fleet the only thing he could do now was to make the best of the only air power and an undamaged escort Fleet to launch a counter-attack and make up for the loss chochi nagumo immediately ordered the remaining aircraft carrier area to dispatch 15 dive bombers escorted by six fighter jets to follow the returning the U.S aircraft and pounce on the U.S aircraft carrier Yorktown the nearby Enterprise and Hornet aircraft carriers immediately dispatched 12 F4F fighters to meet head-on but in the end three bombs hit the Yorktown aircraft carrier deactivating its sailing power Yorktown restored its power with emergency repair however 10 dive bombers and torpedo bombers took off from the heriu and launched another attack on Yorktown two Torpedoes hit the port side of the aircraft carrier penetrated the fuel tank damaged the rudder and the Yorktown aircraft carrier completely lost power and the port side was banked at 3 pm that day the captain ordered all the crew to abandon the ship but at this time the aircraft carrier had not sunk and was sunk by the Japanese submarine two days later on the way back to the port a reconnaissance plane that had previously taken off from Yorktown found the whereabouts of the last Japanese aircraft carrier hariu Fletcher the commander of the U.S Fleet was determined to concentrate the maximum Force to destroy it and ordered the Enterprise and Hornet to take off as a result the only remaining 41 bombers launched an attack on the target sea area in the evening of the same day the U.S aircraft departed earlier just arrived over the Japanese Fleet and immediately launched an attack cut off guard for bombs hit the front deck of the aircraft carrier in succession and more than a dozen Japanese fighter jets that had just been loaded were instantly detonated despite a night of rescuing the fire on Harry was still out of control Taman Yamaguchi ordered all the crew to abandon the ship at 2 30 a.m on June 5. to prevent the U.S military from obtaining the wreckage he ordered the escort Fleet to launch Torpedoes to completely hit the ship the aircraft carrier Heria was sunk and he and his chief of staff chose to stay on the ship caria was completely destroyed and sank at 8am the next day at this point the Battle of Midway ended first the Japanese deployment of proofs backfired essentially the Japanese Army failed to give full play to the strength of the aircraft carrier battle cluster and dispersed the force giving the U.S military a chance to defeat them one by one the Japanese Navy had drawn up an operational plan to attack Midway in April 1942 with more than 200 ships invested including eight aircraft carriers 11 battleships 22 Cruisers 65 destroyers and 21 submarines as well as over 600 combat aircraft to cooperate with the naval forces and hear you Serio akaji and kaga as the main Force while the U.S Navy by comparison was at a huge disadvantage in force with only three aircraft carriers namely Hornet Enterprise Yorktown 233 carrier-based aircraft 172 land-based aircraft and seven heavy Cruisers in one light Cruiser as well as 15 destroyers and about 25 support ships quite high was the possibility of wiping out the U.S Navy if the Japanese Army concentrated its forces and properly commanded the troop however the Japanese paid the price for its flawed deployment of troops the Japanese Navy divided the entire fleet into six squadrons evenly separate operation has surely weakened The Joint Force and air superiority in combat meanwhile the four main aircraft carriers the core elite troops commanded by chuchi nagumo created himself no absolute advantage over the troops of the U.S Navy guarding Midway Island one must be noted was that the Japanese Navy was capable of mobilizing more aircraft carriers to Aid the war the core force of the Japanese Navy that attacked Midway chuchi nagumo's number one mobile force was likely to have the opportunity to mobilize six aircraft carriers but why were there only four aircraft carriers in fact in the early coral sea Battle the Japanese aircraft carrier shokaku and zoikaku stayed in the mainland for various reasons in other words the battle of the Coral Sea objectively restricted the Japanese military superiority in participating in the Midway operation second although the Japanese Army had an advantage over the U.S military in terms of overall strength the U.S Navy did enjoy a local Edge in terms of the number of aircraft which made the second important reason the U.S Navy won the Battle of Midway although the Japanese Navy dispatched more than 200 ships in fact the key battle was the four aircraft barrier commanded by chuchi nagumo against the three aircraft carriers of the U.S Navy's Pacific Fleet the U.S Navy formed a local advantage over the Japanese first mobile Force in the Midway Island area the U.S Navy has more than 350 aircraft f-120 in the shore-based aviation Force at Midway Airport and more than 230 aircraft on the three aircraft carriers while the Japanese due to the continuous consumption of the four aircraft carriers in the war has less than 300. in this way the U.S Navy has a local numerical advantage over the carrier-based aircraft of the Japanese Navy's first mobile Fleet this explained the frequent replacement of ammunition by the Japanese Army in the case of unclear intelligence constrained by limited Fighters third the U.S Navy did a better job in intelligence fight the U.S naval intelligence Department deciphered the intelligence of the Japanese Army through the AF code during the war a series of reconnaissance aircraft including the U.S Navy Catalina water reconnaissance aircraft conducted large-scale Maritime reconnaissance operations against the Japanese Navy the Navy ship operations position the number of aircraft carriers and other information were very clear while the Japanese Army knew little about such information of its rival leading to the wrong decision of not adopting a joint attack strategy with the advantage of the number of fleets fourth varying thinking on Naval Warfare also contributed to the U.S military's Victory given less Fleet before the Pearl Harbor incident the U.S Navy had deeply realized that in the future aircraft carriers carrying carrier-based aircraft would be the core of large-scale Naval battles and other ships including battleships would have to serve the aircraft carriers although the Japanese Navy participated in the Pearl Harbor operation and it was precisely by using the aircraft carrier that it successfully carried out a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor it's thinking still put heavy battleships high on the agenda as the flagship of the Navy and other ships including aircraft carriers or servants specifically during the Battle of Midway Japan's Flagship is the world's largest Battleship Yamamoto the Japanese Army also did not ship its Musashi which is the sister ship to form a mixed Fleet with the aircraft carrier as the core allowing the heavy Battleship to provide the aircraft carrier with air and Sea Fire cover after all Heavy battleships were equipped with a lot of anti-aircraft Guns by virtue of their tonnage Advantage which was a huge threat to the U.S high altitude dive bombers in addition heavy battleships shined on expanding the combat radius of the aircraft carrier battle Group by virtue of the advantage of large artillery making it more difficult for the U.S Fleet to approach statistically the Japanese Navy had the largest number of aircraft carrier battle groups in the world at that time but it suffered a complete defeat in the Battle of Midway its conservative old Naval Warfare thinking restricted and dimmed the advanced weapons one in the Battle of Midway the U.S lost one aircraft carrier Destroyer 147 aircraft and 307 soldiers while the Japanese gave away for aircraft carriers one Heavy Cruiser 322 aircraft and approximately 3 500 soldiers after this battle the U.S military got out of the shadow of Pearl Harbor being attacked and changed the situation of the Pacific Battlefield in one Fell Swoop while the Japanese lost two-thirds of their aircraft carriers completely lost the control of the Sea and the air in the Pacific having no chance but turning to a defensive stance in addition to having a great impact on the battle of World War II itself the Battle of Midway also revolutionized the use of the aircraft carrier as a weapon platform from a military point of view it marked the mode of human Naval Warfare from the previous mode of Battleship Cannon bombing to a new era with aircraft carriers as the center and carrier-based aircraft as attack weapons weapons such as battleships and heavy Cruisers began to slowly roll out to the center stage and the aircraft carrier battle group since then has been dominating the ocean

Channel: ClayTab Military

Views: 151,521

Keywords:

Id: B1MqITiayQc

Length: 26min 5sec (1565 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 12 2022