Topic: Midway -- 70 years ago today

[LadyVirginia]

Battle of Midway: 4-7 June 1942
The Battle of Midway, fought near the Central Pacific island of Midway, is considered the decisive battle of the war in the Pacific.

 

(Lots of interesting things to click on at link)

[Libertas]

Yup, often cited as the most consequential naval battle in history.  It also highlights how much luck comes into play, and knowing your own limitations.  We had three carriers protecting the entire Pacific and keeping the Japanese from invading the mainland.  Estimates at the time showed if Japan had destroyed our carriers they could have gotten as far as Chicago before bogging down.  Even if overstated, it represented a clear threat should Japan gain the upper hand.  We were fortunate to crack their naval code and learn Midway was the target and that an unknown diversion was also planned.  We were fortunate that our carriers were not sighted let alone dewstroy ed on Dec 7th, but our fuel depots and dry docks were left intact, allowing operations to continue and the Yorktown patched up and dispatched in time to be a factor at Midway.  We were fortunate the Japanese blew their French Frigate Shoals scout refueling mission, since they did that a couple months earlier and thus we had ships in the area.  We were fortunate Nagumo's air group had a hard time filling out squadrons and delayed him one day, allowing the Aleutian operation to kick in a day before Midway, when they were supposed to be simultaneous, thus enabling Nimitz to stick to his battle plan.  We were fortunate that Spruance (replacing the bed-ridden Halsey) was aggressive and not tentative in going after the enemy and fortunate that Nagumo blew his handling of carrier ops, allowing us to catch them with their pants down.  But the Japanese were a strict regimented people, and deviating from established procedures was unheard of.  Had Nagumo split his land/air attack forces by carriers and not on each carrier, he could have recovered land attack aircraft and launched sea attack aircraft simultaneously.  As it stood we took out their cream of the crop both in carriers and pilots.  They would not recover from such loses and our production was just beginning to spit out planes, ships, guns and bombs at a stagerring rate.  Their fate was sealed, but unfortunately their militaristic nature, devotion to emperor and ancestors and fanaticism too many more would die rolling them up.

Pivotal battle, controversial battle and still greatly analyzed and dissected to this day.

Good on our boys for earning the victory.

       

[charlesoakwood]

 
And a big helping Hand.

[Libertas]

Yup.  Somebody up there was looking out for us.      

[Glock32]

High praise also belongs to the crews of those torpedo bombers attacking the Japanese fleet.  They were absolutely decimated by Japanese fighters, but their perseverance kept the Japanese air cover down low, allowing the US dive bombers to come in virtually unopposed up high.

[charlesoakwood]

The Grumman "Iron Works" almost inevitably would be the supplier. Leroy Grumman, an engineer by background, helped design the torpedo bomber that would meet the navy's specs. The prototype was designated XTBF-1:

http://acepilots.com/planes/avenger.html

Bush:
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq10-1.htm
When San Jacinto returned to Guam, the squadron, which had suffered 50 percent casualties of its pilots, was replaced and sent to the United States.

• was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve on 9 June 1943, several days before his 19th birthday; making him the youngest naval aviator then.
• 19 June [1944], the task force triumphed in one of the largest air battles of the war. During the return of his aircraft from the mission, Ensign Bush's aircraft made a forced water landing. The destroyer, USS Clarence K. Bronson, rescued the crew, but the plane was lost. On 25 July, Ensign Bush and another pilot received credit for sinking a small cargo ship.
• 2 September 1944, Bush piloted one of four aircraft from VT-51 that attacked the Japanese installations on Chi Chi Jima.
• Throughout 1944, he had flown 58 combat missions

Bush was not twenty one years old.  I imagine that the elder men in the squadron were not much older than he. 

[charlesoakwood]

This is good:

World War II Database
Battle of Midway and the Aleutian Islands:

and

Avenger photographs
http://ww2db.com/photo.php?source=all&color=all&list=search&foreigntype=A&foreigntype_id=31


Example:


Ordinancemen loading a 1,000-pound bomb into the bombay of a TBM-1C aboard USS Intrepid,
1943-1945; note flame arrester on the plane's exhaust port

Bush
http://ww2db.com/image.php?image_id=3134


ETA: The images are high resolution and may be greatly enlarged.

[Libertas]

Good stuff CO, I'll spend hours going over this stuff!   

[Libertas]

Once again we come up on the anniversary...we are rapidly running out of survivors...down to a baker's dozen...   

http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=74558

 

[AlanS]

Good stuff CO, I'll spend hours going over this stuff!   

Yep. Me, too.

Thanks, CO.

[BigAlSouth]

For me, the more interesting trivia regarding Midway is that revenge was had on the Japanese carriers that participated in the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Battle of Midway, fought near the Central Pacific island of Midway, is considered the decisive battle of the war in the Pacific. Before this battle the Japanese were on the offensive, capturing territory throughout Asia and the Pacific. By their attack, the Japanese had planned to capture Midway to use as an advance base, as well as to entrap and destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Because of communication intelligence successes, the U.S. Pacific Fleet surprised the Japanese forces, sinking the four Japanese carriers, that had attacked Pearl Harbor only six months before, while only losing of one carrier. After Midway, the Americans and their Allies took the offensive in the Pacific.

See: http://www.history.navy.mil/Midway/Battle-of-Midway-Overview.html

[RickZ]

Yup, often cited as the most consequential naval battle in history.

No, don't go there.

In no particular order:  Trafalgar, The Spanish Armada, the Korean Turtle ships, the Battle of Salamis, Taranto, the long running Battle of the North Atlantic, Actium, Port Arthur/The Tsushima Strait, the Battle of Manila Bay, The Battle of the Philippine Sea (The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot) and many more.  Then you have the inconsequential stand off between the Monitor and the Merrimac which became one of the most consequential naval battles in history, as it was a first for iron ships.  One could also say the naval Battle of Yorktown was quite important, small as it was, as it gave us victory in our War for Independence by isolating and penning in Cornwallis' army on the Yorktown peninsula.  And I'll add Jutland to the list.  A nothing battle which ended any German Imperial Navy attempts to get into World War I, it ensured the British blockade would work, and it did; Germany was exhausted and starving by the end of the war, but not psychologically beaten.

There are many consequential naval battles, maybe inconsequential now but important in their time.  Midway was important, no doubt about that, a turning point for the war in the Pacific, just as Stalingrad was a turning point for the war in Europe.  But Midway was not a coup de grace, rather a battle which evened the odds.  There were the naval battles of Savo Island, the Coral Sea, Philippine Sea, Okinawa (the kamikazes), and other engagements to come which put the final nails in the coffin of the Japanese Imperial Navy, all thanks to Midway and the four Japanese carriers sunk, along with planes and pilots.

[Libertas]

Everything in its proper time and context Rick, on that we can all agree.  And you will note I mentioned it as "often cited", there is wiggle room there!  And in the Pacific the WWII naval engagements built one upon the other...Midway being the fulcrum...from that point on the US forces were in ascendance and the Japanese in decline...but the Japanese did not go down easy...and Yamamoto's warning about how long he could fend off the Americans before their industrial might began to impose its will came true.

[Glock32]

There are many ways to read the word "consequential". No other battle would prove to be the linchpin on which control of so much of the Earth's surface depended. Control of virtually the entire Pacific Ocean was decided there.

Had the Japanese won a decisive victory there and destroyed our carriers, we would have been unable to prosecute a war in the Pacific and would probably have sued for peace with Imperial Japan, which would have been rebuffed if it did not include their ally as well. Those are some far reaching consequences to ponder.

[Libertas]

Not sure we would have sued for peace, the cost of reaching their terms would be too much to bear...but the war would of dragged on and been more bloody, the west coast no doubt would have been hammered...the Panama Canal Zone likely occupied by the Japanese...our industrial might would have come forth...but the additional loss of lives would have approached even more horrendous levels.