[Music] in June 1942 the war is going very well for the Empire of Japan she has succeeded in her primary war objective to secure the oil supplies of the Dutch East Indies and has scored further territorial victories against the might of the British US Australian and Dutch forces in the West Pacific and Southeast Asia however knowing that the industrial power of the United States would outdo them in the end the Japanese decide that they must deal a decisive blow to the remains of the US Pacific Fleet specifically the aircraft carriers the threat to Midway a u. s. Navy submarine mounting station for operations in the Pacific would hopefully draw the US Pacific Fleet out of Pearl Harbor to fight ending in its defeat Japan hoped that with the combination of the loss of Midway the threat to Hawaii that would come from the loss of its airfield and pause and the loss of that Pacific Fleet the US would come to the negotiating table for peace the carrier-borne Doolittle bombing raid on Tokyo in April further validated the need to destroy the u.
s. naval presence in the Pacific on the 28th of May 1942 the largest assembly of naval vessels ever seen in the Pacific leave their bases across Japan and head east their commander Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is confident of victory however little does he know that the US Navy combat intelligence office in Hawaii has cracked the Japanese communications code and are broadly aware of their plans u. s.
Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz has been alerted to the possible attack on Midway almost a month before the Japanese even set sail and is assembling his defense he deploys task forces sixteen and seventeen who under Admiral Halsey had executed the daring bombing raid on Tokyo a month before to the northeast of Midway to lie in wait heavily damaged at the Battle of Coral Sea the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown limps back to Pearl she needs more than two weeks of repairs which would put her out of action for the coming battle but Nimitz is desperate for every carrier he can muster 1400 Dockyard workers move into the ship on mass and labor around-the-clock miraculously she is patched up to battle ready condition and puts back to sea in just 72 hours Yorktown set sail with her escort fleet to meet with task forces 16 and 17 the US defense of Midway comprises three carriers carrying 233 aircraft eight cruisers 15 destroyers 16 submarines and 127 land-based aircraft on Midway itself the Japanese naval force heading towards Midway comprises four carriers commanded by Vice Admiral Nagumo two battleships seven cruisers fourteen destroyers and 276 naval aircraft near them sails a transport fleet carrying the amphibious troops that would take Midway at just after 9:00 a. m. on the 3rd of June a PBY recon aircraft spots approaching Japanese vessels and shadows them to provide a clearer report it's only the troop transport fleet overnight into the 4th of June P be wise and b-17 bombers attack the transport vessels with one hit on an oiler from 3 a.
m. more PB wise take off from Midway to search for the carrier fleet at 4:30 a. m.
the Japanese first strike wave begins to launch into the night sky from carriers a corgi cargo her you and saw you first are the 36 Mitsubishi zero fighters providing air protection for the attacking force second come 36 IET vowel dive bombers followed by 36 heavier Nakajima kate level bombers a further nine zeros take off from kaga to provide air cover to the fleet itself and reconnaissance aircraft launched to conduct 300 mile search patterns at 5:34 a. m. a PBY reports citing air carrier the defending aircraft on Midway are ready to launch with engine started using cloud to evade anti-aircraft fire and zeros the PB wise reports a further sighting at five fifty two of two carriers minutes later Midway's radar station detects a large formation of incoming Japanese aircraft at 93 miles and 11 thousand feet the air raid sirens wail into life and Marine Buffalo and wildcat fighters are scrambled to meet the raiding force of 108 aircraft next up are the sixteen dauntless and eleven Vindicator dive bombers followed by six Avenger torpedo bombers and fall b-26 Marauders many of the aircraft launch are considered obsolete the 37 bombers may calls for the Japanese carrier group underscores hit the u.
s. fighters have gained height advantage over the incoming Japanese and at 6:16 a. m.
dive on the bombers the superior zeroes move in and engage the buffalos and Wildcats during a confused few minutes of dogfighting the zeroes mauled the American fighters shooting down 13 buffalos and two Wildcats the Marine pilots have put off a gallant fight against hopeless odds with Japanese reports later overestimating their numbers but they're obsolete aircraft are just no match for the zeros nearly unscathed from the attack the Japanese attacked Midway with a lack of aircraft targets on the ground the level bombing kate's hit the island's oil tanks and the AAA installations that are putting up a vicious wall of fire to meet them the dive bombing vowels attack hangars supporting installations and the powerhouse the main hangar erupts in flame having dropped their fuel tanks the zeros conclude the attack with strafing runs on remaining AAA weapons 13 minutes after the explosive attack began the Raiders withdraw at 7:00 a. m. the Japanese raid commander sends a message back to the fleet that a second raid will be required to fully neutralize the base they haven't disabled the runway nor knocked out heavier defensive weaponry that would later be used on amphibious troops over at Task Forces 16 and 17 Admiral Fletcher orders USS Hornet and Enterprise to begin launching their air wings this is much earlier than planned but he is keen to hit the Japanese carriers at their most vulnerable point just after the air wings have returned from their raid on Midway and while they are refuel and rearming as only two of the four kendama carriers have been spotted he holds launching Yorktown's Air Wing for another hour and a half the b-26s and Avengers are the first to attack the Japanese carriers zeroes fall on the Avengers as they brave the wall of a a fire to launch their torpedoes against her you they all miss owing to evasive maneuvering by the carrier and five of the six Avengers are destroyed the four b-26s follow one is shot down on its run in and another receives crippling AAA damage resorting to an attempted suicide attack on the ACOG II it narrowly misses the bridge containing the carrier groups commander Vice Admiral Nagumo and crashes into the sea two torpedoes are released but miss and the surviving two bombers make for home an ambiguous message comes into Nagumo from a recon plane that 10 US surface ships have been spotted north of Midway while reflecting on what to do with this information at 7:48 a.
m. the next u. s.
wave arrives the zeroes tear into the 16 Dauntless dive bombers and shoot down 8 as they run in at a shallow angle towards the her. you this unorthodox and inaccurate angle of attack is chosen because of the inexperienced pilots all 8 remaining aircrafts dropped their bombs and miss 15 b-17 heavy bombers that had earlier taken off to attack the transport force has been rerouted to join the attack on the carriers and arrive at 8:10 a. m.
at 20,000 feet the carrier's perform evasive maneuvers as the Bombers release their ordnance it is not surprising that all of the bombs dropped from such a high altitude miss finally the eleventh indicators arrive and are greeted by another ferocious attack by the defending zeros the flights commander decides not to press on towards the carriers but instead to attack the nearby battleship Haruna again all bombs miss for the loss of three of indicators as the Midway first strike wave aircrafts begin to return to his carriers Nagumo can't help but think that the morning action has been a clear victory for his forces morale in his fleet is high they no longer feared the American attack because the raid so far have been weathered so easily with minimal damage sustained against their vessels however he's now received a more definite report from his recon planes the report says that the US vessel spotted earlier are accompanied by a single carrier he realizes that this is his chance to inflict a decisive blow to the US Pacific Fleet that they desire and orders his aircraft are equipped with torpedoes and ship strike bomb fuses the fleet changes course towards the Americans a single carrier should be a simple target to destroy he needs 45 minutes to rearm and refuel his Midway strike aircraft little does Nagumo know the air wings of enterprise Hornet and now Yorktown are approaching such was the need for urgency to launch the strike most US aircraft did not form up over the carriers but headed straight out on takeoff this has them spread out over a long line astern a total of 156 aircraft from the three carriers made up of 41 Devastator torpedo bombers 89 Dauntless dive bombers and 26 wildcat fighters approach in piecemeal formations first in line our Wildcats from Hornet and dauntless is from Hornet and enterprise but the unknown cause change in the game Oh ordered towards the Americans has rendered them unable to find the Japanese fleet these Hornet aircraft take no further part but the dauntless is from Enterprise turned north in search they still have a part to play next are the slow and lumbering devastators on a hunch Hornets 15 devastators have preemptively turned north to search for the enemy and the Gamble has paid off knowing that their survival chances are slim they bravely fly towards the Akagi as zeros fall on them 14 of the 15 aircraft are blown to pieces on the run in by zeros and a a fire only one Devastator makes it to drop its torpedo which misses before meeting the same fate as the others an entire squadron shot down with only one survivor almost immediately 14 devastators from enterprise begin their attack for some reason they don't signal for their escorting Wildcats to drop from the clouds to protect them from the zeros and they start their run towards cargo a similarly brutal fate awaits them seven are cut to pieces by zeroes and flak before they make a last-second change to drop their torpedoes against her you again cruelly all torpedoes miss a further three devastators are lost and the remaining four leave the battle the zero force is running low on ammunition and some are beginning to land to Rhian when the akagi's spots yet another raiding force Yorktown's Air Wing has arrived in a coherent strike group of dauntless devastators and wildcat fighter cover however the devastators find themselves isolated from the others when the group flies through heavy clouds the Wildcats engage some zeros at the start of their bomb run but yet again they basically make their attack alone they receive the same slaughter as the other squadrons and only two of the twelve devastators make it back with no successful torpedo hit the slaughter of the American airmen is not in vain however every attack delays the Japanese ability to launch the counter-attack strike against the US carrier group and keeps the zeroes down at sea level a much more lethal purpose is being served by their sacrifice high above the now ammunition depleted zero cover 47 Dauntless dive bombers from enterprise and Yorktown arrive above the clouds by chance the dauntless is from enterprise that couldn't locate the carrier's earlier have found them at the precise moment Yorktown's dauntless is arrived all 47 aircraft screaming and released their munitions carga takes for direct bomb hits killing the captain and setting off a chain reaction of explosions in the hangar among the armed and fueled strike aircraft sawyou takes a similar punishment of 3 bomb hits including to the hangar finally the flagship Akagi takes a single bomb here with the same results that armed aircraft in her hangar detonate in a massive chain reaction the three carriers burn ferociously and are consumed by uncontrollable fire eventually all three crews will abandon and scuttle their ships after the Americans withdraw to the northeast the remaining Japanese carrier her. you launches 18 Vowell dive bombers and six zeroes to strike back at the Americans Yorktown is recovering and refueling her aircraft as she detects the attack on radar all fuel pumps to the deck are shut off and the fire suppression system readied Wildcats from Yorktown engage and destroy three zeros and eleven vowels of the seven remaining bombers two more shot down by flank but the remainder school three hits on York sound starting a fire thanks to the pre-emptive fire control actions the fire is manageable no sooner is the fire contained second wave of aircraft approaches this time ten Kate torpedo bombers and six zeros Wildcat and flak account for some aircraft shot down the Yorktown is struck by two torpedoes Yorktown remains afloat but a burning wreck in a final all-out attack on the final Japanese carrier Hornet and enterprise launch forty-two Thomases her used dwindling fighter patrols are not the force they were earlier in the day and shoot down only two there's no stopping the inevitable now she takes four direct and fatal bomb hits her fate is sealed and she will sink the following morning two days later destroyer USS Hammond is taking part in salvage efforts to save Yorktown a Japanese submarine infiltrates the protective cordon and launches a deadly salvo of torpedoes against the two ships they both sink the battle is a clear victory for the Americans in the for lost carriers Japan has lost her most potent offensive force strategically the desire to bring the u. s.
