The Search for the Japanese Fleet: USS Nautilus and the Battle of Midway by David W. Jourdan

Author:David W. Jourdan [Jourdan, David W.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, pdf
Tags: HIS027100 History / Military / World War Ii
ISBN: 9781612347554
Publisher: Potomac Books
Published: 2015-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

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Thursday, June 4, 1942. 1045 YST, on board the cruiser Nagara.

Nothing about Midway was going as planned for the Japanese. Earlier that day, Kidō Butai had been dealt a crippling blow, three of her ships left in flames. Still, the battle of Midway was not ended. The American forces were spent, and the air attacks finally ceased, leaving Hiryū unscathed. Kidō Butai still had teeth, and Nagumo was finally able to launch the attack that he had been trying to send forth all morning.

At 1045 YST, just after the last of the American carrier planes sped away, leaving the burning ships behind them, Chikuma’s floatplane reported, “Sight five additional cruisers and five destroyers,” with range, bearing, and other data. Admiral Nagumo was not in position to receive this message, as he was busy transferring his command from the smoking Akagi to the waiting cruiser Nagara. The message was heard by the cruiser screen commander, Rear Adm. Abe Hiroaki, temporarily in charge during the transition. Abe wasted no time taking action. He immediately reported to Admiral Yamamoto, following in the Main Body, “Fires are raging aboard the Kaga, Sōryū, and Akagi resulting from attacks carried out by enemy land-based and carrier-based attack planes. We plan to have the Hiryū engage the enemy carriers. In the meantime, we are temporarily retiring to the north and assembling our forces.”

Admiral Yamamoto was stunned and shaken by this report. A sailor on the bridge of the Yamato said that the commander in chief seemed to have turned to stone.

The admiral may have taken some heart from the next message sent by Admiral Abe, that same minute, to the commander of Carrier Division 2, now consisting of only Hiryū and its escorts: “Attack enemy carriers.”

As this order came, Hiryū was ready to launch. Though the attack on Midway Island earlier in the day had taken its toll—out of the eighteen attack planes sent that morning, five were shot down and only eight were operational—a reserve force of eighteen Val dive bombers was ready and waiting. These were launched immediately and were all airborne by 1110, streaking toward the U.S. fleet with an escort of five fighters. Led by Lt. Kobayashi Michio, this unit was considered among the best in the Japanese air fleet.

The remaining eight aircraft, plus one recovered from Akagi and another that the maintenance crew managed to repair, were to follow in an hour. This group would be led by Tomonaga, not long returned from leading the morning Midway island bombing attack.

At the same moment, one of the Japanese floatplanes reported sighting the Americans just ninety miles east of Hiryū’s position. This pilot had detected Task Force 17 and Yorktown, heading west and closing the range, hoping to recover her planes returning from their attacks. Kobayashi’s flight of attack planes was heading in that direction and would be upon Yorktown within the hour.

Twenty minutes later, at 1130, Admiral Nagumo resumed command and reported to Yamamoto that he was “attacking the enemy.” Barking

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