It has been six months since the beginning of the Pacific War, and Japan can be said to have made great progress in this half year. They won successive victories in the Pacific, occupying many resource-rich areas. However, Japan finds itself still in an awkward position. Despite all their success, their greatest enemy, the United States, has shown not the slightest desire to surrender, which is of great concern to the Japanese military.
Before America's mighty industrial power can be fully threatened, they must win the war. So Japan needs a decisive victory, one that can crush america's will to fight and bring them to the negotiating table.
In the eyes of the Japanese military, the aircraft carriers of the Pacific Fleet were considered to be the core of the Americans, and they believed that destroying the aircraft carriers of the US military would completely destroy the willingness of the US military to fight. Therefore, the Japanese military felt that the only way to win the war was to completely destroy the aircraft carriers of the US Pacific Fleet. But the question is, how do you get the U.S. aircraft carrier out of the safety of Pearl Harbor? The answer given by the Japanese was to attack a goal that the United States would not give up easily without a fight. After debate, Midway was identified as this goal. If the Japanese attacked Midway, the U.S. military would certainly respond, which gave an opportunity to completely destroy the U.S. aircraft carrier.
Based on this line of thinking, the Japanese military department developed the MI plan, the goal of which was to occupy Midway Island and destroy the Pacific Fleet. The Japanese top brass wanted to surprise them, so the fleet had to sail 3,000 nautical miles (about 4,828 kilometers) in radio silence, and they also scored troops to avoid being discovered by the Americans for strategic intent.
The MI program was complemented by the Al-Baltic Plan in the North, which was intended to capture the Aleutian Islands. In the first few hours of June 4, all the troops were in place to attack the islands in the Pacific. The stage for the most legendary naval battle in history, the Battle of Midway, is ready.
The vanguard of the MI Combat Army was the First Mobile Strike Force, also known as the "Mobile Force", which had four of the best Japanese aircraft carriers, and they would be the protagonists of the next battle. The First Mobile Strike Force also has two air squadrons, each with two aircraft carriers. The commander of the mobile unit was Lieutenant General Tadaichi Minamiun, who was 55 years old at the time, who also took over the command of the First Air Force in April 1941. Nan Yun was born as a mine soldier, and he was able to obtain this position not because of his outstanding ability, but only because of his deep qualifications. He was most evaluated by later generations for his indecisiveness and reliance on his staff. But after Pearl Harbor in June 1942, he was already the world's most experienced carrier commander.
Nanyun had four aircraft carriers in his hands, and the flagship was the Akagi. The First Air Force was commanded by the commander of the mobile unit, Nan Yun, and had two aircraft carriers, Akama and Kaga. Akagi has the longest deck of the four carriers and a decent aircraft capacity. Because it was converted from a battlecruiser, it also had a higher speed. The Kaga aircraft carrier was converted from a battleship and is the least maneuverable of the four aircraft carriers. But because of its sheer size, it has the largest capacity of four carriers, with 27 carrier-based attacks at the standard of 18 carrier-based aircraft in a squadron. Next up are the two aircraft carriers of the Second Air Force, which are specially designed and built rather than modified. Because of the lightweight hull and advanced manufacturing technology, it has a good number of aircraft and a high speed. Their disadvantage is the lack of armor protection. The Soryu entered service in 1937 and she was popular in the Navy. Its sister ship, the Wyvern, is essentially identical, except that it has a larger island and slightly heavier armor. Yamaguchi was the commander of the Second Air Force, whose flagship was the Wyvern, and he was another senior officer in the fleet. Compared to Nanyun, he is more aggressive and grumpy. The four carriers totaled 248 fighters, or 260 if you added the water reconnaissance aircraft on the cruisers.
As with the plane, what mattered was the quality of the pilots under Nanyun. It is no exaggeration to say that the best naval aviation pilots in the world are on these four aircraft carriers.
Nanyun's task is far from being as simple as walking around the park. His mission was twofold: to take out the bases and aircraft on Midway and to clear the way for the landing fleet before it arrived two days later. The second is to always pay attention to the enemy aircraft carriers that come to guard the island. But it is unlikely that enemy forces will appear near the island to defend it, because it is unlikely that the U.S. military will react so quickly to the attack. To be on the safe side, Nanyun still let half of the aircraft carry the weapons of the ship, in case the US aircraft carrier suddenly appeared.
In fact, as far as the deployment of the Japanese army is concerned, the ominous signs for the Japanese army have already appeared at this time. As mentioned earlier, the Japanese army based its victory in the entire battle on the basis of surprise. On the eve of the war, however, there were already some signs that things did not go as unexpectedly as expected. Japanese intelligence found the enemy activity near Midway suspicious, which meant that the U.S. military was more alert than usual. Second, until this time, the Japanese army still did not confirm the location of the US aircraft carrier. The Japanese believed they would face two or even three U.S. aircraft carriers. Therefore, for the current Japanese army, it is imperative to determine where the US aircraft carrier is.
The Japanese believed that the American aircraft carriers should still be in Pearl Harbor on the first day of the battle. To establish this point, they made two attempts. The first was an aerial reconnaissance of Pearl Harbor, but the mission was cancelled for fear of exposing targets and being more difficult. The alternative is that there is another row of submarines in front of the South Cloud Fleet, but they have not yet found anything. For Nanyun, this indicates that the US aircraft carrier is likely to still be in Pearl Harbor, and in Nanyun's view, the plan is still in order.
Battle begins: 6/4/1942 0430
In the early morning of June 4, the altitude over the mobile unit was a low-altitude pale cumulus cloud compared to the scattered clouds in the northeast. The carrier continued to blow winds headwinds to the southeast in preparation for carrier-based aircraft to take off. At 4:30 a.m., an attack team of 108 aircraft began to march toward Midway. The leader of the attack team was Captain Tomoaga Akira, a veteran who had fought from the Battlefield of China. But this time the fight was the first time he had hit the Americans. Nanyun kept half of the aircraft under his command as a reserve in case of the sudden appearance of the US aircraft carrier. The pilots in the reserve are the elite of the elite, the essence of the mobile unit. The torpedo squadron aboard the Akamako was hailed as the Navy's best and best air force. At the same time, the Second Air Force also had the strongest dive bomber squadron.
At the same time as the Midway attack team took off, reconnaissance aircraft also took off from the cruisers, and the search included 7 routes, 6 of which were 300 miles (482.8 km) long. It is a pipe dream to cover a reconnaissance area of up to 456,000 square kilometers through just 7 reconnaissance aircraft. The investigation work can be said to be quite careless, and it can even be ignored. But from Nanyun's standpoint, it is important to note that this is only preventive aerial reconnaissance. In other words, Nanming and his staff never believed that the US aircraft carrier would appear in battle so early. Presupposing a position in the war command will be devastating. With the enemy situation near Midway known to be abnormal and the weather in the area was bad, the south cloud, for the sake of safety, should double the number of aircraft involved in the search, which is what the campaign commander should do. Of the seven reconnaissance aircraft involved in the search, 6 took off and carried out reconnaissance missions smoothly, except for the seaplane on the heavy cruiser Lygan, which was delayed by 30 minutes due to mechanical failure.
At 5:32, the strategic intentions of the Japanese army were officially revealed. A U.S. Catalina seaplane was spotted monitoring the mobile unit over the Japanese. This sudden situation for Nanyun meant that the surprise attack had been completed, and it also meant that the US military could lift off all the planes on the island before the Japanese air raid arrived. From this point on, the battle had deviated from the Japanese army's vision.
Midway
Japanese air raids on Midway 0620-0650
As expected, the U.S. military was able to lift off all the planes on the island before the attack. Bombers went to bomb the Japanese carriers, and only fighters stayed behind to defend the airfield. There are a total of 18 F2a Buffalo fighters and 6 F4F Wildcat fighters. They intercepted a formation of Japanese fighter jets at 6:20 a.m. 30 miles (48.3 km) from the island. These poorly performing fighters were almost powerless in the face of the Japanese Zero fighters, and 13 F2a and two F4Fs were shot down in this air battle.
After dealing with the Perfect Army's fighter formation, the Japanese continued their advance towards Midway and began preparing to drop bombs. The horizontal bombers at Terminal 2 first attacked the dive bombers at 6:34 and arrived on the battlefield at 6:40 a.m. a little later. On the East Island of Midway, power stations, command posts, fuel facilities and canteens for officers and soldiers and living facilities were blown up, but the airport runway was hardly affected. On Sand Island, Midway, oil storage facilities and water pipes were damaged, and a seaplane hangar and several airport facilities were destroyed.
After the attack, the Japanese statistics found that a total of 11 fighters were shot down by American fighters and anti-aircraft fire on the island, and another 14 could no longer continue the combat mission after returning from serious injuries, with a damage rate of 23%. The damage to midway facilities was severe, but the base on the island was not incapacitated. Commander Yong, a teammate, observed the situation on Midway, and although he was very reluctant, he reported to Nanyun to request a second wave of air strikes to completely destroy the bases on the Chinese island.
Midway attack on mobile forces 0700-0840
What followed was a complex series of events and circumstances faced by the mobile unit and the command of the ship's South Cloud.
TBF torpedo machine
Let's start with the initial air strikes on the mobile units. 7:10 6 TBF Avengers and 4 Army B26 bombers, found approaching the carrier formation. The U.S. bomber formation will be the first of four attacks launched by the Midway formation.
More than 30 Japanese fighters were sent to annihilate incoming American aircraft. The Avenger torpedo bomber's chosen target was the Wyvern. The Zero fighters rushed up, and the AMERICAN fighters were shot down one by one. Only two Avengers were able to fire torpedoes from the limit distance, but neither hit. Four B26 bombers, modified to carry torpedoes, headed toward Akagi, two were shot down, and only two were able to successfully drop bombs, but none missed. The real threat came from the last B26, the damaged bomber heading straight for Akagi's bridge. Nanyun and his staff were shocked to see this, because in their view, the Americans should not be so brave and fearless of sacrifice. Unfortunately, the bomber was not able to hit the Akama, and its suicide attempt failed, but this move really frightened Nanyun and his staff. Despite the courage and determination of the first wave of American pilots, the attack did not achieve even one hit of five Avengers and two B26 bombers, while the Japanese lost only two Zero fighters.
Half an hour later at 7:53, the new U.S. attack fleet was spotted approaching the mobile unit. The attack wave consisted of 16 Marine Corps dreadnought dive bombers that targeted the Wyvern. The Japanese sent nine Zero fighters to intercept them. But these aircraft used down-dive bombing instead of large-angle dive bombing, suggesting that they were not experienced dive bomber pilots.
Naturally, there was no hit on this attack. Only a few near-missing rounds gave the carrier a painless threat. Half of the 16 dreadnought dive bombers were shot down, the remaining 8 managed to return to Midway, and the Japanese lost only one Zero. Shortly after this defeat, 15 Army B17 bombers struck from an altitude of 20,000 feet (about 6,096 meters). At this altitude the B17 could completely ignore the anti-aircraft fire below, but this altitude also allowed them to lose almost all of their accuracy. They aimed at the Soryu, Wyvern, and Akagi, but the carriers below had plenty of time to dodge the bombs, and neither side lost anything.
Here we should mention the flight splint of aircraft carriers, and give priority to the defense of aircraft carriers when operations are attacked. There are three main forms: anti-aircraft fire, fighter air patrols, and maneuver evasion. It should be noted here that anti-aircraft firepower will hardly constitute an effective defense against aircraft carriers, and air fighter patrols and evasion maneuvers are the main means of defense.
First of all, when carrying out evasion maneuvers, the aircraft carrier has to make a sharp turn, and it is obvious that in the event of an air raid, the aircraft parked on the deck is very dangerous, so if you want to launch an air strike but find yourself under attack, it is best to wait until the end of the air strike to launch an attack. Second, during the attack, the deck of the Japanese aircraft carrier was kept empty for the escort fighter to land for replenishment. Since the Zero only has enough ammunition to sustain firing for 7 seconds, it needs frequent landings and takeoffs to resupply ammunition. Fighter escorts are the most effective means of defense for carrier battle groups, so they have higher deck priority. Based on this situation, the only thing the carrier can do during an attack is the recovery, preparation, resupply and re-dispatch of small groups of fighters. In short: an aircraft carrier cannot launch an attack at the same time as it is attacked. So we assume that Nanyun wants to launch an attack at this time, but for the sake of prudence, it is still necessary to wait until 15 to 20 minutes after the attack is over before dispatching the fighter group. So these American attacks, although not very precise or lethal, did hinder the Operation of the Japanese Flying Deck, which would have fatal consequences for the Japanese in the ensuing battle.
The last attack on Midway began at 8:27. Seventeen Marine Corps outperforming SB2U Defender bombers arrived from the southeast. These outdated bombers wisely decided not to storm these heavily guarded aircraft carriers, but to choose battleships as their targets, and the Japanese battleship Haruna was targeted. The Japanese had eight Zero fighters on combat patrols to intercept them. The bombers risked their lives, but none of them hit. Two Defender bombers were shot down during the attack.
At the same time that the battle between sea and air was so fierce, some conditions were also found underwater. A U.S. submarine was spotted. The U.S. submarine fired a torpedo at 8:25 a.m. at Kirishima, but the battleship maneuvered to starboard and dodged the torpedo. Immediately, the Japanese destroyer Arashi was sent from the formation to pursue the submarine. This move will also be the foreshadowing of a dramatic midway scene, which will guide the U.S. dive bomber fleet that is about to return because it cannot find the Japanese fleet.
So far, the Japanese have luckily evaded the Americans, all the attacks so far. Such a dangerous situation made the hearts of Nan Yun and everyone in his staff team mention the eyes of the throat. Although the Japanese were struck by the determination and fearless courage of the Americans, they completely ignored the technology of these pilots, and although the U.S. army had as many as 52 fighters involved in the operation, none of them had been able to achieve so far, not even one hit. The biggest achievement of these US fighters is to keep the Japanese army in a state of busyness from 7:00 to 8:30, and this period of time is crucial for Nanyun.
The Dilemma of Junichi Minami 0715-0800
Type 99 carrier-based critical aircraft
At the same time as the US army attacked the mobile units in the early morning, the crisis faced by Nanyun and his staff team was constantly fermenting. Shortly after 7:00 a.m., Nanyun received a report from Captain Toyonaga that Midway island needed a second wave of air raids, which, although not good news, was still expected by him. After all, how could it be possible to destroy a well-defended base with only 72 bombers, half of which had only medium-sized bombs. Now Nanyun has two plans: the first is to let Toyonaga's fleet return to resupply fuel and ammunition, and let them go back to blow up another wave. But it took hours to take off and resupply, which was enough for the Americans to regain their strength and fight back. The second is the use of the aircraft at hand, which, as of this time, has not done anything. However, the second option was not considered by Nanyun, because Yamamoto Ordered Nanyun to keep these reserve aircraft behind to prevent the emergence of A.S. military task forces. Of course, what Yamamoto did not expect was that Nanyun would only use half of the troops in the entire battle, which was also a drawback of the entire Midway battle plan, that is, there were not enough aircraft to perform dual tasks, and aircraft were reserved to prevent the appearance of US aircraft carriers while attacking Midway. Just as he was tangled, Nanyun looked at the information that had been sent by the reconnaissance plane. The reconnaissance planes have reached their maximum range, but so far, no intelligence has been sent to find the US aircraft carrier. So Nanyun made a decision, why not use these prepared aircraft to launch a second air raid on Midway? The previous bomber, which had come from Midway and made a suicide attack on the Akagi, still made Nanyun unsettled. Therefore, Nanyun felt that as long as the airfield on the island could still operate, it would pose a threat to the aircraft carrier. This probably also affected the decision behind The South Cloud, and Midway needed to be destroyed!
7:15 Minamimoto disobeyed Yamamoto's order and ordered the mount to be replaced. Ship attack replacement weapon mounting operations were carried out in the hangar below deck, where torpedoes were removed and land bombs were hung. Dive bombers were not affected because they were mounted on deck. Since the aircraft were prepared in the First Air War, this chaotic rearmament process took place only in the two aircraft carrier hangars of the First Air War. It was a chaotic process that took an hour and a half to carry out, with a large number of torpedoes and ammunition stacked on the hangar and deck. But just 30 minutes after the change of mounts began, at 7:45, Nanyun received a report from the reconnaissance plane. The reconnaissance aircraft belonging to the heavy cruiser Ligan had delayed take-off by half an hour due to a malfunction found the American fleet.
"There are about ten enemy water units in sight."
After hearing the news, Nanyun was shocked, and he quickly canceled the order to change the mount and began to re-evaluate the battle situation. There are two options in front of Nanyun now, one is to immediately launch a strike on the US aircraft carrier, and the other is to wait until Toyonaga's fleet is recovered before launching a strike, which is also known as Nanyun's dilemma.
Let's now better understand the problem he faces from Nanyun's point of view, knowing that this problem is far from being as simple as it seems, there are many factors to consider, and it should be noted that you only have 15 minutes to make the right decision.
Let's start with the more aggressive option, which is to attack immediately. But the intelligence from the reconnaissance plane on the Reagan was impractical. Because according to the position and direction of its departure, the reconnaissance plane on the Ligan could not have encountered the American fleet at all, either because it was yawing and flying in the wrong place, or because the American fleet reported that it was in the wrong position. This also raises another problem, namely the inability to judge the composition of these U.S. warships. What are these 10+ boats? It could be an aircraft carrier task force, or it could be some auxiliary ships. Nanyun was very troubled, if he sent out planes, and the so-called sighting reports were only some destroyers and auxiliary ships, the entire mobile force would be in a dangerous state of inorganic and undefendable. This intelligence misjudgment occurred to Major General Takagi in the Battle of the Coral Sea a month earlier, and Nanyun did not want to repeat the mistakes made by others before.
But the report also contains two cautionary clues as to why the fleet was 240 miles (386 kilometers) northeast of Midway. Unless the fleet contains aircraft carriers, there is no reason for them to stay in such a place. If they did have an aircraft carrier in their fleet, it would be a perfect position to launch a flank attack on the Japanese. More importantly, their fleet was sailing against the wind. It is well known that formations sail against the wind only when preparing for take-off of aircraft. Nanyun and his staff naturally noticed these two extremely important clues, but finally came to the conclusion that it might be just an ordinary formation of surface ships. Secondly, they felt that the process of changing the mount was not as fatal as expected, because the mount of the dive bomber was not affected, and only the mount of the ship attack needed to be operated in the hangar. The previous 34 attack aircraft had mounted torpedoes, but only 19 had now been replaced with mounts and 15 were equipped with land bombs. So compared to the full combat effectiveness of 78 fighters, he now has 64 fighters with suitable weapons in his hands. There were only 15 aircraft, which did not have much impact on the combat effectiveness of the entire fighter formation.
The next third factor is time. Nanun's time was very tight, as Toyonaga's fleet would soon arrive around 8:15, and they had run out of fuel. This means they must land as soon as possible or they will only crash on the surface of the water. If the plane is to be avoided, NGC must complete the recovery operation by 8:45 at the latest.
Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft
Why 8:45? Here's a look at the time.
It's 7:45, and Tomono's fleet can only hover in the air until 9:15 at most, minus the 20 to 30 minutes of landing time, so 8:45 is the final bottom line. Either Nanyun would start sending fighters now, or he would lose aircraft due to forced landings, which gave Nanyun an hour of idleness. It takes about 45 minutes to moor and dispatch the fighters. If Nanyun wanted to use this opportunity to launch an attack with the forces at hand, he could, but he would have to start the process by 8 o'clock at the latest. So that's the 15 minutes that Nanyun had for him to make a decision.
Is it possible to launch an attack now? The answer is yes. Despite the tight schedule, the strike force was able to take off from 8:00 a.m. to 8:45 a.m., so that the exhausted Tomonaga fleet could land.
But what happened next made it all come to naught. At 7:53 the maneuver force was attacked by American dive bombers, and although theoretically he was able to dispatch aircraft in the event of an attack, this was rarely carried out in combat, because such a risk was too great for the carrier to maneuver during the release operation. As a result, the original 45-minute release process would be delayed to about an hour. Therefore, it is very likely that Tomo's fleet will have to make a large-scale forced landing at sea.
The loss of dozens of aircraft at the beginning of the battle was unimaginable, so Nanyun had to make a decision. Is it to attack an unknown target with ambiguous and unidentified positions in the case of partial aircraft mounting errors, or to lose additional aircraft due to unnecessary forced landings. Alternatively, he could wait for Toyonaga's fleet to land, and whatever the target, mount the right weapon for a well-placed attack. Obviously this is the safest and safest solution. But what makes Nanyun think he still has time to wait for the fleet to recycle and replace the mount?
If we look at the position reported by the reconnaissance aircraft, it means that even if this US military formation contains aircraft carriers, it is not far enough to launch an attack escorted by fighters, and it will probably take two hours to sail before it can launch an attack. Therefore, Nanyun felt that he had time to launch a counterattack within the range of the US army.
So think about it, based on the above information, how will you make decisions? Based on Nanyun's conservative decision-making habits, it is not difficult to guess what plan he chose. He chose the safest option: to recover Yone's fleet and then launch a well-deployed strike.
NGC also made this decision because it ensured the number and coordination of the aircraft involved in the attack. Although such a decision made Nanyun suffer criticism from later generations, his decision was actually in line with military theory. If you put any Japanese commander who was systematically trained at the time into his position, they would probably make the same decision.
At this time, in the hangar below the deck, the ground staff frantically exchanged the land bombs on the Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft for torpedoes, and in the chaotic rearmament process, the bombs were not safely stored, but were scattered around the hangar.
The south cloud in the bridge above impatiently awaited further intelligence. It wasn't until 8:20 that the U.S. fleet's class identification report was sent: "The enemy fleet seems to have an aircraft carrier." "This is not good news for Nanyun. But this also raises another question, since the aircraft carrier has been confirmed, why not launch an attack at 8:30 at once? Because after the aircraft is loaded on the hangar, it takes 45 minutes to lift the aircraft from the hangar to the deck, park and arrange before taking off. Meanwhile, Tomonaga's fleet would run out of fuel and then collectively crash into the sea, losing 97 planes. And this wave of attacks had to be carried out without escort, because all the fighters were lifted into the air to protect the mobile troops, so the aircraft of this wave of attacks were bound to suffer heavy losses. Launching an unintended attack and losing 97 aircraft that crashed into the sea due to fuel ran out of fuel would obviously not be acceptable to Nanyun.
Therefore, Nanyun was too late to attack now, and he could only break the jar and continue to wait. Fortunately, at 8:37, the morning attack was finally over. The mobile unit finally took a breath and began to recycle the aircraft. From 8:37 a.m. to 9:10 a.m., Tomo's fleet landed safely.
While the dilemma faced by Nanyun can be understood, there is still a point to be questioned about. The mobile unit turned to sail northeast after recovering the aircraft. This is not necessary in common sense, because japanese planes have a longer range than American planes, and there is no reason to close the distance with the American fleet, which will only make your opponents hit you faster. At that time, the wiser direction would have been to sail northwest, so that it could both launch an attack and stay outside the maximum range of the U.S. military.
With the final aircraft completely recycled, NGC can now park its aircraft on the vacated deck. Nanyun now only needs a 45-minute undisturbed window to launch a powerful counterattack against the U.S. military. But what happened next dashed his hopes.
Attack of the Torpedo Squadron 0910-1030
To the north, a group of U.S. torpedo attack aircraft were spotted. Nanyun was forced to maneuver again instead of launching a strike, concentrating on protecting the carriers that would receive the attack in the coming attack. The 15 U.S. torpedo planes flew to the battlefield without escort. They became the target of a swarm of 30 Zero fighters protecting the mobile unit. The four carriers spun to starboard, aiming their stern at the incoming enemy aircraft. Due to the low speed of the TPD Ravager Torpedo aircraft, the US fighters were at a great disadvantage in such a chase attack. These Ravager torpedoes, while carrying torpedoes, barely flew at speeds of more than 100 knots (about 185 km/h). Zero fighters rushed up, and none of the American torpedo planes survived. Two-thirds of the torpedo planes were shot down before they could get into torpedo range, and only three aircraft managed to approach the Soryu, but in the end only one, the only one out of 15 successfully launched the torpedo. However, the torpedo plane failed to hit the target, and the plane was shot down.
The battle lasted 15 minutes. Although the Japanese may not have known at this point, they destroyed an entire squadron of torpedo planes, and such a huge sacrifice did not result in even one hit. Of the 30 crew members involved in the heroic attack, only one survived.
At 9:40, as soon as the attack was over, another attack followed. This time from the south, Nanyun finally realized that his mobile unit was in big trouble. Before being hit, it was imperative to remove the plane from the flight deck. Nanyun only needed 45 minutes to launch an attack, but he could not launch an attack during the attack, because the flight deck of the carrier was completely occupied by the escorting Zero fighter.
Adding fuel to the fire is his current precarious situation, when he is most vulnerable. Aircraft filled with fuel and weapons are tightly parked in the hangars of each aircraft carrier. What annoyed Nanyun even more was that these enemy aircraft were obviously carrier-based attack aircraft on the US aircraft carrier. This shows that the position of the enemy ship reported before has always been wrong. In fact, at 7:28, the actual location was nearly 55 miles (about 88 kilometers) closer than the reported position. Therefore, the mobile unit has actually been in the range of the US military throughout the process. As in the previous Battle of the Coral Sea, Japanese commanders made decisions based on the intelligence they had at hand. Although Nanyun has not been aware of it, the information reported has always been wrong. It may be said that Nanyun was unlucky for a while, but there is no doubt about one thing, that is, the ship type identification and reconnaissance technology of the Japanese reconnaissance aircraft is really too much to be able to fit.
Fourteen torpedo planes came, and they had no escort formation. The 14 torpedo planes were divided into two formations. The two formations chose the Kaga aircraft carrier as a target and attempted to carry out a pincer attack on the slow Kaga, firing a wave of cross-thunder. But with these slow-flying Ravager torpedo planes, it's hard to do that. During the initial approach, they were not intercepted by Japanese fighter jets. But soon after, the Zero rushed up, with the formation on the right bearing the brunt.
Two torpedoes were successfully fired from these torpedo planes, but kaga evaded them by maneuvering. As more Zero fighters joined the escort battle, another formation fired only three torpedoes. But like its previous formation, the Kaga skillfully evaded torpedoes.
This attack on the U.S. military still had little effect. Nine of the 14 torpedo planes were shot down, and one of the remaining 5 surviving torpedo planes landed on the surface of the sea on landing, while the Japanese lost only one Zero fighter.
But to Nanyun's disbelief, shortly after the end of the previous wave, the next wave of attacks came again. This made Nanyun suddenly become helpless.
In the previous 50 minutes, the Americans had only a few scattered attacks, and although they had no effect, they had been delaying the urgently needed counterattack work of the Japanese army. What is even more terrifying is that the Japanese army judged that it was the third squadron of torpedo aircraft, which meant that the US aircraft carrier must have more than one. In fact, the US aircraft carrier is indeed not only one, but three.
In addition to the shock and panic, the Japanese were also wondering a question: Where did the dive bombers carried on these aircraft carriers go? If all these Ravager torpedo planes had flown in, the dive bombers' attacks would certainly have appeared soon.
The upcoming wave of attacks is a little different. The 12 torpedo planes that came were escorted by 6 Wildcat fighter jets. The japanese fighters who went to intercept the temporary fighters did not know that the wave of torpedo planes was escorted, and soon they would be surprised.
It was also the first time that the famous Saatchi scissor air fighting tactical maneuver was used in the Pacific War. It was named after inventor Jimmy Thatch, who was leading the formation at this time.
Jimmy Thatch
What exactly is going on with thatch scissors? First the aircraft are located in the same straight line of defense. When two groups of Wildcat formations fly in parallel, as soon as the Zero bites the tail of one of the Wildcat fighters, the two formations will turn toward each other, which will allow one of the formations of Wildcats to be able to face each other with the Wildcat Zero fighters pursuing the other formation. Doing so can directly destroy the Zero fighter, and at worst, it can drive out the Zero fighter. This process can be easily repeated over and over again. This defensive maneuver shocked the pilots of the Zero fighter. By this time, the Japanese pilots had always thought they could beat their opponents in dogfights, but now they were the ones who lost. Four Zero fighters were shot down during the interception, and only one Wildcat fighter was shot down by the Japanese during the battle.
Thatch and his squadron of fighters attracted more than 20 Zero fighters. Some of the things that need to be mentioned are that, first of all, these escort fighters have done a very good job. Eleven of the 12 torpedo planes successfully broke through the Japanese interception, posing a considerable threat to the Japanese aircraft carrier. This allowed the remaining Zero fighters, which were searching for nearby dive bombers at high altitude, to rush to the low-altitude interceptor of these intrusive torpedo planes. So we can see that this wave of torpedoes and Wildcat fighters sucked up all the Zero fighters who were on air combat patrol missions, which made the carrier lose its high-altitude protection.
The 11 torpedo planes that broke through the interception continued to advance, but as more Zero fighters swooped down from a high altitude to intercept them, the ravagers would have no chance of winning. The previous story was repeated, with more than half of the U.S. torpedo planes destroyed. In the end, only 5 torpedo planes fired torpedoes at the Wyvern, but the Japanese carriers managed to dodge it. In the end, 10 of the 12 torpedo planes were shot down, and the escorting Wildcats lost only one. The last torpedo attack cost the Japanese about 7 Zero fighters.
At 10:20, the torpedo attack was halfway through, but as expected, not a single torpedo hit, which can be said to be a manifestation of the strength of the Japanese fighter pilots. The mobile units have been fighting for the past three hours, but the carrier relies on skilful maneuvering and excellent fighter pilots who have so far dodged all the torpedoes and bombs. Nanyun's current record is still quite good, his mobile unit has shot down 53 American fighters without radar, while he has lost only 11 fighters.
But at this moment, while all the Zero fighters were dealing with U.S. torpedo planes and escort formations in the northeast, new threats emerged at high altitude.
Above Nanyun's head, 50 dive bombers were approaching, not spotted by the Japanese, and no Zero fighters were able to intercept them. They formed formations and killed from two different directions.
Dive bombers attacked 1022-1026
Before this moment, the mobile unit had not yet lost the record. For the previous 6 months, they ruled the entire Pacific. They sank 5 U.S. main battleships and a light carrier, two cruisers, and 7 destroyers. But at this moment, their fate will come to an end.
These dive bombers were different from the rookie dive bomber pilots from Midway. They are the elite of the Pacific Fleet and the pride of the U.S. aircraft carriers.
Two squadrons of dive bombers from the south chose the huge Kaga aircraft carrier as the target. 30 bombers dive from a large angle of 19,000 feet (5,791 m) in height. Kaga was caught off guard and hit by 4 bombs. One of them hit the bridge directly, killing the captain and staff. The hangar was filled with fuel and bombs, and the fighters were ignited, causing a series of secondary explosions. Soon the Kaga became a pile of scrap iron at sea.
The Soryu was attacked by 13 dive bombers, and it was hit by three aerial bombs. Like the Kaga, the Soryu's hangar was ignited and a secondary explosion occurred.
The Akagi seems to have escaped the attack. However, when kaga was hit by a group of dive bombers, the three bombers broke away from the formation at the last moment and switched to Akagi. Best, the pilot of a dive bomber, with great skill, dropped a bomb on the carrier and broke through the upper deck of the carrier. Supposedly such a huge aircraft carrier could have survived the hit of this 500-pound missile, but as its partners did, the fuel-filled aircraft and bombs in the hangar were detonated. The fire was uncontrollable, and the huge explosion and fire turned the Akagi into a pile of scrap iron floating on the sea.
In less than 5 minutes, history was completely changed. The powerful Japanese mobile forces were destroyed, and only the Wyvern temporarily escaped the disaster. Now all the fighting fell on the Wyvern and the remaining Japanese pilots. At this time, the Wyvern also had 10 torpedo strikes, 18 dive bombers, 10 fighter jets and 27 fighters on other aircraft carriers.
Can the Wyvern complete the Jedi Strikes Back or even just pull back one round?