Posted on 11/13/2019 10:51:45 AM PST by gaijin
The newly-released movie Midway has generated some interest and a 150-post Freeper thread yesterday:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3793171/posts
In the video below a professor at the US Navy War College hits key info helping an viewer who choses to see this great movie.
A key one that I'd read long ago but had not fully embraced:
US damage control was considerably better than that of Japan. When Japanese pilots hit the USS Yorktown, they returned to their carriers joyous, "We have sunk a US carrier..!"
Yet inside of an hour or so US damage control had bent Heaven & Earth to save her; the fires were out and she was underway; she looked like a totally different ship from the one those pilots had departed.
Yorktown damage control efforts had been so fruitful, so miraculous that when a totally different set of Japanese pilots hit her again later, they, too, returned to the then solely remaining Japanese carrier Hiryuu, blissfully gushing, "We have gone and sunk a SECOND American carrier..!"
They were totally unaware that both different sets of pilots had attacked the SAME carrier, seemingly resurrected twice.
The truth at that point was that ZERO US carriers had gone to the bottom, when they'd gone and reported two false carrier sinkings.
The Japanese command mindset at the time had to have been, "We mourn the loss of 3 of our 4 carriers, yet the Americans, too, have lost two of theirs...."
THAT is surely an aggravating reason why the Hiryuu stayed stubbornly on station --the IJN battle caculus at that point for the case of continuing on at Midway, in spite of their dire setbacks, had to have appeared fairly reasonable.
The Japanese perception at that point was that Midway was at best a draw for the USA.
While the film does not make this important point clear, the film is great.
I recommend that any Freeper interested in the Pacific War go and see the movie.
The the SOURCE link above I start you off mid-point in the video where the point I make in this post is made by the professor. However, you can manually backtrack to start off his excellent talk from the very beginning.
His whole lecture is stellar.
Didn’t know our damage control was better? That has been written and reported extensively.
For an expert I would call him a dumbass.
Naw, that was ME writing, and I still unclear:
I knew that, but I didn’t realize just HOW far-reaching the effects of that turned out, on the reports of the returning IJN pilots.
And how strongly those incorrect reports ended-up warping IJN command decisions at Midway.
“We have lost 3 but our enemy has lost 2”
Versus:
“We have lost 3 and our enemy has lost NOTHING”
That sounds super different.
Of course, unfortunately Yorktown DID end up going down, but not until much later.
I haven’t seen the movie yet and can’t wait to see it. My late father-in-law and I were WWII buffs and my wife and my mother-in-law hated watching WWII movies with us because we would pick apart inaccuracies that were especially glaring. The 76 film would show wrong planes and wrong ships for points in the battle and I would say, wrong plane for a dive bomber and he would call out the correct plane that should be there, the girls would roll their eyes. Since his passing my wife and family have proclaimed me the sole heir to the keeper of useless knowledge and trivia.
On damage control an important feature is the fuel lines were filled with carbon dioxide as soon as the attacking planes were seen.
Thankfully, in this incarnation there is no maudlin, multiCulti J-finacee distraction, with the whole father/son tension annoyance.
I would like to see it but no theaters around here.
I noticed on one site that critics gave it a 40% positive review but regular theater goers gave it a 91% positive review.
Also read that some critics claim that some of the comments made by the characters were too dramatic but in fact they were exact quotes.
Verrrrrry lucky hit on the Akagi:
It was the very last US bomb available, in that attack, and it was the last carrier sunk in this phase of Midway.
Had instead this Dick Best bomb gone to the other two, earlier sinkings, then this one would not have happened.
THIS is the hit that was considerably enhanced by the many bombs and fuel lines strewn around the aircraft hangar.
Had he hit in many other places, this single-bomb sinking might have been in doubt.
The Akagi hits are incorrect. Akagi was only attacked by a flight of three aircraft, and suffered one direct hit and one glancing/near miss. It was enough to start uncontrollable fires and eventually result in her scuttling.
Who is the painter of the 2 paintings you posted. And was the carrier given a name by the artist, or is just to represent all 4 Jap carriers? They are beautiful paintings.
Supplement - We won : )
Sorry
Every Navy recruit got a couple of days of firefighting and damage control training in boot camp, regardless of their probable job assignment. On our ship we had refreshers each year; drills for non-DC specialists so they could function in those capacities in an emergency. I would assume that is still a Navy-wide standard.
(USN painter)
Dunno yet I believe you will like this link:
https://fineartamerica.com/shop/prints/uss+midway
How ironic CO2 saved many lives. I guess now it would be nitrogen. The wood decks were a compromise too. They took plenty with them so they could be repaired. But they didn’t create as lethal shrapnel, but were more easily destroyed.
The NAVY is nothing if not inconsistent.
They had neutered Torpedoes for 2 years but thought this matter out extremely well.
That graphic looks more like the hits on the Kaga.
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