A miracle helped along by the fact that we could read all their coded messages.
Yep, and some TBF pilots with more guts than I’ll ever know.
A miracle helped along by the fact that we could read all their coded messages:
http://www.navalhistory.org/2013/06/04/navy-cryptology-and-the-battle-of-midway-our-finest-hour
Navy Cryptology and the Battle of Midway: Our Finest Hour
A special feature of the BATTLE OF MIDWAY ROUNDTABLE
by LCDR Philip H. Jacobsen, USN-Ret
(Editor’s note: the following is the text of an address given by LCDR Jacobsen to a gathering of Naval Security Group personnel at San Diego in 2000. It has been edited slightly for clarity and to better suit this format.)
The Advent of U.S. Naval Cryptology
Although my part in the Battle of Midway was very small, I appreciate this opportunity to relate to you some of the more important achievements of my contemporary naval cryptologists that made the success of the Battle of Midway possible. As a current member of the Naval Security Group, you can take pride in the great accomplishments of your predecessors, not only related to the Battle of Midway but long before World War II as well as throughout World War II.
There are not many naval cryptologic veterans alive today that were involved in providing the communications intelligence information that gave our inferior forces on land, sea and especially in the air the equalizer of knowing the composition of enemy forces, and when and where those huge Japanese forces would attack U.S. territory under Admiral Yamamoto’s grandiose invasion plan. This crucial communications intelligence information, when combined with the heroic actions of fighting forces under the brilliant command of Admiral Nimitz, led to the great U.S. victory in the Battle of Midway.
The above is just part of this great story. Go to the link for the rest of the story: http://www.navalhistory.org/2013/06/04/navy-cryptology-and-the-battle-of-midway-our-finest-hour
The coded messages basically let them know Midway was the target. Beyond that small starting place, it was basically guts and skill of the aircrews.
The codebreaking didn’t lead our planes to the Jap fleet, etc. The location and attack on that ememy fleet was pure naval skill.
The Japs were never found via radar or anything else.
The codebreaking kept the attack on Midway from being a surprise, but did little beyond that.