[moonshot925]

4 Japanese fleet carriers sunk in one day. Kaga, Akagi, Soryu and Hiryu. 4 June 1942 was the death of the IJN.

[Argus]

Here’s a great commemorative short film about some of the men who gave all at Midway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aYVko3zJrQ

[skeeter]

American victory at Midway couldn't have been any more dramatic, and it did swing momentum from the Japanese to the Americans.

But because of the Japanese distribution of forces we weren't as overmatched as is commonly thought - it really boiled down to three American decks & and island base with 450 aircraft versus four Japanese decks and 270 aircraft.

Though they had momentum on their side the Japanese were beaten before the battle even started by virtue of their tactical plan - forces to widely spread - and strategic goal - split between taking Midway and destroying US naval airpower.

[onona]

Great Story, Thanks for posting.

[yarddog]

Every time I read or see on film the accounts these WWII battles by the Navy, Marines, Army etc. it astounds me.

They were incredibly brave and also incredibly capable.

[yarddog]

The Japanese Naval aviators before WWII were the most selective and also most highly trained of any. They were so selective that once they lost a lot of those prewar aviators their replacements were not even close.

They also lost a lot of maintenance crews.

they probably could replace the carriers but not those superb air crew.

[central_va]

The hero of midway - the SBD Dauntless.

[AU72]

When Yamamoto was asked for his assesment of a war with the US if Japan got in the first punch he said the IJN would run wild for a year but the correlation of forces would eventualy crush us.

He was off by exactly 6 months.

[Jacquerie]

America's Trafalgar.

For some reason, unlike the RN and Trafalgar, the USN does not hold fleet-wide Midway celebrations.

[neodad]

The attack of the SBDs was 15 minutes that changed the world. I’ve sailed over the spot where the Yorktown sank in RIMPAC 1994 Very moving to sail those same seas.

[lapsus calami]

 

 

Would have been a great article except for the manipulative way it was written. They put it as if all he was or allowed to be was a steward. BULL****. When the feces hit the fan, everbody had a battle station. Everybody. Cooks, orderlies, stewards and so forth weren't just hiding below decks, washing dishes and polishing the silverware when the shooting started, they had battle duties to attend to and were cross-trained to perform those duties, such as loading and operating the elevators from the magazine below decks to keep the guns above fed and operating, shell handling at the gun emplacements, damage & fire control - many jobs that required participation by all personnel to insure the survival of the ship and crew. Going by what was in the article, it seems Mr. Mills was certainly involved in damage control and firefighting and consider it an insult to him and his service that they did not go into detail concerning his full duties and capabilities. But that wouldn't fit the agenda of fueling racial tensions and keeping old wounds picked open and bleeding, would it?

 

 

 

[Bratch]

The major thing I took from reading Herman Wouk's War and Remembrance was the courage and valor of the pilots of the torpedo planes who knew that, without a fighter escort, they were on a suicide mission.

But they went in anyway.

[yarddog]

Another thing these early battles proved was just how vulnerable aircraft carriers were to dive bombers. A single 500lb bomb could destroy one.

[jmacusa]

The Navy had broken the Japanese Naval Code(JN25), that helped. The Japs didn’t have radar, that helped too. Personally, I think just six months after Pearl Harbor the US Navy was just Hell-bent for revenge. God Bless the US Navy and Naval Aviation..

[Figment]

Six months after Pearl Harbor the war was lost for all intents and purposes in this one battle. There were a lot of battles to be fought yet, but the Japs weren’t going to win the war

[redangus]

Midway, El Alamein and Stalingrad, 1942 a bad year for the Axis forces

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Stop by the WWII +70 Years thread tomorrow. We will be following the events of June 4 with several up to the minute posts as the battle unfolds.

[Rock N Jones]

It should be remembered that prior to WW ll the US was isolated from foreign attack and many Americans wanted no part of a war across the Pacific or the Atlantic but aircraft carriers abruptly changed that. Pearl Harbor was a cataclysmic shock to Americans that totally united the country to defend and retaliate. Japs made a huge mistake attacking Pearl Harbor and fortunately for the Japanese Japan still exist as a country today and not an empty hole in the sea.

WW ll changed the world and put technology in the fast lane and that of course has been a great benefit to the herds residing on planet Earth but God only knows what the next world war will bring.