Midway

USS Yorktown at Midway

bigpigeon.us webpage WWII-Japan > Japan Overreaches > Midway, © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 4 Jan 2023.
Operations MI and FI Thwarted, Battle of Midway - 4-7 June 1942
This webpage is incomplete.

Operation MI was the 1942 Japanese plan to occupy the tiny island cluster of Midway, northwest of the Hawaiian Islands.

Japanese planners hoped to use Midway as a base for further attacks to the south on Fiji, Samoa, and Hawaii, thus extending the Japanese defense perimeter and further isolating Australia.

The Imperial Japanese Navy gathered a force which included four large aircraft carriers for the Operation MI attack.

Via a broken code and a clever ruse, US Navy intelligence learned of Operation MI plans, which included a diversionary attack on the Aleutian Islands far to the north. Forces on Midway were beefed up and all three available US aircraft carriers in the Pacific, the Yorktown, Enterprise, and Hornet, were sent to the Midway area. Wisely, the US chose not to contest the diversionary attack.

June 1942 Japanese Naval Operation MI

With a combination of good intelligence, personal courage, and good luck, US forces prevailed in the climatic Battle of Midway. Japan lost four large aircraft carriers to American dive bombers, while the United States lost the carrier Yorktown.

More importantly, the Japanese lost momentum. After their Midway defeat, Japan cancelled Operation FI, the planned offensive to extend Japanese power further into the South Pacific.

Afterward -- The main US logistics lines in the Pacific remained far south of Midway. However, for some time Midway was important as an advance air and submarine base.

The following timeline is taken from https://sites.google.com/site/battleofmidwayorg/timeline but is heavily edited. I have used military time.

Battle of Midway timeline - 4 June 1942:

04:30 - 108 aircraft leave the four Japanese carriers to attack Midway.
05:34 - Japanese ships located by a PBY from Midway.
06:30 - Japanese attack begins and lasts for 20 minutes, with major losses of American fighter aircraft and moderate loss of Japanese aircraft.
07:10 - Series of uncoordinated US air attacks from Midway Island on Japanese fleet begin.
07:15 - Nagumo orders second air strike against Midway Island.
07:28 - Japanese recon plane spots undetermined US ship 200 miles away.
07:40 - Nagumo cancels 07:15 order and orders strike against US ships.
June 4- 07:52 a.m. USS Enterprise and Hornet launch bombers and torpedo planes.
08:20 - Japanese identify US carriers.
June 4- 08:37 a.m. Aircraft from 2nd wave of the Japanese start to return, to refuel and to rearm.
June 4- 09:00 a.m. USS Yorktown launches attack on Japanese carrier force as a main target.
June 4- 09:18 a.m. Yamamoto learns of the attack and changes course.
09:18 - 10:20 - US carrier-based torpedo squadrons (from the Hornet, Enterprise and Yorktown) are in turn spotted and destroyed by the Japanese Combat Air Patrols.
10:22 - US carrier-based dive bomber squadrons from the Enterprise and Yorktown attack Japanese carriers. Kaga, Soryu, and Akagi are struck and subsequently sink.
June 4- 10:25 a.m. Follow up wave finds Japanese carriers while aircraft are refueling and trying to get rearmed.
11:00 - .
10:54 - Hiryu launches a strike against the US carriers with 18 dive bombers and six fighter escorts.
12:05 - Yorktown is hit by three bombs from Hiryu aircraft.
13:30 - Hiryu launches a second strike against the US carriers with 10 torpedo bombers and six fighter escorts.
14:30 - Yorktown is hit by two aerial torpedoes from Hiryu aircraft. I have seen 16:20 as the time.
15:00 - Yorktown abandoned and it is taken in tow by the USS Vireo.
16:10 - Soryu sinks.
17:00 - Dive bomber raids from Lexington and Enterprise cripple Hiryu.
19:25 - Kaga sinks.

Battle of Midway timeline - 5 June 1942:

03:15 - Hiryu abandoned.
05:00 - Akagi sinks.
09:12 - Hiryu sinks.

Battle of Midway timeline - 6 June 1942:

15:40 - Yorktown is in tow by Vireo w/ USS Hammann alongside. Japanese submarine I-168 fires a spread of four torpedoes, two hitting Yorktown and one hitting Hammann. Hammann explodes and sinks.

Battle of Midway timeline - 7 June 1942:

07:01 - USS Yorktown sinks.

Sources for Big Pigeon's Japan Overreaches > Midway webpage:

The page header photo, USS Enterprise at Midway, courtesy of theatlantic.com, shows the preparation of Torpedo Squadron VT-6 for their fatal flight. Of the 41 planes of the three torpedo squadrons that flew from American carriers at Midway, only six returned.
The June 1942 Japanese Naval Operation MI is courtesy of pinterest.com

Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - Japan Overreaches > Midway webpage:

Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Roster module.

06-02 - Japan Overreaches > Midway (two dead, updated 6 Jan 2023)
† Decker, Richard Charles, SN 17-017-220, US Army Air Force, Pott. Co.

Detachment, 69th Bomb. Sqdn., 38th Bomb. Gp., based at Hickam Field, Oahu, Hawaii Territory & deployed to Midway Is., Hawaii Territory 29 May 1942; Martin B-26B Marauder #41-17570 nose gunner w/ pilot William S. Watson; KIA 4 Jun 1942 off Midway Is.; low-level torpedo attack by four Marauders on Japanese fleet, two planes lost, each w/ crew of seven, no survivors, remaining planes damaged; Japan Overreaches > Midway; BNR.

† Mowrey, Robert Edward, also served as Mowery, Robert E, SN 308610, US Marine Corps Aviation, Pott. Co.

Marine Fighter Sqdn. VMF-221, Marine Air Group 22, 2nd Marine Air Wing; KIA 4 Jun 1942 Midway Is., Hawaii Territory; direct hit on aircraft rearming station during air attack; Japan Overreaches > Midway.