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2008-06-04 -Short Attention Span Theater-

Today in History: Midway, 1942

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Posted by Mike 2008-06-04 06:25|| || Front Page|| [6 views ] Top

#1 www.ussswashington.com has the best account of the battle (and of the parts of WWII it tells about) I have ever read. Never before I have been so aware of what was at stake and of the despaitr induced by Allies string of defeats. Pity that it stops with Torch.

BTW, the reason the Japanese were unable to launch a strike earlier is because the design of their carriers forced them to refuel/rearm the planes on the deck. And the decks (1) were alearedy taken by the continuous flow of Zeros needing to be rearmed after having spent the ammo of their 20mm cannon: their 30cl machine guns were nearly useless against american planes and the Zero carried a very small amount of 20mm cannon. Thus the seemingly useless but continuous attacks coming from Midway and the carrier impeded Nagumo of launching an attack sooner.

(1) Before the invention of the diagonal deck a carrier could launch or take planes but not both. And in Japanese carriers it was still worse: you couldn't even prepare for launching a strike when planes were landing.

Posted by JFM">JFM 2008-06-04 08:45|| 2008-06-04 08:45|| Front Page Top

#2 ..Torpedo Squadron 8 from USS Hornet - 45 men and 15 aircraft went in, one man survived. Torpedo 5 from Yorktown and Torpedo 6 from Enterprise took losses very nearly as severe.
The thing to keep in mind is that these men KNEW they had almost no chance of survival, but launched anyways.

Where do we find such men?....

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2008-06-04 08:47|| 2008-06-04 08:47|| Front Page Top

#3 Where do we find such men?....

Right now, you find them in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-06-04 09:41|| 2008-06-04 09:41|| Front Page Top

#4 OS is right. The all volunteer force we have is filled with them.

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2008-06-04 09:51|| 2008-06-04 09:51|| Front Page Top

#5 OS is right. The all volunteer force we have is filled with them.

And I'd be willing to be damned few of them plan to vote for Obama.

Posted by Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 2008-06-04 10:20|| 2008-06-04 10:20|| Front Page Top

#6 A short wiki-walk took me to
Miles Browning
Interesting read. I can understand why he was written out of the movies. If they did a movie about Midway now, he would be one of the main characters. Chevy Chase could play him.

Posted by Penguin 2008-06-04 11:03|| 2008-06-04 11:03|| Front Page Top

#7 Thanks for the link to Browning, Penguin. Very, very impressive. And, little mentioned. Amazing how just a couple of folks like him and Patton actually provided most of the strategy to save the entire military during WW II. Midway was the linchpin in Pacific and George's rampages behind German lines in France saved Ike for certain.

Posted by Woozle Elmeter 2700 2008-06-04 11:41|| 2008-06-04 11:41|| Front Page Top

#8 JFM: suggest you pick up a copy of Shattered Sword, which is the best Midway book I've ever read.

Posted by Mike 2008-06-04 12:55|| 2008-06-04 12:55|| Front Page Top

#9 Thank you Mike. A hidden strength of American carriers through the war seems to have been better damage control (be it equipment or crew training). When reading about Coral Sea and the battles around Guadalcanal I noticed that American carriers ever looked like they required much more hits than equal sized japanse carriers in order to be sunk/put out of action. (In Usswashington.com I learned that at Midway pipes containing gasoline were emptied and filled with CO2).

Also in the requirements for the Japanese carriers after Midway there was an emphasis inthe use of uninflamble paint. I deduce that the japanese believed that paint catching fire had been a factor in the loss of their carriers.

Sometimes it os those little details who make a seemingly formidable force being dedeated by one who looked inferior.

Posted by JFM">JFM 2008-06-04 17:36|| 2008-06-04 17:36|| Front Page Top

#10 See also BATTLE 360: USS ENTERPRISE on History Channel {MIDWAY segment]; + books THAT GALLANT SHIP - USS YORKTOWN, + MIDWAY: BATTLE OF DECISION.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-06-04 19:26|| 2008-06-04 19:26|| Front Page Top

#11 JFM US CVs purged fuel lines with ~~inert~~ non-flammable gas after refueling, it was a novel concept at the time. Also, US ships had the ever useful mattress for damage control, hamocks not work so good.

Posted by George Smiley 2008-06-04 20:16|| 2008-06-04 20:16|| Front Page Top

#12 Nevermind, JFM, so it was CO2.

Posted by George Smiley 2008-06-04 20:26|| 2008-06-04 20:26|| Front Page Top

#13 IIRC, MORRISON > it was after SAVO ISLAND that the USN mandated improvements to shipboard firefighting + damage control.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-06-04 21:55|| 2008-06-04 21:55|| Front Page Top

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