1942-06-04
Battle of Midway
Northwest of Midway
Fletcher's Yorktown and Spruance's Enterprise and Hornet met Nagumo's four carriers. American dive bombers sank Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu on 4 June. Hiryu's aircraft crippled Yorktown, and Hiryu was sunk later that day. I-168 then sank Hammann and the abandoned Yorktown. The submarine Nautilus got in among the Japanese ships and was hunted by the destroyer Arashi. Arashi then hurried back toward the carriers, and Enterprise's dive bombers followed her wake to the fleet. Kurita's cruisers came in afterward. On 5 June the submarine Tambor sighted them. They turned, Mogami collided with Mikuma, and aircraft sank Mikuma on 6 June. Yamamoto's battleships and the transport convoy were not in the carrier fight. The Japanese submarine cordon did not get on station in time. I-168 did, and she sank Hammann and Yorktown. Four more American submarines were patrolling north of Oahu and were not in the battle.
A diagram of how this fight went will go here.
