When word of the American attack in the Kido Butai, and the subsequent destruction of the Kaga, Akagi and Soryu, made its way back to Admiral Yamamoto aboard his flagship Yamato, he was stunned. Information […]
Just before noon, and before the Japanese began their attacks on her, the Yorktown had launched a search mission consisting of 10 SBD Dauntlesses. After almost three hours one of these aircraft came across the […]
The vicious dive-bombing attack by the American SBDs on three of Kido Butai’s carriers had left the Japanese reeling, but not completely out of the fight. One carrier, Hiryū, remained intact having manoeuvred away from […]
The American dive bomber force launched with the torpedo bombers, but each of the three squadrons involved took paths to the target the diverged greatly from the torpedo squadrons, and from each other. The contingent […]
Task Force 16 – Enterprise and Hornet, under RAdm Raymond Spruance – sailed for Midway on the 29th of May, just two days after Kido Butai departed from Japan. RAdm Frank Fletcher’s Task Force 17, […]
As American search planes criss-crossed the skies around Midway, the Japanese Mobile Striking Force, the Kido Butai, approached undetected from the north west. A weather front had concealed the fleet, curtailing flight operations and giving […]
Due to the vast distances between the islands of the Central Pacific, both the Americans and the Japanese used long range patrol aircraft extensively to keep an eye on the vast expanse of ocean separating […]
Often described as a diversionary attack to draw American forces away from Midway, the Japanese attack on Dutch Harbor on the 3rd and 4th of June, 1942, was in fact a distinct operation. The Japanese […]
By March 1942 the Japanese had accomplished their pre-war goals of capturing the Netherlands East Indies and Malaya, together with the rich oil fields which they hoped would supply their economy. Burma was on the […]
The Japanese, keen to press back against the Americans in the Central Pacific as well as keeping up-to-date with developments at Pearl Harbor, planned an audacious mission to conduct a combined bombing/reconnaissance attack on the […]
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