Steeljaw Scribe

"I can run wild for six months … after that, I have no expectation of success." - Fleet Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto
In racing there is a saying - ‘luck is where preparation meets opportunity’ Perhaps there is no truer an example than the Battle of Midway. Popular literature seems to emphasize the American forces [...]

In carrying out the task assigned … you will be governed by the principle of calculated risk, which you shall interpret to mean the avoidance of exposure of our forces without good prospect on inflicting, as a result of such exposure, greater damage on the enemy. (Extract from CINCPAC Operational Order to TF 17 Commander)

In [...]

WEDNESDAY, 3 JUNE 1942
ALASKA: In an attempt to divert forces from the Midway area, a Japanese carrier-based bombers and fighters bomb and strafe Ft Mears and Dutch Harbor in several waves inflicting little damage but killing 52 US personnel. P-40s from Cold Bay trying to intercept them arrive 10 minutes after the last attack [...]

Task Force 17 - Rear Admiral Frank J. Fletcher in Yorktown
Task Group 17.5 Carrier Group - CAPT Elliott Buckmaster

USS Yorktown (CV-5) CAPT Buckmaster

CVG-5 - LCDR Oscar Pederson

VS-5 LT Wallace Clark Short, [...]

EUROPE:
Britain launches its first 1000-plane bomber raid - the target: Cologne, Germany.
CHINA-BURMA-INDIA:
Myitkyina, Burma is again hit by B-17’s. Again no activity is observed and the attacks are discontinued. HQ 7th Bombardment Group transfers from Karachi to Dum-Dum, India.
ALASKA:
77th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 28th Composite Group, based at Elmendorf Field, Anchorage, Territory [...]

Pacific Theater:
ALASKA (11th Air Force): A B-17 flies the first armed reconnaissance from the secretly constructed airfield at Unmak , Aleutian over the Aleutian Chain, but finds no sign of the enemy. XI Fighter Command elements are not deployed at Unmak (P-40’s and P-38’s), Cold Bay (P-40’s), Kodiak (P-39’s), and Elmendorf Field [P-38's and [...]

“The Inland Sea of Japan was still veiled in darkness when the anchorage at Hashirajima began to awaken. On board the aircraft carrier Akagi, white-clad crewmen, ghostly in the deep twilight on the forecastle, began raising the ship’s anchors. The clatter of the capstan was overlain with the bright sound of spraying [...]

KIDO BUTAI

First Carrier Striking Force
VADM Nagumo Chuichi
Chief of Staff: RADM Kusaka Ryunosuke

Carrier Division 1 – VADM Nagumo

Akagi (flagship) – Captain Aoki Taijiro, commanding
18 x A6M2 carrier fighters (aka Zero)
[...]

Timeline: SUNDAY, 24 MAY 1942USN - Carriers Hornet and Enterprise move towards Pearl Harbor, where they will quickly be refitted and sent to Midway. The Japanese preparing to attack Midway mistakenly believe these carriers are in the Solomons.
Geography: Midway Atoll is part of a chain of volcanic islands, atolls, and sea mounts extending from Hawaii [...]

Sunday, 17 May 1942. PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, 7th Air Force): The 7th Air Force is placed on alert in anticipation of a possible attack on Midway. For the next 10 days the old B-18’s on hand are used on sea searches to supplement the B-17’s. VII Bomber Command receives an influx of B-17’s during [...]