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Post by vegalyra on Feb 13, 2018 19:16:00 GMT
One thing I never understood about the Battle of Midway was why the Japanese withdrew even after losing their fleet aircraft carriers. The Americans had such a small fleet comparatively speaking to the Japanese that were positioned close to Midway Island and the Americans basically lost Yorktown even if she was still afloat. The Enterprise and Hornet lost their torpedo groups for the most part and the land based aircraft on Midway were mostly destroyed. It seems that the Japanese would have been capable to still landing their occupation force and be able to dispatch any surface fleet the US put up against the Yamato and the other 6 battleships. The Japanese also still had two light carriers (Zuiho and Hosho) although their aircraft complement was light and/or second line aircraft. Cruiser wise the Japanese outnumbered the Americans as well. While a surface engagement might have been costly, battleship superiority alone would have dictated the outcome of the battle in my opinion. The Americans had very little in reserve in Hawaii and California. It seems that it would have been worth risking the Japanese battleships and cruisers to limited American air strikes in order to take the island. Can anyone that knows more about the battle chime in on this?
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Post by TheGoodMan19 on Feb 28, 2018 1:08:23 GMT
One thing I never understood about the Battle of Midway was why the Japanese withdrew even after losing their fleet aircraft carriers. The Americans had such a small fleet comparatively speaking to the Japanese that were positioned close to Midway Island and the Americans basically lost Yorktown even if she was still afloat. The Enterprise and Hornet lost their torpedo groups for the most part and the land based aircraft on Midway were mostly destroyed. It seems that the Japanese would have been capable to still landing their occupation force and be able to dispatch any surface fleet the US put up against the Yamato and the other 6 battleships. The Japanese also still had two light carriers (Zuiho and Hosho) although their aircraft complement was light and/or second line aircraft. Cruiser wise the Japanese outnumbered the Americans as well. While a surface engagement might have been costly, battleship superiority alone would have dictated the outcome of the battle in my opinion. The Americans had very little in reserve in Hawaii and California. It seems that it would have been worth risking the Japanese battleships and cruisers to limited American air strikes in order to take the island. Can anyone that knows more about the battle chime in on this? I always thought shock was the reason. To say that Midway hadn't gone the way Yamamoto had planned was an understatement. He had expected to take Midway then slaughter the US fleet as it reacted. Four carriers were at the bottom and Midway's defenses hadn't been neutralized. Yamamoto and Nagumo had no way of knowing what the US had out there and no way to find out. They didn't know that the US surface fleet was, for the most part, back in Hawaii. They were also a long way from home. Supplies, especially fuel, had to be running low. The Japanese had miscalculated badly and didn't want to make things worse by blindly continuing. Don't forget, the capture of Midway Island was secondary. The main objective was to destroy the US Pacific Fleet. Pardon the pun, but that ship had sailed. |
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Post by vegalyra on Feb 28, 2018 14:21:12 GMT
Good answer, I appreciate the feedback. That makes sense that the Japanese didn't have a clear understanding of just how much of the remaining US Pacific fleet was out there. I know they were confused about just how many US carriers were out there to begin with.
This is just a sidenote, but I really wish that the US Navy or private funds had been found to save the Enterprise after the war. What a piece of history.
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Post by TheGoodMan19 on Feb 28, 2018 20:05:59 GMT
Good answer, I appreciate the feedback. That makes sense that the Japanese didn't have a clear understanding of just how much of the remaining US Pacific fleet was out there. I know they were confused about just how many US carriers were out there to begin with. This is just a sidenote, but I really wish that the US Navy or private funds had been found to save the Enterprise after the war. What a piece of history. The Japanese had to be further confused when they learned that Yorktown was at Midway. They were sure that both Yorktown and Lexington were sunk at Coral Sea. Their intelligence were certain that the Pacific Fleet only had two carriers left, Enterprise and a "Saratoga Class" carrier, whether they thought that to be Hornet or the actual Saratoga. They further bamboozled themselves by stating they sunk both carriers at Midway. And I agree about Enterprise. The most decorated ship in naval history was turned into razor blades. USS Intrepid is still intact in NY Harbor. Why wasn't Enterprise made into a museum? I'd imagine all the Star Trek fans would want to see the original. |
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Post by vegalyra on Feb 28, 2018 20:30:04 GMT
Good answer, I appreciate the feedback. That makes sense that the Japanese didn't have a clear understanding of just how much of the remaining US Pacific fleet was out there. I know they were confused about just how many US carriers were out there to begin with. This is just a sidenote, but I really wish that the US Navy or private funds had been found to save the Enterprise after the war. What a piece of history. The Japanese had to be further confused when they learned that Yorktown was at Midway. They were sure that both Yorktown and Lexington were sunk at Coral Sea. Their intelligence were certain that the Pacific Fleet only had two carriers left, Enterprise and a "Saratoga Class" carrier, whether they thought that to be Hornet or the actual Saratoga. They further bamboozled themselves by stating they sunk both carriers at Midway. And I agree about Enterprise. The most decorated ship in naval history was turned into razor blades. USS Intrepid is still intact in NY Harbor. Why wasn't Enterprise made into a museum? I'd imagine all the Star Trek fans would want to see the original. Yeah I agree. I realize funds were/are always in short supply for museum ships but she was a true war hero. I live outside of Houston and unless something is done soon, the USS Texas (only surviving dreadnought era battleship) will go back to nature before too long. It's very unfortunate how some of these relics are treated. I've been to the USS Yorktown, Lexington (Essex class of course) and USS Alabama and they are all in fairly good condition thankfully. I need to visit the USS Intrepid one day soon. |
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