oldcrowcv63
Tech Sergeant
It seems to me that the IJN would have won the Battle of Midway if they had changed there codes and not handed the USN the oportunity to ambush them.
I agree that the USN had better aerial recon than the IJN in that area - but the IJN also had submarines out scouting and it was more by bad luck on the IJN's part that they did not locate the US carriers in time.
Once the battle had begun, the USN torpedo bombers pulled the Zero's down to sea level to beat them off - leaving no top cover to disrupt the dive bombers. It was also a stroke of good look for the USN that there attack ended up being disjointed as it was this that allowed the dive bombers to follow a IJN destroyer and hence find the un protected carriers.
Like most battles, it is not always the best prepared or larger force that prevails, sometimes you just have to hope lady luck is on your side. At Midway she smiled on the USN!
No offense Vinnye, but that's the old long-accepted myth restated. It's been published so many times it's become Canon. The SBDs would have gotten through in any event. Proven time and time again. (perhaps the only possible exception being the Akagi which only attracted three SBDs. The Zero CAP, of which many were pulled down to low altitude by the first two squadrons had ample time to ascend to the dive bomber's altitude, if altitude was the only criteria for an intercept. However, lateral positioning also plays an important role and both USN and IJN aviators were saavy enough to avoid the other's defending CAP if at all possible. The Dive bombers would often stalk their targets from other than the threat axis.
If anyone deserved credit for drawing the ZERO cap down (for however much benefit to the USN it may have done) is Yorktown's VT-5 and Thach's 6 escorting F4F's.
I do agree that changing IJN codes earlier would have posed real problems for the USN which at that time was typically keeping two carriers close to PH. The YKTN had to return to PH for repair but that might not have been expedited had IJN code's been changed much earlier instead of (IIRC) right before the battle.
The Yorktown strike which took out the Soryu didn't follow anything but their preflight orders. They didn't need to find the IJN by following a destroyer. They flew essentially directly to the IJN fleet because they took off later with better intel as to its actual location, IIRC. In this case, I think Fletcher's decision to delay launching his strike for about 30 minutes worked to his benefit.
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