Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942

by Ian W. Toll

  450 “Although I was separated”: Cheek account in Russell, ed., No Right to Win, p. 82.

  451 “Some men had one foot”: Oral history: Lt. Joseph P. Pollard.

  451 The first, at frame 90: Commanding Officer, USS Yorktown, to CINCPAC. Battle of Midway after-action report, June 18, 1942. Enclosure C: Engineering.

  452 “At long intervals”: Cheek account in Russell, ed., No Right to Win, p. 83.

  452 “As each wave broke”: Bill Roy account in ibid., p. 86.

  453 Whaleboats and destroyers moved in: Otis G. Kight account in “Veterans’ Biographies,” p. 33.

  453 “Drink this!”: Cheek account in Russell, ed., No Right to Win, p. 85.

  453 hauled aboard a destroyer: Herman A. Kelley account in “Veterans’ Biographies,” p. 32.

  453 “If four carriers are smashed”: Casey, Torpedo Junction, p. 383.

  454 with three groups of bombers attacking her: For a description of this attack, see Parshall and Tully, Shattered Sword, pp. 326–27.

  454 “very strong vibrations”: Maruyama account in Werneth, ed., Beyond Pearl Harbor, p. 186.

  455 “Hiryu hit by bombs”: Fuchida and Okumiya, Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, p. 248.

  455 “demonstrated just how out of touch”: Parshall and Tully, Shattered Sword, p. 320.

  455 “The enemy task force”: Nagumo’s action report, June 15, 1942. Part III, “Description of the Operation.”

  456 “so strangely optimistic”: Fuchida and Okumiya, Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, p. 248.

  456 “Even with my limited view”: Hara, Japanese Destroyer Captain, p. 92.

  456 “jangled nerves and bloodshot eyes”: Fuchida and Okumiya, Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, p. 249.

  456 “a very large oil field fire”: “Narrative by Lt. George Gay,” p. 10.

  458 “The inside of the hangar”: Yoshino account in Werneth, ed., Beyond Pearl Harbor, p. 142.

  458 the Akagi did not seem to be in her death throes: Furuta account in ibid., p. 24.

  458 “Negative”: Lundstrom, The First Team, p. 417.

  459 avoid “exposure to attack”: “Letter of Instructions,” covering “Operation Plan 29-42,” U.S. Pacific Fleet, CINCPAC File A16-3/(16); 27 May 1942.

  459 “I saw with my own eyes”: Thach account in Wooldridge, ed., Carrier Warfare in the Pacific, p. 64.

  459 “I had good officers”: Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon, Miracle at Midway, p. 333.

  460 their “sinking”: Nagumo’s action report, June 15, 1942. Part III, “Description of the Operation.” See also Parshall and Tully, Shattered Sword, pp. 334–35.

  460 lashed himself to an anchor: Fuchida and Okumiya, Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, p. 217.

  460 “entirely passive”: Entry for June 5, 1942, Ugaki, Fading Victory, pp. 145–46.

  461 “little prospect of challenging”: Ibid., p. 145.

  461 “Everyone inwardly recognized”: Fuchida and Okumiya, Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, p. 250.

  461 “You ought to know”: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, p. 320.

  461 “In shogi too much fighting”: Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon, Miracle at Midway, p. 319.

  462 “ought to have known”: Entry for June 5, 1942, Ugaki, Fading Victory, p. 147.

  462 “This battle is almost”: Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon, Miracle at Midway, p. 319.

  462 “(1) The Midway Operation is cancelled”: Fuchida and Okumiya, Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, p. 253.

  462 “We cannot sink”: Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon, Miracle at Midway, p. 320.

  462 The message went out to Nagumo: Ibid., p. 321.

  463 “Gradually, our once magnificent ship”: Suzuki account in Werneth, ed., Beyond Pearl Harbor, p. 92.

  463 “Half of the deck”: Maruyama account in ibid., p. 186.

  463 “Young men must leave”: Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon, Miracle at Midway, p. 313.

  463 “There is such a beautiful moon”: Thomas, Sea of Thunder, p. 84.

  465 That ship, the little 2,000-ton Tanikaze: Masashi Shibata’s account, “The Destroyer Tanikaze Returns from ‘The Sea of Death,’” in Fisher, Hooked, pp. 95–98.

  466 “a huge bathtub”: ARM3/c Ronald W. Graetz account in Russell, ed., No Right to Win, p. 124.

  466 “If planes are to be flown”: Buell, The Quiet Warrior, p. 158.

  466 “The scene was reminiscent”: Mears, Carrier Combat, p. 73.

  466 “wheels down and locked”: Gee account in Russell, ed., No Right to Win, p. 121.

  467 “It was weird to see”: Navy chief machinist’s mate Dwight G. DeHaven account in “Veterans’ Biographies,” pp. 15–16.

  468 “rang like a bell”: Ibid.

  468 “perhaps a hundred heads”: Nesmith, No Higher Honor, p. 253.

  469 “rocked up and rolled hard”: Roy account in Russell, ed., No Right to Win, p. 87.

  469 “We could hear the heavy machinery”: DeHaven account in “Veterans’ Biographies,”pp. 15–16.

  470 Captain Buckmaster, watching silently: Roy account in Russell, ed., No Right to Win, p. 88.

  Epilogue

  471 “a feeling, an intuition”: Spruance’s Foreword in Fuchida and Okumiya, Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, p. 9.

  471 “When they were ready”: Fireman 1st class Elmer Jones account in Russell, ed., No Right to Win, pp. 153–54.

  472 “This was a cataclysm”: Casey, Torpedo Junction, p. 396.

  472 “Bit by bit”: Mears, Carrier Combat, p. 76.

  472 “irrevocable finality of death”: Buell, Dauntless Helldivers, p. 83.

  472 “The reaction of the pilots”: Mears, Carrier Combat, p. 76.

  472 “completely empty”: Ens. Clay Fisher account in Russell, ed., No Right to Win, p. 125.

  473 “Going through every person’s”: Mears, Carrier Combat, p. 77.

  473 “It turns out that we have fought”: Casey, Torpedo Junction, p. 395.

  473 “a rather primitive affair”: Layton, “And I Was There,” p. 434.

  473 “as frantic as I have ever seen him”: Ibid., p. 441.

  473 “You who have participated”: Potter, Nimitz, pp. 99, 107.

  474 “Perhaps we will be forgiven”: “Midway’ Spurs Pun by Admiral Nimitz,” Associated Press, June 7, 1942.

  474 “You are just like”: Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon, Miracle at Midway, p. 328.

  474 The surface ships were crowded: Ibid.

  474 “It didn’t sink”: Navy seaman 3rd class Miyasato Yoshihito letter, in Gibney, ed., Senso, p. 130.

  474 “We had no choice”: Entry for June 8, 1942, Ugaki, Fading Victory, p. 158.

  475 “looked as if he felt”: Prados, Combined Fleet Decoded, p. 335.

  475 “suffered from a stomachache”: Entry for June 7, 1942, Ugaki, Fading Victory, p. 157.

  475 “had been out of action”: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, p. 321.

  475 “all his responsibility”: Ibid.

  475 “Admittedly, we are not in a position”: Entry for June 10, 1942, Ugaki, Fading Victory, p. 160.

  475 Ugaki tried to ease: Ibid., p. 162.

  476 “The routine of the returning airmen”: Mears, Carrier Combat, pp. 77–78.

  476 “In comparison with the losses”: C. Brooks Peters, “Report by Admiral King,” New York Times, June 8, 1942, p. 1.

  477 “If it had not been for what you did”: Spruance to Fletcher, June 8, 1942, Raymond Spruance Papers, U.S. Naval War College (USNWC) Archives.

  477 “As far as attacks made on you”: Cleary, The Japanese Art of War, p. 79.

  478 “We were shot with luck”: Fragment of undated and unaddressed correspondence, signed by Spruance, in Raymond Spruance Papers, USNWC MS Collection 12, series I, correspondence.

  478 “All that I can claim credit for”: Spruance’s Foreword in Fuchida and Okumiya, Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, p. 8.

  478 By one historian’s estimate: Peattie, Sunburst, p. 174.
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  480 “Perhaps it was exhaustion”: Holmes, Double-Edged Secrets, p. 100.

  480 “This thing was a great big”: “The Reminiscences of Captain Joseph J. Rochefort, U.S. Navy (Retired),” U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD, 1983, p. 266.

  480 “essentially a victory of intelligence”: Kahn, The Codebreakers, p. 573.

  481 “make a silk purse” . . . “were perfectly capable”: “The Reminiscences of Captain Thomas H. Dyer, U.S. Navy (Retired),” U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD, 1986, p. 247.

  481 “To Commander Joe Rochefort”: Beach, The United States Navy: A 200-Year History, p. 450

  481 single “most important combatant”: Russell, ed., No Right to Win, pp. 170–73.

  481 “an ex-Japanese language student”: Layton, “And I Was There,” p. 451.

  481 “Pearl Harbor had missed the boat”: Ibid., p. 450.

  482 “I have given a great deal of thought”: Ibid., p. 452.

  482 “It was not the individual”: Holmes, Double-Edged Secrets, p. 117.

  482 “We felt that we had earned”: “The Reminiscences of Captain Joseph J. Rochefort, U.S. Navy (Retired),” pp. 238, 254.

  482 “This is terrible”: Asai Tatsuzo account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 206.

  482 “seemed strangely confused”: Yoshimura, Battleship Musashi, p. 128.

  482 “I had presumed the news”: Kido’s diary quoted in Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, p. 450.

  483 “Six carriers of the United States Navy”: Notes taken by Robert Casey, June 6, 1942, Casey, Torpedo Junction, p. 404.

  483 pictures taken from the air . . . A column of soldiers: Kokusai Shashin Joho (International Graphic Magazine), June 1, 1942.

  483 “It is curious that the enemy”: “Only One Carrier Lost, Says Tokyo,” New York Times, June 11, 1942, p. 4.

  484 “Now that America’s northern attack”: Rr. Adm. Tanetsugu Sosa, “Plans for Invading America,” Nichi Nichi, June 11, 1942, cited in Tolischus, Through Japanese Eyes, p. 154.

  484 “but will not be manned”: Parshall and Tully, Shattered Sword, p. 388.

  484 “promptly announced”: Fuchida and Okumiya, Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, p. 16.

  485 “My room was placed”: Ibid.

  485 “the vital cause of defeat”: Minoru Genda account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 27.

  485 “We met with fiasco”: Goldstein and Dillon, eds., The Pacific War Papers, p. 313.

  486 “If the war should be protracted”: “Tokyo Press Hints at Midway Defeat,” New York Times, June 10, 1942, p. 1.

  486 “their capacity to replace”: C. Brooks Peters, “Report by Admiral King,” New York Times, June 8, 1942, p. 1.

  486 “100 million advancing”: Dower, War Without Mercy, p. 215.

  487 “true combat power is arms”: Hata Shoryu account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 210.

  487 “to die as one of the emperor’s limbs”: Hirosawa Ei account in ibid., p. 247.

  487 “did not become a vital consideration”: Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, p. 438.

  488 “There are some patriotic citizens”: Elmer Davis quoted in ibid., p. 437.

  488 William Knudsen: Brinkley, Washington Goes to War, p. 173.

  489 Between 1940 and 1943: Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, p. 354.

  489 “leaving only an inch” . . . “under arms”: Kernan, Crossing the Line, p. 7.

  489 “Let go of your cocks”: Davis, Sinking the Rising Sun, p. 49.

  489 “Guns were loaded”: Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, p. 14.

  490 “were the sad places of the war”: Hynes, Flights of Passage, pp. 109–10.

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