The Battle of Midway (Pivotal Moments in American History)

by Craig L. Symonds

  Air Commander for Battle of Midway, CDR Logan C. Ramsey, USN

  Commander Patrol Wing Two, RADM Patrick N. Bellinger

  VP-23, VP-24, VP-44, VP-53, and a detachment of VT-8

  (31 PBY Catalinas, and 6 TBF Avengers)

  Commander, Marine Aircraft Group 22, LCOL Ira L. Kimes, USMC

  Commander, VMF-221, MAJ Floyd B. Parks, USMC

  (21 F2A-3 Buffaloes, 7 F4F-3 Wildcats)

  Commander, VMSB-241, MAJ Lofton R. Henderson, USMC

  (19 SBD Devastators, 21 SB2U Vindicators)

  7th Army Air Corps, Bomber Command, MGEN Willis P. Hale, USA

  431st Bomber Squadron, LCOL Walter C. Sweeny, Jr., USA

  (19 B-17 Flying Fortresses)

  69th Bomber Squadron, CAPT James F. Collins, USA

  (4 B-26 Marauders)

  APPENDIX D

  Japanese Order of Battle at Midway

  (carriers in bold face)

  Commander, Japanese Combined Fleet (CinC), ADM Yamamoto Isoroku, IJN

  * * *

  Main Body (3 heavy battleships, 1 small carrier, 1 light cruiser, 9 destroyers)

  * * *

  Commander, Main Body, ADM Yamamoto, IJN

  Chief of Staff, RADM Ugaki Matome, IJN

  Battleship Division One

  BB Yamato (flagship), CAPT Takayanagi Gihachi, IJN

  BB Nagato, CAPT Yano Hideo, IJN

  BB Mutsu, CAPT Yamazumi Tejiro, IJN

  Carrier Group Accompanying Main Body

  Light Carrier Hōshō, CAPT Kaoru Umetani, IJN

  Commander, Hōshō Air Group, LT Irikiin Yoshiaki, IJN

  DD Yukaze, LCDR Kajimoto Shizuka

  Commander, Destroyer Squadron 3, RADM Hashimoto Shintarō, IJN

  CL Sendai, CAPT Morishita Nobue, IJN

  Commander, Destroyer Division 11, CAPT Shōji Kichirō, IJN

  DD Fubuki, CDR Yamashtia Shizuo, IJN

  DD Shirayuki, CDR Sugahara Rokorō, IJN

  DD Murakumo, CDR Higaashi Hideo, IJN

  DD Hatsuyuki, LCDR Kamiura Junnari, IJN

  Commander, Destroyer Division 19, CAPT Oe Ranji, IJN

  DD Isonami, CDR Sugama Ryōkichi, IJN

  DD Uranami, CDR Hagio Tsutomu, IJN

  DD Shikinami, CDR Kawahashi Akifumi, IJN

  DD Ayanami, CDR Sakuma Eiji, IJN

  Fueling Unit, CAPT Nishioka Shigeyasu, IJN

  AO Naruto, CAPT Nishioka

  The Main Body also included a “Special Force” of two tenders carrying midget submarines, plus a supply ship.

  * * *

  First Carrier Strike Force (The Kido Butai) (4 carriers, 2 battleships, 2 cruisers, 1 light cruiser, 12 destroyers)

  * * *

  Commander, First Carrier Strike Force, VADM Nagumo Chūichi, IJN

  Chief of Staff, RADM Kusaka Ryūnosuke, IJN

  Senior Air Officer, CDR Fuchida Mitsuo, IJN

  Commander, Carrier Division 1, VADM Nagumo

  CV Akagi (flagship), CAPT Aoki Taijirō, IJN

  Commander, Akagi Air Group, CDR Fuchida

  Commander, Fighter Planes (Kansen Buntai), LT Itaya Shigeru, IJN

  Commander, Bombing Force (Kanbaku Buntai), LT Chihaya Takehiro, IJN

  Commander, Torpedo Planes (Kanko Buntai), LCDR Murata Shigeharu, IJN

  Plus 6 fighters intended for Midway garrison

  CV Kaga, CAPT Jisaku Okada, IJN

  Commander, Kaga Air Group, LCDR Kusumi Tadashi, IJN

  Commander, Fighter Planes (Kansen Buntai), LT Satō Masao, IJN

  Commander, Bombing Force (Kanbaku Buntai), LT Ogawa Shō-ichi, IJN

  Commander, Torpedo Planes (Kanko Buntai), LT Kazuraki Masuhiko, IJN

  Plus 9 fighters and 2 bombers intended for Midway garrison

  Commander, Carrier Division 2, RADM Yamaguchi Tamon, IJN

  Air Officer, LCDR Egusa Takashige, IJN

  CV Hiryū (flagship), CAPT Kaku Tomoeo, IJN

  Commander, Hiryu Air Group, LT Tomanga Joichi, IJN

  Commander, Fighter Planes (Kansen Buntai), LT Mori Shigeru, IJN

  Commander, Bombing Force (Kanbaku Buntai), LT Kobayashi Michio, IJN

  Commander, Torpedo Planes (Kanko Buntai), LT Kikuchi Rokurō, IJN

  Plus 3 fighters intended for Midway garrison

  CV Sōryū, CAPT Yanagimoto Ryusaku, IJN

  Commander, Soryu Air Group, LCDR Egusa, IJN

  Commander, Fighter Planes (Kansen Buntai), LT Suganami Masaji, IJN

  Commander, Bombing Force (Kanbaku Buntai), LT Ikeda Masatake, IJN

  Commander, Torpedo Planes (Kanko Buntai), LT Abe Heijiro, IJN

  Plus one reconnaissance plane and 3 fighters intended for Midway garrison

  Commander, Cruiser Division 8, RADM Abe Haroaki, IJN

  CA Tone (flagship), CAPT Okada Tametsugu, IJN

  CA Chikuma, CAPT Komura Keizō, IJN

  Battleship Division 3

  BB Haruna, CAPT Koma Tamotsu, IJN

  BB Kirishima, CAPT Iwabughi, IJN

  Commander, Destroyer Squadron 10, RADM Kimura Susumu, IJN

  CL Nagara (flagship), CAPT Naoi Toshio, IJN

  Commander, Destroyer Division 4, CAPT Ariga Kosaku, IJN

  DD Nowaki, CDR Yoshida Masayoshi, IJN

  DD Arashi, CDR Watanabe Yasumasa, IJN

  DD Hagikaze, CDR Iwagami Juichi, IJN

  DD Maikaze, CDR Nakasugi Seiji, IJN

  Commander, Destroyer Division 10, CAPT Abe Toshio, IJN

  DD Kazagumo, CDR Yoshida Masayoshi, IJN

  DD Yugomo, CDR Semba Shigeo, IJN

  DD Makigumo, CDR Fujita Isamu, IJN

  Commander, Destroyer Division 17, CAPT Kitamura Masayuki, IJN

  DD Urakaze, CDR Shiraishi Nagayoshi, IJN

  DD Isokaze, CDR Toshima Shunichi, IJN

  DD Tanikaze, CDR Katsumi Motoi, IJN

  DD Jamakaze, CDR Orita Tsuneo, IJN

  Plus 5 small oilers escorted by DD Akigumo, CDR Soma Shohei

  * * *

  Close Support Group (4 cruisers, 2 destroyers)

  * * *

  Commander, Close Support Group, VADM Kurita Takeo, IJN

  Commander, Cruiser Division 7, VADM Kurita

  CA Kumano (flagship), CAPT Tanaka Kikumatsu, IJN

  CA Suzuya, CAPT Kimura Masatomi, IJN

  CA Mikuma, CAPT Sakiyama Shakao, IJN

  CA Mogami, CAPT Soji Akira, IJN

  Commander, Destroyer Division 8, CDR Ogawa Nobuki, IJN

  DD Asashio, CDR Yoshii Gorō, IJN

  DD Arashio, CDR Kuboki Hideo, IJN

  Plus an oiler, the Nichiel Maru

  * * *

  Midway Invasion Force (1 small carrier, 2 battleships, 4 cruisers, 1 light cruiser, 8 destroyers)

  * * *

  Commander, Midway Invasion Force, VADM Kondō Nobutake, IJN

  Chief of Staff, RADM Shiraishi Kazutaka, IJN

  Commander, Battle Division 3, Section 1, RADM Mikawa Gunichi, IJN

  BB Kongo (flagship), CAPT Koyanagi Tomiji, IJN

  BB Hiei, CAPT Nishida Masao, IJN

  Cruiser Division 4, Section 1

  CA Atago (invasion force flagship), CAPT Ijuin Matsuji, IJN

  CA Chokai, CAPT Hayakawa Mikio, IJN

  Commander, Cruiser Division 5, VADM Takagi Takeo, IJN

  CA Myoko (flagship), CAPT Miyoshi Teruhiki, IJN

  CA Haguro, CAPT Mori Tomoichi, IJN

  Commander, Destroyer Squadron 4, RADM Nishimura Shōji, IJN

  CL Yura (flagship), CAPT Sato Shirō, IJN

  Commander, Destroyer Division 3, CAPT Tachibana Masao, IJN

  DD Murasame, CDR Suenaga Naoji, IJN

  DD Samidare, CDR Matsubara Takisaburo, IJN

  DD Harusame, CDR Kamiyama, IJN

  DD Yudachi, CDR Kikkawa Kiyoshi, IJN

  Commander, Destroyer Division 9, CAPT Satō Yasuo, IJN

  DD Asagumo, CDR Iwahashi Tōru, IJN

  DD Minegumo, CDR Suzuki Yasuatsu, IJN

  DD Natsugumo, CDR Tsukamoto Moritarō, IJN

  Commander, Escort Carr
ier Group, CAPT Obayahi Sueo, IJN

  Light Carrier Zuihō, CAPT Obayashi

  Commander, Fighter Planes (Kansen Buntai), LT Hidaka Moriyasu, IJN

  Commander, Torpedo Planes (Kanko Buntai), LT Matsuo Kaji, IJN

  DD Mikazuki, LCDR Maeda Saneho, IJN

  The Midway Invasion force was accompanied by 4 oilers and a supply ship.

  * * *

  Transport Group (1 light cruiser, 10 destroyers, 13 transports)

  * * *

  Commander, Transport Group, RADM Tanaka Raizō, IJN

  Commander, Destroyer Squadron 2, RADM Tanaka

  CL Jintsu (flagship), CAPT Kozai Torazō, IJN

  Commander, Destroyer Division 15, CAPT Satō Torajirō, IJN

  DD Kuroshio, CDR Ugaki Tamaki, IJN

  DD Oyashio, CDR Arima Tokikichi, IJN

  Commander, Destroyer Division 16, CAPT Shibuya Shirō, IJN

  DD Yukikaze, CDR Tobita Kenjirō, IJN

  DD Amatsukaze, CDR Hara Tameichi, IJN

  DD Tokitsukaze, CDR Nakahara Giichirō, IJN

  DD Hatsukaze, CDR Takahashi Kameshirō, IJN

  Commander, Destroyer Division 18, CAPT Mikyasaka Yoshito, IJN

  DD Shiranuhi, CDR Akasawa Jisuo, IJN

  DD Kasumi, CDR Tomura Kiyoshi, IJN

  DD Kagero, CDR Yokoi Minoru, IJN

  DD Arare, CDR Ogata Tomoe, IJN

  Commander, Landing Force, COL Ichiki Kiyonao, IJA

  (5,000 soldiers carried in 13 transport and supply ships)

  * * *

  Submarine Force (15 submarines)

  * * *

  Commander, Submarine Force, VADM Komatsu Teruhishi, IJN

  Chief of Staff, RADM Mito Hisashi, IJN

  Commander, Submarine Squadron 3, RADM Kono Chirnaki, IJN

  Submarine Division 11

  I-174, LCDR Kusaka Toshi, IJN

  I-175, LCDR Uno Kameo, IJN

  Submarine Division 12

  I-168, LCDR Tanabe Yahachi, IJN

  I-169, LCDR Watanabe Katsuji, IJN

  I-171, LCDR Kawasaki Rokuro, IJN

  Submarine Division 13 (CAPT Miyazaki Takeharu)

  I-121, LCDR Fujimori Yasuo, IJN

  I-122, LCDR Norita adatoshi, IJN

  I-123, LCDR Ueno Toshitake, IJN

  Commander, Submarine Squadron 5, RADM Tadashige Daigo, IJN

  Submarine Division 19 (CAPT Ono Ryōjirō)

  I-156, LCDR Ohashi Katsuo

  I-157, LCDR Nakajima Sakae, IJN

  I-158, LCDR Kitamura Soshichi, IJN

  I-159, LCDR Yoshimatsu Tamori, IJN

  Submarine Division 30 (CAPT Teraoka Masao)

  I-162, LCDR Kinashi Takakuzu, IJN

  I-165, LCDR Harada Hakue, IJN

  I-166, LCDR Tanaka Makio, IJN

  * * *

  The Aleutians Force (5th Fleet) (1 carrier, 1 light carrier, 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers)

  * * *

  Commander, Aleutians Force, VADM Hosogaya Moshirō, IJN

  Chief of Staff, CAPT Nakazawa Tasuku, IJN

  CANachi (flagship), CAPT Kiyota Takahiko, IJN

  DD Inazuma, CDR Takeuchi Hajime, IJN

  DD Irazuchi, LCDR Kudo Shunsaku, IJN

  Commander, 2nd Carrier Striking Force, RADM Kakuta Kakuji, IJN

  Light Carrier Ryūjō (flagship), CAPT Kato Tadao, IJN

  Commander, Ryūjō Air Group, LT Kobayashi Minoru, IJN

  Commander, Fighter Planes (Kansen Buntai), LT Kobayashi

  Commander, Torpedo Planes (Kanko Buntai), LT Yamagami Masayuki, IJN

  CV Jun’yō, CAPT Ishii Shizue, IJN

  Commander Jun’yō Air Group, LT Shiga Yoshio, IJN

  Commander, Fighter Planes (Kansen Buntai), LT Shiga

  Commander, Bombing Force (Kanbaku Buntai), LT Abe Zenji, IJN

  Cruiser Division 4, Section 2

  CA Maya, CAPT Nabeshima Shunsaku, IJN

  CA Takeo, CAPT Asakura Bunji, IJN

  Commander, Destroyer Division 7, CAPT Konishi Kaname, IJN

  DD Akebono, LCDR Nakagawa Minoru, IJN

  DD Ushio, CDR Uesugi Yoshitake, IJN

  DD Sazanami, LCDR Uwai Hiroshi, IJN

  * * *

  Attu Invasion Force (1 light cruiser, 4 destroyers, plus transports)

  * * *

  Commander, Attu Invasion Force, RADM Ōmori Sentarō

  CL Abukuma (flagship), CAPT Murayama Seiroku, IJN

  Commander, Destroyer Division 21, CAPT Shimizu Toshio, IJN

  DD Wakaba, LCDR Kuroki Masakichi, IJN

  DD Nenohi, LCDR Terauchi Saburō, IJN

  DD Hatsuharu, CDR Makino Hiroshi, IJN

  DD Hatsushimo, LCDR Migihama Satoru, IJN

  Army North Seas Detachment (1,200 soldiers), MAJ Hozumi Matsuoshi, IJA Plus 3 oilers, 3 supply ships, and 2 minelayers

  * * *

  Kiska Invasion Force (2 light cruisers, 3 destroyers, 4 support vessels, 3 minesweepers)

  * * *

  Commander, Kiska Invasion Force, CAPT Ono Takeji, IJN

  Cruiser Division 21

  CL Kiso, CAPT Ono

  CL Tama, CAPT Kawabata Masaharu, IJN

  Commander, Destroyer Division 6, CAPT Yamada Yusuke, IJN

  DD Hibiki, LCDR Ishii Hagumu, IJN

  DD Atatsuki, CDR Takasuka Osamu, IJN

  DD Hokaze, LCDR Tanaka Tomō, IJN

  Plus 4 support vessels and 3 minesweepers

  * * *

  Submarines Assigned to Aleutians Group (6 submarines)

  * * *

  Commander, Submarine Squadron 1, RADM Yamazaki Shigenaki, IJN

  I-9 (flagboat), CDR Fujii Akiyoshi, IJN

  Submarine Division 2, CAPT Imazato Hiroshi, IJN

  I-15, CDR Ishikawa Nobuo, IJN

  I-17, CDR Nishino Kozo, IJN

  I-19, CDR Narahara Seigo, IJN

  Submarine Division 4, CAPT Nagai Mitsuru

  I-25, CDR Togami Meiji, IJN

  I-26, CDR Yokota Minoru, IJN

  * * *

  Aleutians Guard Force (4 battleships, 2 light cruisers, 12 destroyers)

  * * *

  Commander, Guard Force, VADM Takasu Shirō, IJN

  Chief of Staff, RADM Kobayashi Kengō, IJN

  Battleship Division 1

  BB Hyuga (flagship), CAPT Matsuda Chiaki, IJN

  BB Ise, CAPT Takeda Isamu, IJN

  BB Fuso, CAPT Kinoshita Mitsuo, IJN

  BB Yamashiro, CAPT Kogure Gunji, IJN

  Commander, Cruiser Division 9, RADM Kishi Fukuji, IJN

  CL Kitakami (flagship), CAPT Norimitsu Saiji, IJN

  CL Oi, CAPT Narita Mōichi

  Commander, Destroyer Division 20, CAPT Yamada Yuji, IJN

  DD Agagiri, CDR Maekawa Nisaburo, IJN

  DD Yugiri, CDR Motokura Masayoshi, IJN

  DD Shirakumo, CDR Hitomi Toyoji, IJN

  DD Amagiri, CAPT Ashida Buichi, IJN

  Commander, Destroyer Division 24, CAPT Hirai Yasji, IJN

  DD Umikasa, CDR Sugitani Nagahide, IJN

  DD Yamakaze, CDR Hamanaka Shuishi, IJN

  DD Kawakase, CDR Wakabayashi Kazuo, IJN

  DD Suzukaze, CDR Shibayama Kazuo, IJN

  Commander, Destroyer Division 27, CAPT Yoshimura Matake, IJN

  DD Ariake, CDR Yoshida Shōichi, IJN

  DD Yugure, CDR Kamo Kiyoshi, IJN

  DD Shigure, CDR Seo Noboru, IJN

  DD Shiratsuyu, LCDR Hashimoto Kimmatsu, IJN

  APPENDIX E

  How Much Did the U.S. Know

  of Japanese Plans?

  Though it was long kept a secret, the contribution of the code breakers to American victory in the Battle of Midway is now well known. At the center of that story, however, is a continuing mystery about a particular message: the detailed twelve-part Japanese operational order dated May 20 that Joseph Rochefort says he took with him to the meeting with Chester Nimitz on May 25. According to the oral testimony of several cryptanalysts at both Melbourne and Pearl Harbor who claim to have seen it, this message contained the complete Japanese order of battle as well as
their prescribed route, the bearing to Midway, and even the timing of the air attack. In many subsequent histories of the battle, this document is credited with giving the Americans the decisive edge against their superior foe and making American victory not only possible but even inevitable.* The problem is that no copy of this intercept has survived.

  At least six men later testified that they saw and handled the document. Petty Officer Bill Tremblay, who found it, Lieutenant Commander Gil Richardson, the duty officer at FRUMEL, who sent it on to Hypo, Ensign (later Rear Admiral) Ralph Cook who was at FRUMEL during the effort to break the message, Ensign (later Rear Admiral) Donald “Mac” Showers, and Lieutenant (later Captain) Jasper Holmes at FRUPAC, who worked on it, and of course Commander (later Captain) Joseph Rochefort, who took it with him to his meeting with Nimitz on May 25. It is improbable that all six men should invent such a document and cling to the story of it so consistently over seventy years. Nevertheless, the document itself has never been found. Such a mystery has led some scholars to wonder if it ever existed at all.

  Edwin Layton, who was the person in the best position to know, insisted for the rest of his life that no such document ever existed and, moreover, that the code breakers never had the complete Japanese order of battle for Midway. In an interview with Etta Belle Kitchen on May 31, 1970, Layton declared emphatically that “everything that has been written about that is absolutely, unqualifiedly false,” and that “there was no such message.” When Kitchen pressed him, asking “to make it perfectly clear, [that] there never was a complete battle order as it reported in some of the books,” Layton replied: “Never was. Not available to us” (Layton Oral History, 125–27).

  Why, then, do so many people remember it? An investigation of the Layton Papers at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, suggests a possible explanation. Layton kept a personal (and highly confidential) journal during his time as Nimitz’s intelligence officer. The physical journal itself offers insight into the kind of mind that is drawn to cryptanalysis, for it is written in four colors and in tiny—almost microscopic—handwriting; reading it today requires the use of a magnifying glass. In this journal, Layton carefully recorded all the intercepted messages that he considered important each day. There is no record in that journal of a unified twelve-part message on May 20, but it does indicate a dramatic upswing in the volume of message traffic that day. Some of the messages concerned a planned Japanese “fleet exercise,” but a dozen others obviously referred to a forthcoming operation. One revealed the presence of “occupation forces” for both Midway and Alaska. Another mentioned that Japanese forces would approach the target from the northwest. As the Hypo analysts worked on these messages, the results would have been collated and compared so that Rochefort could present the collected findings to Nimitz. Very likely, therefore, the men who achieved this intelligence coup recalled their effort as having focused on a single message rather than a group of shorter messages. If so, instead of one lengthy and detailed operational order, the May 20 decrypt remembered by several of the Hypo analysts and reported in several histories of the battle may well have been a composite of a dozen shorter messages.