Five minutes at Midway

A search running out of fuel

On the morning of 4 June 1942, four Japanese carriers, Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū and Hiryū, were operating northwest of Midway. Enterprise began launching her strike at 0706. Lieutenant Commander Clarence Wade McClusky led a group of 32 Dauntless dive bombers, some carrying a single 1,000-pound bomb and others a 500-pounder with two smaller bombs.

The enemy was not where he expected. McClusky flew at about 14,000 feet with his fuel dropping, and kept searching. At 0955 he caught sight of a white wake on the smooth sea. It belonged to the destroyer Arashi, which was hurrying back to the carriers after attacking the U.S. submarine Nautilus. McClusky guessed she was rejoining the main body and turned his squadrons to follow her. In the Navy history's words, the destroyer "inadvertently led the Americans to the enemy carriers."

The men who went in first

Before any bomb fell, the torpedo squadrons attacked. At 0734 the 15 Devastators of Torpedo Squadron 8 (VT-8) began launching from Hornet under Lieutenant Commander John C. Waldron. They found the carriers but had no fighter escort. Every one of the 15 aircraft was shot down. Of 15 pilots and 15 radio-gunners, only Ensign George H. Gay Jr. survived. He was later picked out of the sea by a Catalina.

The torpedo squadrons from Enterprise and Yorktown met the same wall of fighters and gunfire. Of 41 Devastators launched from the three carriers, 35 were lost. In his report, Lieutenant (j.g.) Robert E. Laub of VT-6 asked that "some recognition be given those who paid with their lives for a magnificent victory."

Their sacrifice had an effect. The low-level attacks pulled the Japanese fighters down to the wave tops and threw the carriers' formation into disorder. When the dive bombers arrived, the sky above the carriers was open.

Five minutes

Just after 1020, McClusky's crews sighted Akagi, Kaga and Sōryū. Yorktown's dive bombers arrived at almost the same moment. Anti-aircraft guns did not open fire until the bombers were already in their dives.

McClusky led most of his group down on Kaga, which took at least four bombs. Lieutenant Richard "Dick" Best took two wingmen against Akagi, the Japanese flagship. They scored one hit and two near misses, and NHHC credits the hit most likely to Best himself. It was enough. Fires reached fuelled and armed aircraft, and the damage-control teams could not contain them. His gunner, James F. Murray, later said: "Nobody pushed his dive steeper or held it longer than Dick."

From Yorktown, Lieutenant Commander Maxwell F. Leslie led Bombing Squadron 3. A faulty electrical arming switch had made him and three of his pilots drop their bombs into the sea on the way out. Leslie led the dive anyway, to draw fire away from the planes that still had bombs. Sōryū took three direct hits.

In NHHC's own summary, three Japanese carriers became burning wrecks in the space of about five minutes.

The afternoon, and the cost

The fourth carrier, Hiryū, struck back. Her aircraft hit Yorktown twice, and the submarine I-168 later torpedoed her. Yorktown sank at dawn on 7 June. Around 1700 on 4 June, dive bombers from Enterprise, including Yorktown's displaced crews, found Hiryū. Best made his second carrier attack of the day. He later received the Navy Cross. Hiryū sank the following morning.

Akagi's crew fought their fires for hours. The next morning their own destroyers sank the ship with torpedoes. In October 2019 the research vessel Petrel located the wrecks of Kaga and Akagi on the floor of the Pacific.

According to NHHC, the United States lost 307 service members in the battle. Japan lost 3,057, most of them crew members of ships lost or damaged. Behind both numbers are families who waited for word.

Why we still tell it

Midway is often told as a story of luck and timing, and both mattered. The records also show something steadier. Crews flew past the point where their fuel made sense, torpedo squadrons attacked with no escort, and a pilot whose bomb was gone still led his men into the dive. It was about five minutes, and it was paid for long before and long after.

Our Four Days in June collection is made in the same spirit, for those who carry this history with them.

Harborborne is an independent brand and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. Navy or Department of Defense.