A/N: Standard Disclaimers apply. Also note that this is where things get pretty ugly for Task Force 17 which at its core has the Aircraft Carriers USS Yorktown CV-5 and the IFN Kaga. Expect to see very big explosions occurring in this chapter.
So with that information out of the way; Take a seat, grab a refreshment, and let's get this show a rolling!
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The strike package that the YIRS Kraken launched was clawing airborne at around the same time the Liberion Dive Bombers were leaving the battle. As the planes strike planes were leaving. They began to follow the vector that VB-3 and VS-5 had used to flee the battle area. It was a course that would take them directly to TF 17.
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1115 Hours
The remnants of the "Flight to nowhere" returned to the USS Hornet. The CHAG of the Hornet air group Commander Stanhope Ring, either angered that apart from VT-8 which got completely annihilated that his air group had failed to find the Neuroi Carrier fleet or was saddened by the losses that his air group has sustained with nothing to show for it. Does not report to Rear Admiral Mitscher even though he is the first pilot back. Thus the duty to report to Rear Admiral Mitscher falls to VS-8s Lieutenant Commander Walt Rodee.
Good lord, how I am I going to tell the Admiral? Curse you to hell Commander Ring! You should be the one reporting to the admiral, not me! Rodee thought as he strode onto the bridge where Admiral Mitscher was waiting.
"Ah, Lieutenant Commander Rodee! What brings you up to the bridge?" Mitscher asked after Rodee had saluted which the Admiral had returned.
"Admiral; I am here to report on the action that Air Group 8 took part in today." Rodee started.
"Alright let's hear it." Admiral Mitscher said.
"It was a debalace sir. VB-8 and VS-8 never found the enemy carriers. I don't know if VT-8 did or not, but I don't know. While VF-8 was forced to turn back, after reaching the limit of their fuel range." Rodee said explaining what had happened in a nutshell.
"My god" Mitscher breathed horrified, he had launched 59 planes from the Hornet and only 20 had returned, some still lugging their 500lb AP bomb. The losses were grim for the USS Hornet, with 11 SBDs and fair number of witches at Midway Island, 15 TBD-1 Devastator and 10 Torpedo Bomber Witches lost to enemy action (remember at this point they still don't know about the two survivors from VT-8 that was assigned to the carrier), 6 Wildcats and four witches being forced to ditch from fuel or magic exhaustion, and finally 3 SBDs lost at sea as well as several SBD striker units.
32 men and 10 witches lost to enemy fire without a single hit in return. After the battle RADM Mitscher would refer to the performance of the USS Hornet's air group as subpar.
However it seemed that bad luck still had the USS Hornet by the balls and was refusing to let go. A friendly F4F-4 Wildcat from VF-3 of USS Yorktown piloted by Ensign Daniel Sheedy he had taken a Neuroi bolt to the leg and his fighter was badly shot up. He was looking for the USS Yorktown when he found the USS Hornet.
However and Sheedy didn't know this, but the Electric arming switch for his Wildcat's six M2 Browning Machine Guns had been hit. Thus the guns fired on landing, killing 5 crew members and a witch and injuring 20 more crew members and three witches as well.
"FUCK!" Sheedy exclaimed as the guns on his plane fired unexpectedly racking an area of the Hornet's Island with .50 caliber gun fire.
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Onboard the USS Yorktown only two TBDs out twelve that were launched returned, as did only one witch as well. On landing Tom Cheek's damaged Wildcat went into the crash barrier and flipped over.
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Things were going somewhat better on the Enterprise but not by that much. Out of twelve TBD Devastators launched against the Neuroi only five returned, among the witches out of the ten launched against the Neuroi only four returned.
Worse out of the 33 SBD-3 Dive Bombers and ten dive bomber witches, only half of the SBDs returned and only six witches returned as well.
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Onboard the USS Yorktown RADM Fletcher has spotted 10 SBDs from VS-5 returning from patrolling the northwestern sector. Then VB-3 returned and were forced to orbit as to not to break deck spots. Meanwhile the IFN Kaga was getting ready to launch dive bombers to find and destroy the last Neuroi Aircraft Carrier.
Then suddenly RADAR picked up trouble, the ship that picked up the incoming trouble was the USS Astoria.
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1200 Hours High Noon (Ironic right?)
The RADAR directed CAP vectors Liberion and Fusoan Fighters right onto the Neuroi strike package. A crazy dogfight erupted as the Neuroi fighters tried desperately to defend the level bombers however it is not enough.
Within a matter of minutes all six Fangs are going down in flames as are fifteen Eradicator level bombers, for the loss of three Wildcats and a Zero, and no losses among witches. For the Liberion Fighter Pilots and Witches from the Yorktown it is a case of sweet revenge as they are able to give the treatment to the Neuroi that the Neuroi had given the Liberion Torpedo Bomber Squadrons. However ten planes got through coming in two waves of five, a scanty seventy seconds between them.
"Shit! Here they come! Open fire!" A Liberion Lieutenant barked a second later the Liberion made 5in/38 caliber DP gun on the Yorktown boomed and sent a shell screaming towards the enemy formation.
AA fire began to fill the sky as tracers and heavy murderous flak erupted among the enemy planes. "Die, motherfuckers die!" A Fusoan AA gunner aboard the Kaga barked as the Type 96 25mm AA/AT double mount came to life a rhythmic booming sending 25mm AA shells screaming toward the enemy planes. The first set of Neuroi bombers dropped their bombs. The Kaga heeled hard to port and as a result the five bombs missed the Aircraft Carrier, however three landed close enough that the Aircraft Carrier shook violently. "Jesus christ!" A lookout on the Carrier said as he was sent tumbling to the deck thanks to the shockwaves produced by the near misses.
"Launch the dive bombers! Go, go, go!" Captain Jisaku Okada barked frantically. The first pair of witches began to lumber down the runway, just as the remaining five Level Bombers approached the carrier.
Tracers and flak reached up toward the lumbering aircraft, their bomb bay doors opened. One took a direct hit in the bomb bay and exploded instantly becoming a fireball and nothing else. 1.1in AA fire reached out from the USS Portland, and brutally ripped the left wing and tail off another plane and it tumbled out of formation.
The remaining three Eradicator Level Bombers released their single 1,500lb Armor Piercing Anti-Ship Bomb. It was a bomb similar to this that sank the USS Arizona which in a single extraordinarily violent instant become the twisted tomb for 1,102 Liberion Sailors and Witches.
On the deck of the Kaga, a Dive Bomber Witch who was about to start her takeoff run when she looked up just as the enemy planes released their bombs. Her name was Ensign Yuki Ibari, she was a 16 year old witch hailing from Nagasaki Fuso; she had long chestnut brown hair and turquoise eyes, her magic ability is ballistic stabilization. Her familiar is that of a Fusoan Spitz, she is also wearing a Fusoan Imperial Navy Aviator Uniform, her weapon is a Type 99 Bolt Action Rifle.
She watched as the bombs plunged toward the Carrier. "Oh no, oh no!" She breathed, the bombs were going to hit the Kaga!
The first bomb plunged into the Kaga forward right in the middle of the red sun on her flight deck, plunging many decks into the ship before exploding. Fire, smoke, and debris erupted forth from the flight deck and the Carrier shook like the ship had been taken over by a ghost. The second bomb plunged into the ship somewhere behind Yuki, going down several decks before exploding; a violent carpothanoty of explosions wracked the stern of the Kaga fire, smoke, debris, and crew members were thrown upward by the explosions. Yuki found herself face down on the thundering twisting deck and was trying to get to her feet when the last bomb plunged into the Kaga. This thing plunged way down into the ship and either found a avgas bunker, a fuel oil bunker, or a aircraft ordnance magazine. Either the way the results were the same...catastrophic.
A tremendous explosion that was heard even by Task Force 16 rent the ship; a tremendous expanding upward fireball, with smoke, debris among other items went screaming skyward, a scant few seconds after that happened, another thunderous explosion ripped through the carrier, this time her hull visibly bent from the blast and large section of her hull bottom was blown out. Mere seconds after that happened another titanic blast tore through the carrier. This time the battered hull couldn't take the punishment; the carrier jack knifed; split in half by the tremendous strain that the two previous explosions had caused, the third caused the hull to reach its breaking point. The stern began to quickly and violently roll to port, large secondary explosions still ripping through the both the bow and stern sections of the ship. The stern capsized and then rapidly sank. The bow slipped quickly below the waves as well, fire and explosions still tearing through the bow as it was sliding below the waves in mere moments after the stern did. All eyes were on where the Kaga had been, now however there was just an oil slick, a metric ton of debris floating on the surface, and maybe 150 sailors and witches in the water, all struggling to remain afloat and in some cases alive. The Kaga and the majority of her air wing and crew, were gone. Killed in just a few brutal moments. The destruction of the Kaga from the first bomb hitting her to the bow slipping beneath the waves took a grand total of one and half minutes.
Yuki found herself struggling to stay afloat, her legs felt like they were on fire, she was hurting all over. Someone grabbed her and she screamed in surprise. "Jesus! Volume Yuki! Volume!" A familiar voice said from behind Yuki. Yuki would recognize that voice anywhere.
"Lt. Ogawa, is that you?" Yuki whimpered, the edges of her vision beginning to go black.
"Yes Ensign; it's me. Everything is going to be okay. Got it? Everything will be alright." Lt. Ogawa said, soothingly. However for Yuki she was quickly losing consciousness from pain and blood loss and thus didn't completely hear what Lieutenant Ogawa was saying.
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As the Neuroi bombers split away, and began to run back to the YIRS Kraken something intercepted them. The thing that intercepted them was seven Zeroes and four Fusoan Fighter Witches. Plus they were mad as hell, having witnessed the loss of their carrier. Thus were not in the mood to show mercy against the fleeing Neuroi planes.
"Kill'em all! Don't let a single one escape!" One Fusoan Pilot snapped as the Zeroes and witches descended on the eight rapidly retreating level bombers.
"After them! Round Em up and bag the SOBs!" A Fusoan Witch growled without an ounce of remorse as she bagged herself an enemy plane.
Meanwhile the Liberion Fighter Pilots and Fighter Witches in the CAP was watching the carnage unfold, mainly because well, it is best not to get between a mighty pissed off carrier pilot or witch and his target unless you wanted to wind up full of holes. "Hey Badger Eleven, how many Neuroi planes do you think will escape? I bet thirty bucks that one gets away." A Liberion Pilot said.
"Thirty-five bucks saying that none of them gets away." The Liberion Witch with the callsign of Badger 11 replied.
"You're on." The Liberion pilot replied, doing his level best to kick back relax and watch the carnage.
The Fusoan Fighter Jocks and Witches showed no remorse or mercy toward the enemy planes, often first firing a burst that ripped the tail gunner to shreds, before then going screaming over the top and diving on the enemy plane and unleashing a burst of fire that would shred the engine, canopy, and pilot; causing the enemy planes to often become fiery comets of death as they plunged toward the ocean.
Not a single Neuroi Eradicator Level Bomber escaped. The Fusoans made damn sure of that, if anything. The Fusoan Fighter Pilots and Witches want to find and sink that enemy carrier and strafe the hell out of it. Only Rear Admiral Fletcher was able to convince the pilots to not go through with the plan.
In the meantime the USS Portland CA-33 was busy recovering survivors. However it quickly became apparent that a tremendous loss of life had occurred. All told the Portland with help from the IFN Tanikaze recovered 152 survivors from the water. All of them had been injured in someway ranging from shattered Femur to 3rd degree burns and missing limbs. The total was 1,542 dead from the Kaga the pilots and witches who landed on the Yorktown promptly fell into a state of shock after seeing their carrier blow up in such a violent fashion and take some many friends, wingmen, and comrades in arms with her to the bottom.
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At Pearl Harbor Hawaii; Admiral Nimitz was awaiting news from the allies with anticipation he was in the process of walking to his office. That was when Lt. Cmdr. John Rochefort came walking up behind him. "Admiral! Here are the first reports from the action at Midway." He said with a sharp salute.
Nimitz read it over, and smiled at the damn good news the report had. "Is this confirmed? The Fusoans got two and we got three?" Nimitz asked after returning the salute.
"Yessir that's confirmed. Admiral Fletcher's reply just came in. Two Carriers confirmed sunk and three carriers last seen heavily a fire." Rochefort replied.
"Hallelujah" Nimitz said at that moment he was thinking Nice Admiral Fletcher and Yamamoto you certainly did bushwhack them.
"Five of their first line carriers, Admiral. Isn't that at least worth a "hot diggity damn"?" Rochefort asked.
"I'll take it under advisement, Joe, but there's still that sixth carrier to deal with." Nimitz replied.
"Also, there is a message from Captain Buckmaster on the Yorktown; Task Force 17 has been hit by enemy planes." Rochefort stated.
"How bad?" Nimitz asked with creeping dread.
"We've lost the IFN Kaga with a large portion of her crew as well. The Yorktown was not hit in during the attack. They are in the process of recovering the aircraft that the Kaga managed to launch." Rochefort said.
"My gosh, our whole force may be in jeopardy if the Neuroi found Task Force 17. They still got a tremendous fleet out their." Nimitz said.
"However that sixth carrier can't be that far off." Rochefort replied.
"There is a lot of truth in that." Nimitz said.
"We've already won a great victory, Admiral. Maybe we ought to get our people out of there." Rochefort stated.
"You mean...break off, run for home?" Nimitz asked.
"Before they can hurt us , sir." Rochefort replied.
"Well, that might be the smart play, Commander. Trouble is I want that sixth carrier." Nimitz said.
"I know what you mean by that, Admiral." Rochefort said before he saluted and then walked away.
Can't wait to tell Admiral Yamamoto, this is the best damn news we could have received! Nimitz thought as he walked toward the command room to tell Admiral Yamamoto the good news.
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Back on board the YIRS Kraken; the Commanding officer, ordered a second strike launched ASAP, this time composed of twenty-two dive bombers and escorted by twelve fighters. This force took off a mere forty-five minutes after the level bombers did.
The Neuroi dive bombers took off into the air, each one lugging a 250 kilogram or a 550lb Armor Piercing Anti-Ship Bomb and were closely followed by the fighters.
A mere Eighty minutes after the dive bomber force was launched, the dregs of the Level bomber/Torpedo Bomber force on the Kraken was launched. Twelve Torpedo Bombers and nine Fighters. The torpedo bombers were each lugging a 900 kilogram or 1984 pound torpedo.
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With Task Force 17 under attack; VB-3 was forced to recover on the USS Enterprise CV-6. However not all of the aircraft make it to the carrier. Lieutenant Commander Leslie had to ditch near the USS Astoria due to fuel exhaustion. He ditched safely and was picked up by the heavy cruiser.
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1340 Hours
However the attack on Task Force 17 had resulted in a carrier sunk. This was an astounding turn of events in the battle. The Allies were not going to get off scot free in terms of ship losses afterward.
Then the USS Pensacola picked up more trouble on RADAR. Incoming planes, Neuroi attack aircraft. As the all Liberion CAP was vectored on to the enemy planes. Captain Buckmaster tries to launch what planes he could; the last thing the allies needed was to have two aircraft carriers becoming roaring infernos.
However during the flight to Task Force 17 the Neuroi fighters had gotten separated from the Dive Bombers thanks to miscommunication, and thus leaving the Dive Bombers with no fighter cover.
Nevertheless the Neuroi Dive Bombers attacked and were assailed by Wildcats and Witches all the way in to the Liberion Carrier Yorktown. Caught with no fighter cover, most of the dive bombers were shot down, however eight got through the Fighter Screen and went for the Yorktown.
"Die bastard!" A Liberion AA Gunner barked as his M2 Browning Machine Gun roared to life, sending tracers streaking toward an enemy dive bombers. The rapid fire chatter of the M2 Brownings, 20mm Oerlikons, and Fusoan 13mm AA guns joined the deep constant thumping of the Quad 1.1in Anti-Aircraft Guns and 25mm Type 96 AA/AT Guns and the deep booms of the 5in/38 caliber DP guns and Fusoan 5in/50 caliber DP Guns.
Yet it was not enough despite the incredible volume of fire being put up, one Dive Bomber was nailed by triple A. The others entered their dives. The Yorktown was frantically maneuvering however, unlike the three Neuroi Carriers earlier in the day. The Yorktown was not going to become a roaring inferno from stem to stern. Far from it in fact, due to several factors.
The crew of the Yorktown was very much experienced in the art of damage control. When enemy planes had been detected on RADAR the avgas lines were purged with CO2 that way the chance of an explosion was greatly reduced. Another thing the Yorktown had going for it, was unlike the Neuroi and Fusoan Aircraft Carrier her hangar decks are open air, thus fumes cannot collect and reach dangerous levels in the hangar deck. Among other preparations was pushing an 800 gallon auxiliary fuel tank over the side, halting refueling operations for the CAP, and securing all compartments, giving the carrier full watertight integrity.
The first five Neuroi dive bombers missed, but the next three didn't. However the three dive bombers responsible for the hits were shot down either shortly after releasing their payloads or in the case of one dive bomber just as it was dropping its payload.
The first bomb that hit the Yorktown was released from its dive bomber just as it was riddled with AA fire and went tumbling out of control. The bomb tumbled through air, instead of nose down, thus it didn't have much penetrating power. It impacted abaft of aircraft elevator number 2 and exploded on impact. The explosion carved a 10 foot square hole in the flight deck and sent splinters flying which killed or incapacitated most of the crew for the two Quad 1.1in gun mounts aft of the island. Fragments pierced the flight deck and damaged three planes and started fires. One of the planes was an SBD Dauntless Dive Bomber, it was fully fueled and had a 1000lb AP bomb attached. However quick action by Lieutenant A. C. Emerson who activated the sprinkler system stopped the fire that had started below decks from becoming too serious.
"Jesus, I don't want to think of what would have happened if that fully fueled and armed SBD had exploded." Emerson said panting shortly after engaging the sprinkler system.
"I don't even want to know sir." A Liberion Machinist Mate replied..
Moments later two more bombs struck the Yorktown.
The second bomb struck the ship from the portside. It punched through the flight deck and exploded in the lower part of the funnel. The damage that resulted from this hit was very severe. For the Yorktown still had damage from the Battle of Coral Sea that had yet to be completed, she only had five boilers working. The bomb ruptured the uptake box for three separate boilers and extinguished the fires in all five boilers, and caused smoke and gases to begin to fill the boiler rooms. However the men at Boiler One managed to relight Boiler one relatively quickly most likely while the attack was still going on, which undoubtedly played a part in making sure the ship didn't become a viking's funeral boat. The reason for this is while one boiler can't propel 20,000 odd tons of Aircraft Carrier it did allow enough steam pressure to be kept so the auxiliary systems could run.
The third bomb that slammed into the USS Yorktown pierced the side of the number one elevator and detonated on the fourth deck and started a persistent fire in the rag storage space which was adjacent to the forward gasoline stowage and magazines. However no devastating explosion occurred because just before the attack had begun the avgas lines were purged with CO2 this heavier than air gas certainly prevented that from happening.
The Neuroi dive bombers having most of their number shot down, and after scoring three bomb hits, left the Yorktown behind. Her speed had slowed down considerably down from 20 knots to 6 knots, shortly after that the Yorktown was dead in the water. Yet while this Aircraft Carrier was down she wasn't out, her highly experienced crew set to work repairing the damage from the Neuroi attack, which included extinguishing the fires, patching the flight deck, and relighting the four boilers that their fires put out. In the less than two hours the USS Yorktown had once again risen from the ashes like the mythical Phoenix had gotten back up and was ready to fight again. It is for reasons like this that her and her crew are the stuff of legends.
Yet Yorktown wasn't out of the woods yet. For more trouble was picked up on RADAR coming in. The CAP that the Yorktown had up was composed of six Wildcats and one witch.
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1450
Second Neuroi Attack against the Yorktown commences
The Neuroi Torpedo Bombers stumbled across what they assumed was a second Liberion Aircraft Carrier. However in fact it was actually the USS Yorktown but she was misidentified as another Aircraft Carrier because she was no longer afire, the holes in her flight deck had been patched, and she was moving at 20 knots.
Again RADAR on one of the Cruisers this time the USS Pensacola which had been released by Admiral Kinkaid to go and aid the stricken Task Force 17. The Liberions directed several four Wildcats and the lone witch to engage the enemy.
While this is happening Captain Buckmaster orders to launch as many planes as humanly possible. Some of the planes practically rocket into the air as out of the Ten Wildcat Fighters sitting on the flight deck; eight had as little as 23 Gallons of Fuel onboard.
Meanwhile the Zero Fighters were launched as well, but most of them had no ammunition but had been refueled and were ordered to haul-ass to Task Force 16 or Task Force 18. The Fusoan Fighter Witches that were flight capable who were on the Yorktown had a different problem besides still being angry over the fact that their "Home away from Home" was gone. The problem was that again a good number of them were low on Ammunition for their weapons, not to mention the Yorktown didn't have ammunition for Fusoan Weapons on hand. They were forced to use Liberion Weapons had to be given a quick run through on how to use them, but that had only happened after the Neuroi Dive Bomber attack and the Fusoan Witches were still getting used to the Liberion Weapons when the Neuroi Torpedo Bombers attacked. However if anything the Yorktown took a special meaning to the Fusoan Fighter Pilots and Witches from the Kaga as they had worked tirelessly to help save the ship. Yet now both the Fusoan Zeroes and Witches were launched and flew towards Task Force 16 or 18.
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In the chaos in the skies, Lieutenant Commander Jane Thach couldn't believe the day she was having today. First during her escort mission she had splashed four Neuroi Fighters, then during the dive bomber attack she had earned herself her fifth kill, she was an "Ace" in a day! (Becoming an "Ace" in a day is something that all fighter pilots dream about because it is so difficult to achieve destroying five enemy planes in one day) Little did she know but her day was far from over.
At the moment however she was locked in a turning fight with a Fang, while doing a turn fight with a Fang in a Wildcat was tantamount to suicide, a Witch could get away with it. Unlike the previous wave these fighters had stayed with Torpedo Planes and were providing a serious challenge to the Liberion CAP. Finally Thach drew bead on the Fang she was looked in combat she was about to pull the trigger when suddenly tracers ripped into the enemy plane and it exploded, suddenly a familiar Wildcat went screaming by her.
"Hey! Badger Four no fair! That was mine! You stole my kill!" Jane growled.
"Gotta be quicker than that Thach!" Lt. Reid said cheekily.
Smart-ass Jane thought as she dove out of the chaos that was the dogfight against the Fangs and went after the Torpedo planes were two other Wildcats were already engaging.
The Neuroi Torpedo Bombers were quickly approaching the Yorktown.
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(Note, I did not make any of the stuff in the following section up; this really happened)
One last Wildcat fighter was still sitting on the Flight Deck waiting for his moment to take off. The name of the pilot was Ensign Milton Tootle IV. "Alright here we go!" Milton said as he fired up the engine to his Wildcat and advanced the throttles. Milton looked to his left and spotted an Eradicator Torpedo Bomber bearing down the Yorktown.
"Alright, come on you rotten bastard! You want to mess with me?" Tootle growled as he swung his Wildcat fighter toward the enemy plane. With no chance to even raise his landing gear, he turned and attacked the enemy torpedo bomber. The six M2 Browning .50 Caliber Machine guns roared to life, bright yellow tracers stitched across the enemy torpedo bomber and it exploded into flames and fell from the sky. "Got him!" Milton exalted jubilantly as the enemy plane plunged toward the ocean.
Suddenly a large black puff of smoke erupted near his Wildcat and the plane shook violently. Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! Milton thought frantically as he increased throttle and began to raise his landing gear. The allied AA gunners were shooting at him! Moments later however a flak burst erupted right in front of his fighter, shrapnel pockmarked his Wildcat and flames began to lick out of the engine. "That's done it!" Milton barked angrily as he reached up and yanked the emergency release for the cockpit canopy. The canopy came of with a loud thud! Milton then bailed out of his stricken Wildcat which then began to plunge toward the ocean. He opened his chute, sighed dejectedly then looked at his watch and was surprised. From takeoff to bail out he was in the air for all of five minutes. Most interesting five minutes of my life, I swear. Milton thought.
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Yet the fight was raging on still. The other Neuroi Torpedo Bombers split into two groups and came at the Yorktown from two separate sides. It was a classic "Hammer and Anvil" attack; Four Eradicators approached from the starboard side astern and five Eradicators approached from the Portside.
However as this was happening one of the sections was led by Air Commander Eirkaka, who happened to be the best torpedo bomber commander in the entire Ysterplaat Imperial Navy. Suddenly a Liberion Fighter Witch swung in and lined up his plane. It Lieutenant Commander Jane S. Thach, latched onto the six o'clock of this torpedo bomber and fired a long burst from her twin .30 Caliber AN/M2 Machine Guns. First white smoke and then black smoke and flames poured forth from the torpedo bomber and the plane fell from the sky in flames. It was like a scene right out of a Hollywood movie as the United States Navy Top Fighter Witch personally shoots down the Ysterplaat Imperial Navy's best torpedo bomber commander.
However the remaining three torpedo bombers coming from the starboard side dropped their torpedoes. The Yorktown heeled over hard to port, and caused the three torpedoes to miss, with one passing within twenty feet or so of the Liberion Carrier. However the maneuver had put the other section of torpedo bombers in perfect perpendicular position relative to the Yorktown to drop their fish, there was no way in the hell the Yorktown could dodge all of these torpedoes.
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1520 Hours
The Yorktown heels hard to Starboard try and evade the five torpedoes that were launched at her. However it took time for the carrier to begin to turn. Two Neuroi torpedoes slammed into the Yorktown and exploded. Both ripped 15 foot diameter holes into the Yorktown's side, extinguishing all of her boilers and thus the ability to run the pumps and also jammed her rudder. The Carrier drifts to a stop and begins to list, for the Yorktown her battle is over and now the carrier is in a fight to survive so she can make it back to Pearl Harbor and safety for much needed repairs.
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1533 Hours
However by 1533 Hours, the list was at 23 degrees and with no steam to run the pumps and the list was still increasing. As the list approached 26 Degrees Captain Buckmaster and Commander C. E. Aldrich had a brief discussion that led to grave conclusion.
"Commander Aldrich!" Captain Buckmaster barked when he spotted the member of Damage Control.
"Captain" Aldrich said, knowing how bad the situation was, they had done away with formality.
"How bad does it look?" Buckmaster asked, he knew that his ship was most likely lost.
"Sir, we're going to lose the ship. We are listing 26 degrees to port and the list is still increasing, she is probably going to capsize on us and fairly soon too, I'd wager. I mean while she may be tough, I doubt that she can come back from this sort of damage." Aldrich said dejectedly.
"I understand, thanks Commander." Buckmaster said sadly.
"What are going to do sir?"" Aldrich asked.
"Commander; I am going to have to issue the one order I never thought I would have to order. In order to save as many of the ship's company as possible, we are going to abandon the Yorktown." Buckmaster said.
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The order went out and the crew acted professionally. The process only took a few minutes. First the wounded were lowered into life rafts which then headed out for the accompanying Cruisers, Destroyers, and lone Battleship to be picked up by their boats before returning to the Yorktown. While this was going on, the Executive Officer left the Yorktown via a line on the starboard side. (That is a really long, long, long way down). Captain Buckmaster during the time that the ship was being abandoned toured his ship one last time, to search for anyone still alive that could be trapped aboard the dying Carrier. Finding no one alive on the ship, Buckmaster then lowered himself into the water via a line on the stern, by this point water was beginning to lap into the carrier's hangar deck on the portside.
But the Yorktown somehow against all odds, remained stubbornly afloat. Captain Buckmaster was picked up by the Liberion Destroyer USS Hammann, afterward he transferred to the USS Astoria which was the ship that Admiral Fletcher had transferred his flag to after the first dive bomber attack on the Yorktown. The two men agreed that since the Yorktown was remaining stubbornly afloat, that an attempt to salvage the leadship of the Yorktown-class of aircraft carriers should be attempted. However it first had to been seen that the Carrier survived the night, which was rapidly approaching.
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Around the time that the Yorktown was being abandoned things again went sour for the Neuroi. The YIRS Kraken was discovered and a force of Liberion Dive Bombers escorted by Fusoan Zeroes took off to sink her.
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A/N: There you have it! The Kaga has been sunk and the Yorktown has been heavily damaged; however in the next chapter the YIRS Kraken meets her end as does the YIRS Dunbal. One is destroyed by Liberion Dive Bombers while the other is done in by the Fusoan Submarine I-168, as well as the destruction of a Neuroi Heavy Cruiser, by planes from VMSB-241, VB-8, and VB-6, plus the end of the USS Yorktown CV-5, and lastly the discovery of the wreck of the USS Yorktown!
All in the next exciting chapter of Strike Witches The Battle for Midway: Endgame!
