Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.

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Chapter 28- Storm is Brewing

(February 15, 1944)

From his position on the control tower on Eastern Island, Major General Francis Mulcahy watches as a B-17 comes in to land on one of the runways. For the last few weeks, aircraft have been coming and going. Several carriers had recently shuttled Marine and Navy aircraft to and from the atoll while Army aircraft fly in from Hawaii. The Midway garrison was working to get fully modernized and greatly expanded to prepare for the coming battle.

For much of the war, Midway's air wing had been drastically outdated. Even until recently, it was mostly made up of F2A Buffalo fighters and SB2U Vindicator scout bombers, with some PBY Catalinas, Wildcats, and occasionally one or two B-17s as scout bombers. Even though an additional airfield had been built on the atoll since the war started, the air wing was still rather small.

However, Nimitz was determined that Midway should be able to defend itself from smaller scale attacks and assist Task Force 36 in fending off the Japanese invasion fleet. For that reason, almost all of the air wing had been pulled out of Midway. The Independence had come in at night almost a week and a half ago, and all of the Buffalos and Vindicators had taken off from Midway and landed aboard the carrier for transport back to Hawaii, leaving behind just 6 Wildcats behind. Later that same night, the Essex and Hornet had arrived off Midway with a new Navy and Marine aircraft detachment for Midway. The two carriers had brought 42 new F4U Corsairs, 4 more Wildcats, 22 SBD Dauntless dive bombers, and 15 TBM Avenger torpedo bombers.

Over the last several weeks, the Navy had also sent more Catalinas to island to serve as both search planes and torpedo bombers. The Navy air detachment now included 31 Catalinas in four squadrons.

However, perhaps just as big as the Marine and Navy air detachment was the Army air detachment, which had flown in individually or small groups over the last two weeks. The base was now home to 20 B-17s and 9 B-25 Mitchells, which would primarily operate as torpedo bombers. However, perhaps of even more importance was the fighters. The Army had deployed 14 P-40 Warhawks and 28 P-38 Lightnings to Midway. However, they were not the only air force to deploy aircraft there. Partially as a test of the aircraft in this environment, the Royal Australian Air Force had dispatched 15 Spitfires to reinforce the garrison at Midway.

Between the Marines, Navy, USAAF, and RAAF aircraft, there was now a total of 109 fighters, 67 bombers, and 31 floatplanes. Because of the massive air wing, it had been decided that a higher officer than a Colonel should be commanding it, and General Mulcahy had been sent to command it, and is in fact in overall command of all forces on the atoll.

The island itself has also been beefed up against assault from any landing forces. A number of naval guns had been installed on the island, several hundred machine guns and artillery had been brought in, and even several tanks. In addition, Army C-47 transports had flown in more troops for the Marine garrison, which now included several thousand Marines.

As he watches the B-17 taxi into place, Mulcahy feels very confident. Not only does he have a massive air wing and a very strong garrison of Marines, but every single one of his pilots have extensive combat experience. Of his 94 US fighter pilots, 71 have air to air kills under their belts, with 8 of them being aces. And many of his bomber crews have not only been trained in anti-ship operations, but have experience in it.

Mulcahy pulls out his binoculars and scans the seas around the atoll. In the distance, he can see the battleship South Dakota doing gunnery drills. Despite the size of the fleet bearing down on Midway, Mulcahy feels confident. He feels certain the battleships of Task Force 36 and their escorts can handle the invasion fleet after his aircraft and those from the three carrier forces have whittled them down. And even if any Japanese troops are able to reach the atoll, his Marines are more than capable of handling them.

"And even if we can't stop 'em, they've got something else coming if they try and take Oahu," Mulcahy whispers to himself as he thinks about this.

(Western Pacific)

From the bridge of the battleship Yamato, Admiral Yamamoto watches as his fleet continues sailing east.

The Japanese fleet had set sail from Japan almost a week ago. The First Fleet, which was the main battle fleet under his command, had sailed from the Kurils, along with the fleet sent to the Aleutians, while the Second Fleet, which was the invasion fleet under Admiral Kondo, had sailed from Yokosuka.

Yamamoto felt confident. Almost the entire Imperial Japanese Navy had sailed from Japan to conduct the attack. Only a handful of older, outdated ships had remained behind to defend Japanese territory. This included all 9 battleships of the IJN and all 21 of their carriers. It did slightly worry Yamamoto that he only had 4 fleet carriers, with the rest of his carriers being much smaller light and escort carriers. However, he hoped that the numbers alone might make up for that. He considered it a miracle that he even had 4 fleet carriers, as it had taken an incredible amount of effort to get the Taiho completed a few months earlier than expected, even though the air wings were somewhat lower than normal.

Yamamoto felt confident in his ability to win here. If he could get to Midway before the US could get ships into position quick enough, he could get Japanese land bombers and fighters based out of Midway's airfields to assist in challenging the US fleet. And he still feels that nothing can match the power of his battleships, especially the Yamato and Musashi.

(Nimitz)

Yelland grips the control panel as the Nimitz' bow dips into the trough of a wave. Another monstrous wave rears up ahead. The task force is trying to push through the storm they are currently in.

The task force had rounded Cape Horn not long ago and are now trying to power through the storm that has arisen around them and get north. Admiral Nimitz, who had received news that the supercarrier was en route through a hand written message delivered to Pearl Harbor by plane, had given them a deadline of February 22 to be within range of Midway, as that was now believed to be the definite date that the Japanese would arrive.

Yelland grips the control panel as the bow of the supercarrier dips into the trough of a large wave. "Make sure that every ship keeps its bow pointed into the waves. We don't want any chance of any ships capsizing."

(Pearl Harbor, night time)

On the bridge of his flagship, the New Jersey, Admiral Halsey watches as ships of the task force slowly move quietly out of Pearl Harbor. Much of the US fleets are already out at sea, as well as the British Pacific Fleet. The ships heading out the harbor now are the escort ships of the Third Fleet (all of the carriers are already out at sea).

Halsey feels a smile coming over his face as his flagship moves smoothly out of Pearl Harbor. Although the numbers are not too uneven in his favor, Halsey feels extremely confident. He knows that he is going to be victorious. Halsey feel firmly that his forces will be leading the charge against the Japanese. And despite how much they may think so, the Japanese will fail in their operation. By the time the upcoming battle is over, most of the Japanese fleet will be at the bottom of the sea. Halsey knows that the stage is being set for a sea battle of epic proportions. The full might of the Imperial Japanese Navy is steaming towards a confrontation with the elite forces of the US and Royal Navies. This is going to be a battle for the ages, and Halsey feels a thrill that he will be part of it.

(Northern Pacific, February 20, 1700 local time)

From the bridge of his flagship, the Saratoga, Vice Admiral Fletcher watches as an SBD Dauntless dive bomber takes off from the deck.

About two hours ago, Fletcher had received transmission from one of the submarines patrolling around the Aleutians that they had spotted the approaching Japanese fleet. Fletcher had decided to send out four different scouting parties, each with six SBDs and 6 Avengers, each escorted by 10 Hellcats. Three of the scouting parties have already finished launching and are on their way to their patrol spots, while the fourth scouting party is almost finished launching.

"Anything yet?" Fletcher asks his radioman.

"Nothing yet," the radioman says. All of the aircraft sent out had strict orders not to contact their carriers unless they spotted the Japanese task force.

As the fourth search party heads away from the task force, the second scouting party is reaching its patrol area. The leader of the scouting party, a Lieutenant Commander named Jason Sellers flying a Hellcat, scans the water below, and seeing nothing, calls out to the other planes, "Alright, everybody. Fan out. Spread out a bit so we can cover more area, but keep the others in sight."

Everyone spreads out quite a bit, covering a much larger area, and commences the search. Several Hellcats stay solely focused on keeping watch for Zeros, while the other Hellcat pilots join the bomber pilots in scanning the ocean below with binoculars. Thankfully, there are only a few clouds in the sky, and visibility is good. However, given the time of day and how far north they are, the light is fading fast. If they're going to find the Japanese fleet, they have to do it fast.

For almost 20 minutes, the pilots continue scanning the surface with their binoculars, trying to find anything, even a wake that may hint at where the Japanese are. There is nothing so.

Then, 21 minutes into the search, one of the Avenger pilots calls out over the radio and says, "Surface contact, 11 o clock low!"

Sellers turns in the direction indicated and looks through his binoculars. It takes him a second, but he is soon able to make out a number of hazy bumps on the surface. He can't make out most of what he's saying, but he can see something that looks a lot like a cruiser, at least one destroyer, and best of all, something that looks like a carrier.

"We've got eyes on! Radiomen, send the location back to the Saratoga! All pilots, we need to hit 'em, and then head back to the carrier before we run out of fuel! Start your runs!" Sellers orders.

The Hellcats throttle up and dive towards the ships below them. The Avengers descend to lower altitude to start their torpedo runs while the Dauntlesses set up for their dives.

Down below, on the Japanese fleet, the sailors are getting ready. Vice Admiral Hosogaya had decided to launch his first airstrike against Attu Island today, per instructions from Yamamoto to draw the attention of the Americans away from Midway. On board the two small carriers of the task force, crewmen are prepping the small strike force.

On one of the destroyers of the task force, a Japanese gunner is looking, just to see if there are maybe any dolphins or whales around to watch to pass the time when he spots movement out of the corner of his eye. Looking up, he is shocked to see Sellers' fighters diving on the task force, now going over 400 mph in their dives, and getting very close, their dark blue paint camouflaging well against the darkening sky.

"Hellcats!" the gunner has time to scream before Sellers, diving on the destroyer, squeezes the trigger and fires off a three second burst from his machine guns. The rounds tear into the destroyer, taking out two anti-aircraft gun mounts and killing a number of crewmen, including the crewman who just tried shouting the warning.

More crewmen start to hear the shriek of the Hellcats' engines, and more begin to shout warnings as the other Hellcats dive to the attack. Gunners race to man the anti-aircraft guns, but are too late to stop the attacking Hellcats

The American fighters swoop down around the Japanese ships, each Hellcat pilot picking a target and making a strafing pass. Machine gun bullets tear into ships across the task force. One Hellcat pilot pulls out of his first strafing run, then sights one of the minesweepers accompanying the task force. He immediately noses over and dives to the attack. Lining the minesweeper up in his sights, he squeezes the trigger. 50 caliber bullets start tearing into the hull of the minesweeper, punching right through the extremely thin hull. The Hellcat pilot tries to aim for the engines. Bullets tear through the hull and begin tearing through the engine room. It doesn't take too long before the damage sets off the engines, which blow apart the rear of minesweeper in a large explosion.

The Hellcats pull out of their strafing runs and circle around for another attack. As the Japanese anti-aircraft gunners start firing at them, they also start to notice the Avengers coming in for their torpedo runs, and the SBDs beginning their dives. They quickly begin training their guns to meet the greater threat

Anti-aircraft fire begins to converge on the Avengers and SBDs. Most of the fire misses, but one unlucky Avenger gets hit by flak three times in the space of about two seconds, and crashes into the sea.

The other bombers press their attack. The Avengers drop their torpedoes and begin pulling out of their runs to start the return to their carrier, while the SBDs continue their dives.

At 1,500 feet, the SBDs drop their bombs and pull out of their dives as the Hellcats continue their strafing attacks. Three of the SBDs drop their 500 pound bombs on the heavy cruiser Myoko. Two bombs miss, while the third strikes the side of the superstructure, blasting a huge hole in the side of the superstructure and wiping out some of her anti-aircraft guns.

The other three bombers drop their 500 pound bombs on the battleship Ise. One bomb misses completely. The second strikes the top of the forward most gun turret, exploding harmlessly against it and injuring just one crewman. However, the third strikes amidships and penetrates down to the second deck, where it explodes, killing a few crewmen and starting a fire.

Of the five torpedoes dropped on the Japanese task force, four of them miss. The fifth strikes the Myoko on her starboard bow, opening a small hole that starts letting in water. Damage control crews quickly manage to contain the leak, but the ship is left listing 5 degrees to starboard.

The Hellcats quickly pull out of their runs and head back towards their carriers with the bombers. The attack is over in just minutes. It hasn't done much, sinking just one minesweeper and causing some damage to the Myoko and Ise, for the cost of an Avenger shot down and two Hellcats damaged. However, it has proven the start of the battle for the Aleutian Islands.

And, I'll end there. Hope you liked this chapter.

So, next chapter will not actually be the start of the battle. Next chapter will be the order of battle for the Midway and Aleutian campaigns. Basically, a diagram of the forces present for the battles. It's partially for my own use to help better write the battle, and also for those military nerds out there. It'll be posted later today. Until then, leave a review, and stay tuned!