Alright. Everybody. We have come here at last. This reality's version of the Battle of Midway. Man, is it going to be a doozy.

So, this is going to be a ten chapter long battle. Hope you're ready for the long run.

Let's begin.

Chapter 30- Battle of Midway Begins

(February 22, 1944, 0640 local time)

The sun rises slowly over Midway Atoll, the sky just beginning to get light, a bit later in the day due to the winter season.

On Sand Island, a marine guard is raising the flag, while being filmed by John Ford, a filmmaker who has been filming war footage through the war who has been invited to Midway.

On a tower on Sand Island, a Marine scanning the surroundings with his binoculars sees movement from both the airfields on Eastern Island and Sand Island. The Marine watches as the various aircraft stationed in the airfields begin to take off. First off are the bombers, with the 9 B-25s lifting off first of all, then 20 B-17s, followed by 15 TBM Avengers, and finally 22 SBD Dauntlesses. Next off are the 28 P-38 Lightnings. Having the longest range of the fighters stationed at Midway, the Lightnings will be escorting the bombers to the Japanese fleet. Then, up come the first line of defense of fighters of 42 F4U Corsairs and 15 Australian Spitfires. These fighters will be assigned to intercept Japanese aircraft further out from the island to try and whittle down the escorting fighters and keep them occupied, although 12 of the Corsairs will actually be accompanying the bombers alongside the Lightnings, and have wing tanks to greaten their range. Finally, the 10 Wildcats and 14 P-40s take off last. These fighters will be serving as the last line of defense.

"Radar must have picked up something. Everything's been scrambled," he mutters.

The bombers form up north of Midway, then set off with the Lightnings and a few Corsairs assigned to escort them. Unlike in the original Battle of Midway, these bombers had been given strict orders to stick together and attack together. The B-17s form up at 15,000 feet, with the SBDs a few thousand feet below them at 12,000 feet. The Avengers and Mitchells settle in at 2,000 feet, a better altitude to start their torpedo runs. The Corsairs stay lower at 3,000 feet with the torpedo bombers, while the Lightnings fly up with the B-17s at 15,000 feet, a perfect altitude for them to execute their chosen tactics against Zeros, which is to dive at them from higher altitudes to make slashing attacks, and to lead them into dogfights at higher altitudes, where the Zero's performance diminishes.

The 30 remaining Corsairs and the Spitfires move about 15 miles out from Midway to prepare to attack the incoming Japanese strike force, while the Wildcats and Warhawks set up just about 4 miles out as the last line of aerial defense.

At the same time, on the ships of Task Force 36 surrounding Midway, general quarters alarms begin to sound, and crews race to their battlestations. Anti-aircraft guns begin to train in the expected direction of the incoming attack.

As the Americans prepare their defenses, the Japanese strike force is a little over 30 miles out and closing in. The strike force is comprised of 20 D3A Vals, 24 D4Y Judys, and 40 B5N Kates, escorted by 50 Zeros. This is nowhere near the full air strength of the Japanese fleet, but Vice Admiral Nagumo, under orders from Yamamoto, is keeping the rest of his air group in reserve.

(Third Fleet)

From the bridge of he battleship New Jersey, Admiral Halsey watches through binoculars as deck crews hurry to arm fighters and bombers for combat on the decks of his carriers. They are currently waiting for a report on the location of the main Japanese fleet in order to launch their first strike. The first strike will not be able to be launched with the full air wing, as many aircraft will not be ready in time. However, there will be plenty of aircraft available from the 6 carriers at his disposal.

"Admiral!"

Halsey turns to the captain of the New Jersey, Captain Holden. "Yes, captain?" Halsey asks.

"Sir, we've received a message from Admiral Yelland. He reports his task force is about 200 miles from Midway and closing in at 25 knots," Gardner replies.

"Good," Halsey says with a bit of a smile on his face. Once the Nimitz, Kearsarge, and Wasp joins the fight, the tables will turn even further in the Allies' favor.

(Midway Atoll, 0710)

Miles away from Midway, the Japanese strike force begins to break out of the clouds surrounding the atoll. In the leading fighters, pilots begin to catch a hazy glimpse of the atoll.

In the cockpit of a Zero, the strike leader feels a smirk crossing his face. With luck, after this strike, Midway will be ready for the Japanese troops to land on the atoll near sunset.

Suddenly, without warning, tracers streak past his canopy, a round just missing hitting his engine. Alarmed, he swivels his head around, and feels shocked as he sees the 30 Corsairs on station sweeping down at the Japanese strike force, machine guns blazing. The Japanese pilot snaps his Zero into a tight turn, managing to avoid being shot down. However, many others are not lucky. A total of 11 Zeros, 3 Vals, and 3 Kates burst into flames as they are hit by machine gun fire.

The Corsairs streak over the Japanese strike force and begin to climb to gain altitude. The 39 remaining Zeros all pull up to engage the Corsairs. However, the Japanese pilots are so concerned with the Corsairs now ahead of them they fail to notice the Spitfires coming up behind them before 30 caliber bullets start streaking all around the Zeros, downing 6 more Zeros. The Japanese pilots look behind them to see the 15 Spitfires coming up behind them.

The Zeros desperately try to engage the marauding Corsairs and Spitfires, but quickly begin to realize that they won't ultimately prevail. At the same time, the Vals, Judys, and Kates shove their throttles to max power and accelerate as fast as they can towards Midway hoping to get there before the Corsairs and Spitfires destroy the escorting Zeros and come after them. However, as they break through the clouds completely and prepare for their bombing runs, they suddenly spot the warships surrounding Midway.

Right in their path, completely broadside to the approaching planes, is the USS North Carolina. On her bridge, Vice Admiral Willis Lee, commander of Task Force 36, watches the planes approach. As they get within range, Lee orders, "Open fire!"

Within seconds, the North Carolina erupts with anti-aircraft fire from her 48 40mm and 32 20mm anti-aircraft guns on her port side, as well as her 10 5 inch guns on her port side. The murderous hailstorm of lead begins erupting all around the incoming Japanese bombers. The North Carolina is joined within moments by the HMS Valiant and the USS Atlanta.

Flak begins bursting all around the Japanese bombers. The Japanese press on, only for several more of Lee's warships to join in the barrage, as well as the guns on Midway itself once the bombers get within close range. Bombers begin to fall out of the sky one after the other. Some pilots break and turn to try and escape, while most try to press on. However, as they start to get into the airspace above Midway, the Wildcats and Warhawks swoop down on them, firing their 50 caliber machine guns, setting multiple bombers aflame and sending them down in flames

A few bombers manage to get through the fierce barrage of anti-aircraft fire and defending fighters and drop their bombs. A bomb demolishes the mess hall on Sand Island. Two bombs hit the runways on Eastern Island, but causing little damage. Another bomb hits the dispensary, and several bombs hit gun positions or barracks, killing a number of Marines. One bomb sets some fuel tanks alight. A few bombers even try to attack the defending warships, but only score a single hit that causes negligible damage.

Within just a few minutes, the Japanese have had enough. The few bombers still surviving try desperately to escape, and a few make it through the anti-aircraft fire, and the marauding Wildcats and Warhawks. At the same time, the few Zeros that have survived the sprawling dogfight with the Corsairs and Spitfires break away and fly off with the surviving bombers.

The first attack on Midway is over, and it has gone disastrously. Only three Vals, 8 Judys, 8 Kates, and 6 Zeros have survived. In return, they've claimed a pair of Corsairs, two Spitfires, and two Wildcats, as well as a bomb hit on the heavy cruiser New Orleans and light damage on Midway from bomb hits, as well as only a few casualties among the Marines.

As the strike force flies away from Midway, the strike leader gets on the radio and contacts Admiral Nagumo. He reports minimal damage caused to Midway, as well as a force of warships protecting the island. However, the strike leader had been so busy dogfighting the Corsairs and Spitfires that he hadn't taken enough time to see what kind of warships were there, as well as how many. He thinks there's only a few warships.

Aboard the Akagi, Nagumo decides he will launch a heavier airstrike against Midway, and this time with mixed ordnance, with some bombers equipped to attack Midway and the others equipped to attack the protecting warships. Hangar crews quickly get to work preparing the designated planes for the mission.

(Aleutian Islands)

Crewmen aboard the Colorado feel the ship rock slightly as the eight 16 inch guns fire again.

Since the battle surrounding the Aleutians began yesterday, the situation has somewhat dissolved into chaos. The three American carriers have been exchanging airstrikes with the Ryujo and Kiyokawa Maru, sinking the Kiyokawa Maru and now working on the Ryujo. The three American carriers have been supported by planes flying from the islands, including B-17s, B-24s, B-25s, and TBMs.

The Japanese had decided they had to try and get their forces ashore, and sent their landing ships ahead, escorted by the battleship Ise along with two light cruisers and 3 destroyers. However, they had come under air attack from planes from the Monterey, sinking a troopship and destroyer and hitting the Ise with a single torpedo.

The Japanese were still confident, but they did not know that Admiral Fletcher had foreseen the Japanese trying this. The previous day, when it was clear that the task force's Hellcats could handle the brunt of shielding against air attacks, Fletcher had detached the Colorado and Renown, along with the heavy cruiser USS Wichita and 5 destroyers to intercept the Japanese landing force if they tried to approach the islands.

When the Japanese approached the islands, they had been surprised to find the Allied ships in their path. The Colorado and Repulse had engaged the Ise, supported by a squadron of B-17s flying from Attu, while the other Allied ships were engaging the other Japanese ships and the troopships. They had been joined by a squadron of P-47 Thunderbolts flying from Attu, which had started devastating the troopships with bombs and strafing runs.

Colorado fires again, a full broadside from her 16 inch guns. At a distance of 9 miles, it only takes seconds for the shells to reach the Ise, which has already taken 31 hits from 15 and 16 inch shells and three hits from 1,000 pound bombs. As the shells reach the Japanese battleship, two of the shells hit at the base of the bridge and penetrate the top deck to explode belowdecks.

On board the bridge, her captain watches the flashes from the exploding shells. He then notices a pair of TBM Avengers from the Monterey making a torpedo run on the Ise. The two torpedo bombers drop their torpedoes and pull out of their run. A single torpedo strikes the ship just forward of the number 1 turret, sending a plume of water into the air. Water begins flooding in, and the Ise begins listing further to port.

The battle in the north is quickly turning in favor of the Allies.

And there we go, the first chapter is done.

Next chapter, we'll get into the first attack on the Japanese fleet. Things will start picking up soon.

Next chapter should be up soon. Until then, please leave a review.