Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
Let's get to it.
SnitchPogi12: I don't always have time to go back through reviews and write replies, but it doesn't mean I haven't seen it. As for your review, I haven't seen any anime except for Pokemon, and know nothing about any other anime, so I haven't been concerned with that.
Guest: Japanese submarines equipped with floatplanes were not as common as you think, and the Japanese probably wouldn't be too concerned with using them in this battle.
BrianShooter672: Not sure what Yelland could tell him besides what he already knows.
Gamerman22: The Cobra is not as easily done in a plane without thrust vectoring as you might think. I may show it, but we'll see.
Guest: Yes, if the Japanese know where the Nimitz is, it is target number 1. However, they won't know where it is in this battle until it's too late. And we may see kamikaze attacks start during this battle.
Chapter 33- Third Fleet's Strike
High over the ocean north-west of Midway, a formation of 30 F6F Hellcats from the USS Lexington is winging their way in the direction of the Japanese fleet. The Hellcats are spread across almost 60 miles in order to maximize the area they can search. The Lexington's Hellcats are about 18 minutes ahead of the rest of the Third Fleet's strike force. Their job is to actually locate the Japanese fleet, and to clear the air of Zeros before the bombers start their runs.
In the cockpit of one of the Hellcats, a young Lieutenant junior grade named Gary Strong, is scanning the ocean below him with his binoculars. He's been searching the water for about 15 minutes, along with everyone else, and so far seen nothing.
Strong sighs as he pulls the binoculars away from his eyes and looks around at some of the other Hellcats in the line, some only just visible as specks. He gets on the radio and calls out, "Anyone got anything?"
Several people call back, "Nothing." Strong sighs, and soon puts his binoculars back to his eyes as he resumes looking.
Suddenly, he spots something. He leans little bit forward, straining to make out what he's seeing. At first, he thinks it may just be a whale. Then, he realizes there's a white wake behind it.
Strong holds his course, staring at what he's just spotted. Then, he realizes that not only is this a ship, but it's not alone. He quickly get on the radio and calls out, not only to the other Hellcats from the Lexington but the rest of the strike force, "Ships sighted!" He then lists out the coordinates that the ships are at, then puts down his radio and binoculars and throttles up his engine, heading straight for the Japanese fleet.
All around him, the other Hellcats from the Lexington all turn to converge on the Japanese fleet. Meanwhile, 20 minutes flying time behind them, the rest of the strike force throttles up a bit and begins final preparations for their attack.
Down on the water, the Japanese are clueless as to the incoming attack. They currently have 36 Zeros patrolling over the fleet, but have not yet spotted the incoming Hellcats.
As he approaches the fleet, Strong quickly spots a Zero outside the perimeter of the Japanese fleet. Strong climbs about 1,500 feet above the Zero, then noses down and dives right towards it. The Japanese pilot doesn't even see Strong until the young American squeezes the trigger, sending a spray of 50 calliber machine gun bullets into the Zero's path. The bullets tear into the Zero and ignite the fuel tanks, and the fighter goes spinning down in flames.
The Japanese don't realize what is happening. It takes several moments before crew on a Japanese destroyer see the burning Zero falling from the sky. However, at almost the same time, another Hellcat dives out of the clouds and shoots down another Zero, almost directly over the battleship Haruna. Then, two more Hellcats dive out of another cloud and attack another Zero, sending it trailing down in flames too.
The Japanese finally realize that they're under attack. The Zero pilots immediately start looking for where the Hellcats are coming from and the gunners on the ships race to man their guns.
However, the Hellcat pilots have made very good use of the light cloud cover around the fleet, keeping in the clouds as long as possible before dashing out of the clouds and firing at a Zero. Several Zeros are capable to catch some of the Hellcats out in the open, and some fierce dogfights begin to erupt.
As the aerial combat over the Japanese fleet begins, Strong pursues another Zero. However, a tracer round past his cockpit, and he whips his head around, and sees another Zero coming up behind him.
Remembering lessons learned from a Zero captured virtually intact on New Britain that had been rebuilt and tested by the US, Strong wings over dives while banking slightly to the right. The Zero pilot, knowing that such a dive is a bad idea in a Zero in any case, and knowing his plane can't dive with the Hellcat, chooses not to follow. He starts looking for another target, but is surprised and shot down by Strong's squadron commander.
Strong pulls out of his dive and starts climbing back towards the fight. He quickly spots a Zero pursuing a Hellcat, which is in turn pursuing another Zero. Strong waits for the Hellcat to pass in front of him, then squeezes the trigger, sending a burst of machine gun rounds into the flight path of the Zero. The Zero pilot isn't able to react fast enough, and flies right through the stream. The bullets rip his wings off, and the Zero plummets from the sky.
Strong looks around the sky. He can already see that most of the Zeros have been shot down. Looking around for a target of opportunity, he sees one Zero heading down towards the carriers, probably hoping to land on his carrier. Strong immediately dives after the Zero.
Anti-aircraft fire begins exploding all around him as the gunners down on the ships begin firing at him. Strong weaves his way through exploding flak and continues to close on the Zero. Finally, he gets within range, and squeezes off a burst. The rounds blow right through the cockpit, killing the pilot. The Zero nose dives right into the water.
Strong zooms right past the carrier Chiyoda that the pilot was attempting to land on. Realizing that most of the Zeros have been downed by now, he decides to focus on the warships around him. He quickly spots the battleship Hyuga up ahead and head straight for it, strafing gun positions on the deck, sending the crew ducking for cover.
Up above, the rest of the Hellcats have shot down the rest of the Zeros, losing only one Hellcat in the fight and one more Hellcat damaged. The damaged Hellcat is now on its way back to Lexington. Seeing that all the Zeros are down, the squadron leader orders an attack on the ships, and the 27 remaining Hellcats all dive towards the Japanese fleet.
More anti-aircraft fire erupts from the Japanese fleet towards the diving Hellcats. One Hellcat is hit and falls burning from the sky, but all the others are able to get down to a very low altitude before beginning their attacks.
For the next 10 minutes or so, the situation is absolute chaos. The Japanese are desperately firing at the fighters, but the Hellcats are proving very difficult to hit. Only one more Hellcat is shot down, and there are even a few gunners that accidently fire at one of the other ships in the fleet trying to shoot down a Hellcat. The Hellcats continue their slashing attacks, striking anti-aircraft gun positions on the ships and occasionally trying to strafe planes parked on the decks of the carriers.
Then, as the Hellcats are just starting to run out of ammunition, and some start pulling away to head back to the carrier, the Japanese suddenly hear something. The shrill screaming roar of diving aircraft. Looking up, the Japanese are shocked to see the first SBDs beginning their dives on the carriers, with more SBDs and Helldivers getting ready to start their dives.
In the cockpit of one of the dive bombers, Commander Dick Best narrows his eyes as he focuses intently on his target below him, the Akagi. Best has seen action multiple times throughout the war, and he assisted in the sinking of the carrier Ryujo during the New Britain Campaign. He was one of the most capable dive bomber pilots aboard the Enterprise.
Best monitors his altimeter while trying his hardest to keep himself on target. Glancing around, he sees that there are about 8 other SBDs diving with him on the carrier.
Best watches as the altimeter continues to wind down, passing 3,000 feet and continuing to drop. Despite the anti-aircraft fire now just beginning to fly up towards him, Best holds steady.
Finally, he hits 1,500 feet, normal drop altitude. However, determined to hit the Akagi, Best presses a little bit further to 1,300 feet before punching pickle and pulling out, just managing to avoid hitting the carrier's deck. The bomb plunges through the flight deck and explodes in the middle of 3 Kate torpedo planes that had just finished arming and fueling. The bomb explodes, destroying the three Kates, setting their fuel on fire and sending it across the hangar. Finally, the three torpedoes explode, causing further damage, starting more fires, and blowing a hole in the hangar deck floor, through which burning fuel drips down to spread the fires further below deck.
The next three bombers to drop on the Akagi miss. Then, Earl Gallagher drops a 500 pound bomb and two 250 pound bombs. The 250 pound bombs both strike in the center of the flight deck while the 500 pounder hits about 50 feet further towards the stern. All three bombs blows holes in the flight deck and destroy half a dozen aircraft parked on the flight deck.
Then, Commander Dusty Kleiss drops his 1,000 pound bomb. The bomb strikes the rear of the Rising Sun symbol painted on the Akagi's deck and plunges down four decks before exploding. The bomb causes heavy damage and starts a fire below deck.
Most of the remaining bombers miss with their bombs, but one pilot scores a near miss that explodes close to the stern and damages the Akagi's stern slightly. Then, the final point drops his 500 pound bomb, which penetrates the flight deck to explode on the hangar deck, starting more fires and setting off more ordnance. At the same time, the two 250 pound bombs he dropped strike the Akagi's bridge, causing heavy damage and killing Admiral Nagumo.
As Japanese sailors across the fleet stare in shock at the Akagi beginning to be enveloped in flames. Then, a dozen more SBDs diving on the light carrier Junyo begin dropping their bombs. Junyo is quickly hit by three 1,000 pound bomb in the space of about 8 seconds, causing heavy damage below decks and starting multiple fires. Then, two 500 pound bombs shatter the forward flight deck. Junyo is now burning fiercely.
As the bombers diving on the Junyo pull out of their dives, half a dozen more bombers dive on the battleship Kongo. The first four bombers miss with their bombs, but the last two bombers score direct hits with 1,000 pound bombs, causing heavy damage below deck.
Ten more Dauntlesses and 4 Helldivers next target the light carrier Zuiho. In the space of just 20 second, they hit her four times with 1,000 pound bombs, shattering the flight deck and setting her afire.
More Dauntlesses and few Helldivers dive on the damaged Hiyo and the escort carrier Kaiyo, but all of them miss. However, as they are missing, 6 Helldivers dive on the carrier Taiho. The brand new fleet carrier turns hard to avoid the falling bombs as her gunners fire every gun they have. The Helldivers drop their bombs and pull out, trying to escape Taiho's murderous fire.
Within seconds, a 500 pound bomb and two 250 pound bombs hit the flight deck and explode. However, the Taiho's armored deck withstands them and they explode on deck causing little damage, although destroying two parked planes. However, within seconds, two 1,000 pound bombs penetrate the deck and explode on the hangar deck, destroying several planes and starting a small fire. Damage control quickly swarms over the fire to try and put it out.
More of the dive bombers dive on some of the cruisers. While most of them miss, two Helldivers manage to hit the cruiser Ashigara with 1,000 pound bombs, causing moderate damage.
The Japanese are focusing heavily on the dive bombers, as well as more Hellcats conducting diving strafing attacks. Because of this, the Avengers, flying just feet off the water, move in on their targets. The Avenger pilots decide to focus on the ships they can see are now belching smoke from bomb hits.
Six Avengers leading the strike force that had launched from the Essex head straight for the Akagi. The torpedo bombers fly in in pairs and drop their torpedoes before pulling out of their runs and turning for home.
The six torpedoes streak towards the Akagi. Four of the torpedoes miss. A fifth strikes but fails to explode. The sixth hits directly amidships on her port side, tearing a huge hole in the hull. Akagi slowly begins listing to port.
As the lead Avengers pull out, a large group of 14 Avengers, planes from both the Hornet and Bunker Hill, head straight for the Taiho, determined to put the new carrier under. The Taiho had been built in the hope she would be able to withstand multiple hits. Now the American pilots are about to put that to the test.
One Avenger is blown apart by flak from both the Taiho and cruiser Tone. The other 13 Avengers begin to drop their torpedoes and pull away.
The Taiho turns violently to try and avoid the torpedoes. However, the Avenger pilots had dropped very close to the carrier. Two torpedoes miss before the third strikes her right on her stern, disabling her screws. Two more miss before all remaining 8 torpedoes strike her along her port side.
Taiho has now been hit by five bombs and nine torpedoes. The ship begins listing rapidly to port as fires begin to spring up in the lower decks thanks to the torpedo hits. Although she'd been designed to take heavy damage, she's taken more torpedoes than any other Japanese carrier has so far in the war, and she is listing so quickly it's clear she's doomed.
At the same time, 8 more Avengers attack the damaged Junyo. One Avenger is shot down, but the other 7 manage to drop their torpedoes. While a hard turn from the carrier causes 6 of the torpedoes to miss, one lucky torpedo strikes her on her stern level with her engines, blasting huge hull in the hull. Within a minute, Junyo is dead in the water and listing heavily.
Ten more Avengers attack the damaged Zuiho. The first torpedo misses, but then two torpedoes strike her bow. The next five torpedoes miss, but then she takes one amidships and one on her stern. The Zuiho starts listing rapidly to port as the fires from the bomb hits continue to spread.
The remaining Avengers decide to target the Ashigara, which is relatively far out in the fleet. The bombers quickly hit her with three torpedoes, opening large holes on her port side.
The bombers quickly begin to regroup and head back for home. As they do, three Zeros launch from the Zuikaku to try and pursue them. However, the marauding Hellcats quickly spot them and shoot them down.
As the American aircraft head back to their carriers, Yamamoto stares in shock at the devastation that was just caused. It's clear from the fires he can see and the serious lists caused by the torpedoes that the Taiho, Junyo, and Zuiho are sinking. This is only reinforced when he sees another explosion from the Taiho as a gas explosion blows out her side and wrecks her flight deck. On the other hand, the Akagi and Ashigara are less heavily damaged, but still badly hit.
Yamamoto thinks for a moment, then turns to one of his communications officer. "Order the Akagi evacuated, and scuttle her as soon as we can. If the Ashigara cannot be saved, scuttle her as well. Next, signal Admiral Yamaguchi and order all available aircraft to be launched against the American fleet as soon as they can be launched."
The officer nods and moves off to send the message while Yamamoto looks out over the damaged fleet. While he's now lost a total of 4 of his carriers, his fleet still has plenty of firepower. He feels confident he can still deal a deadly blow to the American fleet.
And, I'll end the chapter there.
So, Halsey has hit the Japanese fleet hard. However, the real pounding on the fleet has yet to come.
Next chapter should be up soon. Until then, please leave a review, and stay tuned!