how many japanese ships were sunk in ww2

(Albion & Pope, Sea Lanes in Wartime) Between December 1941 and May 1942, the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard sank only two U-Boats. In it, one of the more striking revelations is the comment on the Mobile Force Commander's (Nagumo's) estimates: "The enemy is not aware of our plans (we were not discovered until early in the morning of the 5th at the earliest). The United States was particularly unhappy with Japans increasingly belligerent attitude toward China. Nimitz calculated that the aircraft on his three carriers, plus those on Midway Island, gave the U.S. rough parity with Yamamoto's four carriers, mainly because American carrier air groups were larger than Japanese ones. A few TBDs managed to get within a few ship-lengths range of their targets before dropping their torpedoesclose enough to be able to strafe the enemy ships and force the Japanese carriers to make sharp evasive maneuversbut all of their torpedoes either missed or failed to explode. The distance between Yamamoto and Kondo's forces and Nagumo's carriers had grave implications during the battle. We could not send TBDs into action unless they had adequate smoke protection and torpedoes that exploded more than 10 percent of the time. The Yorktown squadron (VB-3) had flown just behind VT-3, but elected to attack from a different course. Enterprise SBD Dauntless dive bomber pilot Norman "Dusty" Kleiss, who scored three hits on Japanese ships during the Battle of Midway (aircraft carriers Kaga and Hiry and heavy cruiser Mikuma), wrote: "From the experience in the Marshalls, at Wake and at Marcus, I thought our fleet learned its lessons. Pre-war Japan was less mechanized than America and the highly trained aircraft mechanics, fitters, and technicians lost at Midway were all but impossible to replace and train to a similar level of efficiency. [103] Midway was the last time the TBD Devastator was used in combat. Three hours later, they found Tanaka's transport group 570nmi (660mi; 1,060km) to the west. Around 08:20, she made an unsuccessful torpedo attack on a battleship and then had to dive to evade the escorts. The new carriers being built were redesigned to incorporate only two flight deck elevators and new firefighting equipment. Without any form of air superiority, the Japanese never again launched a major offensive in the Pacific. [116] Most of the Japanese CAP was directing its attention to the torpedo planes of VT-3 and was out of position; meanwhile, armed Japanese strike aircraft filled the hangar decks, fuel hoses snaked across the decks as refueling operations were hastily being completed, and the repeated change of ordnance meant that bombs and torpedoes were stacked around the hangars, rather than stowed safely in the magazines, making the Japanese carriers extraordinarily vulnerable.[117]. [211][212][213] Ford, who was a Navy Reserve Commander at the time, was present on Midway Atoll's power plant at Sand Island during the Japanese attack and filmed it. Throughout the night of 6 June and into the morning of 7 June, Yorktown remained afloat; but by 05:30 on 7 June, observers noted that her list was rapidly increasing to port. The torpedo bombers were armed with torpedoes should any American warships be located. The carriers' escorting warships were deployed as visual scouts in a ring at long range, not as close anti-aircraft escorts, as they lacked training, doctrine, and sufficient anti-aircraft guns. That way, the Americans would not be able to fight back as Japans armed forces spread across the South Pacific. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. It was torpedoed and sunk [129], Hiry, the sole surviving Japanese aircraft carrier, wasted little time in counterattacking. [151] Captain Richard E. Fleming, a U.S. Marine Corps aviator, was killed while executing a glide bomb run on Mikuma and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.[152]. During months of negotiations between Tokyo and Washington, D.C., neither side would budge. The strike planes returned to the carriers after nightfall, prompting Spruance to order Enterprise and Hornet to turn on their lights to aid the landings. In desperation, instructors from the Yokosuka Air Corps were relieved of their duties to serve as pilots. [189] The Guadalcanal Campaign is also regarded by some as a turning point in the Pacific War. Because of strategic disagreements between the Imperial Army (IJA) and Imperial Navy (IJN), and infighting between the Navy's GHQ and Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's Combined Fleet, a follow-up strategy was not formed until April 1942. Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, is located near the center of the Pacific Ocean, roughly 2,000 miles from the U.S. mainland and about 4,000 miles from Japan. The Montevideo Maru was a Japanese POW ship carrying Prisoners of War from the Philippines to a transit camp in Formosa (Taiwan). Many ships were also claimed damaged or sunk by multiple pilots/crews. Because of the constant flight deck activity associated with combat air patrol operations during the preceding hour, the Japanese never had an opportunity to position ("spot") their reserve planes on the flight deck for launch. These inexperienced pilots were fed into front-line units, while the veterans who remained after Midway and the Solomons campaign were forced to share an increased workload as conditions grew more desperate, with few being given a chance to rest in rear areas or in the home islands. [30] The Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard worked around the clock, and in 72 hours she was restored to a battle-ready state,[31] judged good enough for two or three weeks of operations, as Nimitz required. Ocean explorers announced Saturday that they have discovered the remains of a Japanese World War II vessel that sank with over 1,000 Allied POWs on board. [112], By chance, at the same time VT-3 was sighted by the Japanese, three squadrons of SBDs from Enterprise and Yorktown were approaching from the southwest and northeast. This meant that Midway was outside the effective range of almost all of the American aircraft stationed on the main Hawaiian islands. [209] Tinker Air Force Base, outside Oklahoma City, Oklahoma is named in honor of Major General Clarence L. Tinker, Commander, 7th Air Force, who personally led a bomber strike from Hawaii against the retreating Japanese forces on 7 June. At about 8 a.m., Japanese planes filled the sky over Pearl Harbor. We strive for accuracy and fairness. Within the first few minutes, two F4Fs and 13 F2As were destroyed, while most of the surviving U.S. planes were damaged, with only two remaining airworthy. [190], Some authors have stated that heavy losses in carriers and veteran aircrews at Midway permanently weakened the Imperial Japanese Navy. Several minutes later, Best and his two wingmen dove on Akagi. Japanese casualty figures for the battle were compiled by Sawaichi Hisae for her book. Some of our machineguns managed to fire a few frantic bursts at them, but it was too late. [40], Thus, Carrier Division 5, consisting of the two most advanced aircraft carriers of the Kido Butai, was not available, which meant that Vice-Admiral Nagumo had only two-thirds of the fleet carriers at his disposal: Kaga and Akagi forming Carrier Division 1 and Hiry and Sry making up Carrier Division 2. Fletcher transferred his flag to Saratoga on the afternoon of 8 June and resumed command of the carrier force. Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi, together with the ship's captain, Tomeo Kaku[ja], chose to go down with the ship, costing Japan perhaps its best carrier officer. Spruance knew the United States had won a great victory, but he was still unsure of what Japanese forces remained and was determined to safeguard both Midway and his carriers. [157] Furthermore, the American air groups had suffered considerable losses, including most of their torpedo bombers. The plan was undermined by faulty Japanese anticipations of the U.S. reaction and poor initial dispositions. The Japanese, by contrast, remained largely unaware of their opponent's true strength and dispositions even after the battle began. Fletcher, in overall command aboard Yorktown, and benefiting from PBY sighting reports from the early morning, ordered Spruance to launch against the Japanese as soon as was practical, while initially holding Yorktown in reserve in case any other Japanese carriers were found. [27], To do battle with an enemy expected to muster four or five carriers, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, needed every available flight deck. [131], Approximately one hour later, Hiry's second attack wave, consisting of ten B5Ns and six escorting A6Ms, arrived over Yorktown; the repair efforts had been so effective that the Japanese pilots assumed that Yorktown must be a different, undamaged carrier. [87] Furthermore, by spotting and launching immediately, Nagumo would be committing some of his reserves to battle without proper anti-ship armament, and likely without fighter escort; indeed, he had just witnessed how easily the unescorted American bombers had been shot down. Hiry's first attack wave, consisting of 18 D3As and six fighter escorts, followed the retreating American aircraft and attacked the first carrier they encountered, Yorktown, hitting her with three bombs, which blew a hole in the deck, snuffed out all but one of her boilers, and destroyed one anti-aircraft mount. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise, but Japan and the United States had been edging toward war for decades. The discovery last week of the wreck of the Montevideo Maru has prompted renewed focus on the Japanese prison ships of World War II. More carrier crew members were trained in damage-control and firefighting techniques, although the losses of the Shkaku, Hiy, and especially Taih later in the war suggest that there were still problems in this area. [130] Captain Buckmaster had his signalmen hoist a huge new (10 feet wide and 15 feet long) American flag from the foremast. Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese aviator who had led the attack on Pearl Harbor, was on Akagi when it was hit, and described the attack: A look-out screamed: "Hell-Divers!" The four Japanese fleet carriersAkagi, Kaga, Sry, and Hiry, part of the six-carrier force that had attacked Pearl Harbor six months earlierwere sunk, as was the heavy cruiser Mikuma. 307 Americans had been killed, including Major General Clarence L. Tinker, Commander, 7th Air Force, who personally led a bomber strike from Hawaii against the retreating Japanese forces on 7 June. [110] The appearance of a third torpedo plane attack from the southeast by VT-3 from Yorktown, led by LCDR Lance Edward Massey at 10:00 very quickly drew the majority of the Japanese CAP to the southeast quadrant of the fleet. [49], Japanese radio intercepts did notice an increase in both American submarine activity and message traffic. Updated: December 6, 2022 | Original: October 29, 2009. [194], After the battle, Shkaku and Zuikaku were the only large carriers of the original Pearl Harbor strike force still afloat. St. The IJA occupied these islands to place the Japanese home islands out of range of U.S. land-based bombers in Alaska. Moreover, the Pearl Harbor assault had left the bases most vital onshore facilitiesoil storage depots, repair shops, shipyards and submarine docksintact. The attack was unsuccessful and around 06:00 he finally reported two westbound Mogami-class cruisers, before diving again and playing no further role in the battle. [181] Another 35 crewmen from Hiry were taken from a lifeboat by USSBallard on 19 June after being spotted by an American search plane. "As a woman," she said, "I cant go to war, and I refuse to send anyone else.". Military historian John Keegan called it "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare",[10] while naval historian Craig Symonds called it "one of the most consequential naval engagements in world history, ranking alongside Salamis, Trafalgar, and Tsushima Strait, as both tactically decisive and strategically influential".[11]. [74] This experience may well have contributed to Nagumo's determination to launch another attack on Midway, in direct violation of Yamamoto's order to keep the reserve strike force armed for anti-ship operations. Admiral Fletcher, obliged to abandon the derelict Yorktown and feeling he could not adequately command from a cruiser, ceded operational command to Spruance. Despite the heavy losses, the Japanese believed that they could scrape together enough aircraft for one more strike against what they believed to be the only remaining American carrier. Many were sunk by Allied submarines, sending thousands of their comrades to their deaths. [106] The performance of American torpedoes in the early months of the war was extremely poor, as shot after shot missed by running directly under the target (deeper than intended), prematurely exploded, or hit targets (sometimes with an audible clang) and failed to explode at all. In contrast, the extensive use of machinery in the United States meant that a much larger portion of the population had a mechanical/technical background. Almost the entire Pacific Fleet was moored around Ford Island in the harbor, and hundreds of airplanes were squeezed onto adjacent airfields. Thus, Japan was deprived of any knowledge concerning the movements of the American carriers immediately before the battle. ", "VP-44 at Ford Island and the Battle of Midway", Interrogation of: Captain Toyama, Yasumi, IJN; Chief of Staff Second Destroyer Squadron, flagship Jintsu (CL), at Midway, "Office of Naval Intelligence Combat Narrative: "Midway's Attack on the Enemy Carriers", "Recollections of Lieutenant George Gay, USNR", "Douglas TBD Devastator Torpedo Bomber (1937)", "The Hard Lessons of World War II Torpedo Failures", "IJN Kirishima: Tabular Record of Movement", "HIJMS Nagara: Tabular Record of Movement", The Japanese Story of the Battle of Midway (a Translation), "HyperWar: The Japanese Story of the Battle of Midway", "War crimes of the Imperial Japanese Navy", Interrogation of Japanese Prisoners Taken After Midway Action, 9 June 1942, "The Turning Point of the Pacific War: Two Views", "Operation Vengeance: The Mission to Kill Admiral Yamamoto", "A brief history of the U.S.S. The U.S. lost the carrier Yorktown and the destroyer Hammann, while the carriers USSEnterprise and USSHornet survived the battle fully intact. These factors meant all carriers of the Kid Butai had fewer aircraft than their normal complement, with few spare aircraft or parts stored in the carriers' hangars. [198] By the time of the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, the Japanese had nearly rebuilt their carrier forces in terms of numbers, but their planes, many of which were obsolete, were largely flown by inexperienced and poorly trained pilots. They were taken to Midway and then transferred to Pearl Harbor on USSSirius. Other sources claim a stern hit, but Parshall and Tully make a case for a near miss, because of rudder damage from a high explosive bomb. However, considering the increased strength of American land-based airpower on the Hawaiian Islands since the 7 December attack the previous year, he judged that it was now too risky to attack Pearl Harbor directly. He completed his torpedo attack on the carrier Sry before he was shot down, but Sry evaded his torpedo. WebBetween 12 and 18 September 1944, Allied forces sank three Japanese steamships that were carrying supplies to support the Japanese war effort. One young sailor reportedly tried to go down with the ship with the officers, but was denied. Yasumasa died when the destroyer Numakaze sank in December 1943 but had he survived, he would have likely been tried as a war criminal. Similarly, most Americans feared that the occupied islands would be used as bases for Japanese bombers to attack strategic targets and population centers along the West Coast of the United States. As soon as Tambor returned to port, Spruance had Murphy relieved of duty and reassigned to a shore station, citing his confusing contact report, poor torpedo shooting during his attack run, and general lack of aggression, especially as compared to Nautilus, the oldest of the 12 boats at Midway and the only one which had successfully placed a torpedo on target (albeit a dud). Lo (formerly Midway) CVE 63", "Biography of Rear Admiral John Ford; U.S. Some of the aircrew were inexperienced, which may have contributed to an accident in which Thach's executive officer Lieutenant Commander Donald Lovelace was killed. [123], Within six minutes, Sry and Kaga were ablaze from stem to stern, as fires spread through the ships. At the end of the battle, the U.S. lost the carrier Yorktown and a destroyer, Hammann. [23] This tactic was doctrine in most major navies of the time. Australia finds wreck of Japanese WW2 disaster ship. On December 7, 1941 the Japanese military launched a surprise attack on the US Naval base at Pearl Harbor. These comprised two squadrons each of dive bombers and torpedo bombers. The ship exploded and sank with more than 1,000 men trapped inside. Finally, much of Yamamoto's planning, coinciding with the general feeling among the Japanese leadership at the time, was based on a gross misjudgment of American morale, which was believed to be debilitated from the string of Japanese victories in the preceding months. [146] Sighting several ships, neither Murphy nor his executive officer, Edward Spruance (son of Admiral Spruance), could identify them. For instance, cryptanalysis made possible the shooting down of Admiral Yamamoto's airplane in 1943. [177] Osmus was slated for the same fate; however, he resisted and was murdered on the Arashi with a fire ax, and his body was thrown overboard. No one believed that the Japanese would start a war with an attack on the distant islands of Hawaii. [47], Japanese strategic scouting arrangements prior to the battle were also in disarray. [159] Clay Blair argued in 1975 that had Spruance pressed on, he would have been unable to launch his aircraft after nightfall, and his cruisers would have been overwhelmed by Yamamoto's powerful surface units, including Yamato. IE 11 is not supported. Shortly afterward, the ship turned onto her port side revealing the torpedo hole in her starboard bilge. [98] Spruance judged that the need to throw something at the enemy as soon as possible was greater than the need to coordinate the attack by aircraft of different types and speeds (fighters, bombers, and torpedo bombers). [194][nb 5] A few months after Midway, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service sustained similar casualty rates in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons and Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, and it was these battles, combined with the constant attrition of veterans during the Solomons campaign, which were the catalyst for the sharp downward spiral in operational capability. [17] The U.S. did consider Midway vital: after the battle, the establishment of a U.S. submarine base on Naval Air Facility Midway Island allowed submarines operating from Pearl Harbor to refuel and re-provision, extending their radius of operations by 1,200mi (1,900km). [18], Typical of Japanese naval planning during World War II, Yamamoto's battle plan for taking Midway (named Operation MI) was exceedingly complex. [202][pageneeded][203][pageneeded]. Beginning at 10:22, the two squadrons of Enterprise's air group split up with the intention of sending one squadron each to attack Kaga and Akagi. [195] In the time it took Japan to build three carriers, the U.S. Navy commissioned more than two dozen fleet and light fleet carriers, and numerous escort carriers. Damage control parties were able to temporarily patch the flight deck and restore power to several boilers within an hour, giving her a speed of 19kn (35km/h; 22mph) and enabling her to resume air operations. Midway-based Marine fighters led by Major Floyd B. USS Hornet: American aircraft carrier torpedoed and sunk by Japanese destroyers on 27 October 1942, following damage from carrier-based aircraft during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi, leading Carrier Division 2 (Hiry and Sry), recommended that Nagumo strike immediately with the forces at hand: 16 Aichi D3A1 dive bombers on Sry and 18 on Hiry, and half the ready cover patrol aircraft. Three days later, Japans allies Germany and Italy declared war against the United States. The invaluable reconnaissance capability of the scout planes carried by the cruisers and carriers, as well as the additional antiaircraft capability of the cruisers and the other two battleships of the Kong-class in the trailing forces, was unavailable to Nagumo. The plump silhouettes of the American Dauntless dive-bombers quickly grew larger, and then a number of black objects suddenly floated eerily from their wings. [26], In order to obtain support from the Imperial Japanese Army for the Midway operation, the Imperial Japanese Navy agreed to support their invasion of the United States through the Aleutian Islands of Attu and Kiska, part of the organized incorporated Alaska Territory. [nb 6], Midway showed the worth of pre-war naval cryptanalysis and intelligence-gathering. As a result, the U.S. Navy was able to rebound relatively quickly from the attack. Pearl Harbor is a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, that was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941. [56], Japan had a new codebook, but its introduction had been delayed, enabling HYPO to read messages for several crucial days; the new code, which took several days to be cracked, came into use on 24 May, but the important breaks had already been made. Without confirmation of whether the American force included carriers (not received until 08:20), Nagumo's reaction was doctrinaire. The Japanese plan was simple: Destroy the Pacific Fleet. [196] By 1942 the United States was already three years into a shipbuilding program mandated by the Second Vinson Act of 1938. If the other parts of the invasion force needed more defense, the Kid Butai would make best speed to defend them. Updated on: April 22, 2023 / 7:47 PM / AP. After the Pearl Harbor attack, and for the first time during years of discussion and debate, the American people were united in their determination to go to war. [169], As a result of the defeat, new procedures were adopted whereby more Japanese aircraft were refueled and re-armed on the flight deck, rather than in the hangars, and the practice of draining all unused fuel lines was adopted. [41] Nonetheless, the First Carrier Strike Force sailed with 248 available aircraft on the four carriers (60 on Akagi, 74 on Kaga (B5N2 squadron oversized), 57 on Hiry and 57 on Sry). USS Ommaney Bay (CVE-79) sunk by Kamikaze attack south of Mindoro, Philippine Islands, 4 January 1945. [145], At 02:15 on the morning of 5 June, Commander John Murphy's Tambor, lying 90nmi (170km; 100mi) west of Midway, made the second of the submarine force's two major contributions to the battle's outcome, although its impact was heavily blunted by Murphy himself. The damage also forced Admiral Fletcher to move his command staff to the heavy cruiser Astoria. [57], At about 09:00 on 3 June, Ensign Jack Reid, piloting a PBY from U.S. Navy patrol squadron VP-44,[60] spotted the Japanese Occupation Force 500nmi (580mi; 930km) to the west-southwest of Midway. First, they kept the Japanese carriers off balance and unable to prepare and launch their own counterstrike. Unescorted bombers headed off to attack the Japanese carriers, their fighter escorts remaining behind to defend Midway. Despite initial hopes that Akagi could be saved or at least towed back to Japan, all three carriers were eventually abandoned and scuttled. [86] Spotting his flight decks and launching aircraft would have required at least 30 minutes. The Japanese had wanted to goad the United States into an agreement to lift the economic sanctions against them; instead, they had pushed their adversary into a global conflict that ultimately resulted in Japans first occupation by a foreign power. The carriers had to launch into the wind, so the light southeasterly breeze would require them to steam away from the Japanese at high speed. [38], During the Battle of the Coral Sea one month earlier, the Japanese light carrier Shh had been sunk, while the fleet carrier Shkaku had been severely damaged by three bomb hits and was in drydock for months of repair. [180], Two enlisted men from Mikuma were rescued from a life raft on 9 June by USSTrout and taken to Pearl Harbor. [143] It was fortunate for the U.S. that Spruance did not pursue, for had he come in contact with Yamamoto's heavy ships, including Yamato, in the dark, considering the Japanese Navy's superiority in night-attack tactics at the time, there is a very high probability his cruisers would have been overwhelmed and his carriers sunk. [140], Finally, fearing a possible night encounter with Japanese surface forces,[140] and believing Yamamoto still intended to invade, based in part on a misleading contact report from the submarine Tambor,[141] Spruance changed course and withdrew to the east, turning back west towards the enemy at midnight. [88], Japanese naval doctrine preferred the launching of fully constituted strikes rather than piecemeal attacks. His emphasis on dispersal also meant none of his formations were in a position to support the others. His design was also predicated on optimistic intelligence suggesting that USSEnterprise and USS Hornet, forming Task Force 16, were the only carriers available to the U.S. Pacific Fleet. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. [109], Despite their failure to score any hits, the American torpedo attacks achieved three important results. This list of military ships sunk by the Imperial Japanese Navy lists all vessels sunk by ships commissioned in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and by Japanese naval aircraft, listed alphabetically by ship name. [166] The remaining officers and men were quickly dispersed to other units of the fleet and, without being allowed to see family or friends, were shipped to units in the South Pacific, where the majority died in battle. [4] The last aircraft carrier sunk in wartime was the Japanese aircraft Spruance once again withdrew to the east to refuel his destroyers and rendezvous with the carrier Saratoga, which was ferrying much-needed replacement aircraft. This late afternoon strike narrowly missed detecting Yamamoto's main body and failed to score hits on a straggling Japanese destroyer. Commander William Brockman) found herself near the Japanese fleet, attracting attention from the escorts. Allied submarines in the Pacific sank 1,314 ships from Japan's navy and merchant marine. [171], Three U.S. airmen were captured during the battle: Ensign Wesley Osmus,[172] a pilot from Yorktown; Ensign Frank O'Flaherty,[173] a pilot from Enterprise; and Aviation Machinist's Mate Bruno Peter Gaido,[174] O'Flaherty's radioman-gunner. Mikuma was eventually sunk by Dauntlesses,[150] while Mogami survived further severe damage to return home for repairs. With further salvage efforts deemed hopeless, the remaining repair crews were evacuated from Yorktown.
Famous Arminian Theologians, What To Wear On A Viking Ocean Cruise, Earthquake Kenai Peninsula Just Now, Articles H