How did the US destroy the Japanese in the Battle of Midway?

Answer 1

Three of the four Japanese aircraft carriers sunk at Midway were lost in a matter of minutes, in a single attack by American dive bombers. Ordinarily dive bombers could not cause very serious damage to capital naval ships, because they carried only a single, 500 lb. bomb. These bombs were generally not heavy enough to cripple a ship, even though they would do damage if they hit. The really destructive bombers were the torpedo bombers, which carried a single torpedo slung beneath the aircraft, just like the ones fired from submarines or destroyers. But the US torpedo bombers were slow and unmaneuverable. The plan was for the dive bombers and torpedo bombers to attack at the same time. The torpedo bombers flew in low, just over the water to drop their torpedoes. The torpedo bombers took off first, because they were so much slower. They still reached the Japanese fleet first and began their attack. Every single one was shot down, without scoring any hits at all. There was a single Survivor, who floated in his life jacket and saw what happened next (and was rescued days later by a flying boat, truly a very lucky man). The one thing the torpedo bomber attack did accomplish was to draw all the Japanese Combat Air Patrol fighter planes from overhead the Japanese fleet down to the deck to chase the torpedo bombers. So when the dive bombers arrived overhead in the next few minutes there were no Japanese fighters at high altitude to intercept them.

The Japanese carriers were at their most vulnerable. Their airplanes had attacked Midway Island earlier and were being rearmed and refueled. At first they were being rearmed with bombs to drop on Midway, then when that was about done reports of sightings of the American fleet came in, and a hurried rearming with anti-ship weapons, torpedoes, was ordered. There were bombs, torpedoes and fuel lines all over the decks of the Japanese ships, and they were full of highly inflammable gas fumes from the high-octane aviation gas. (The USS Yorktown was lost when caught in a similar condition at another time). The bombers nosed over and dived, dropping their bombs into the midst of this highly inflammable and explosive target, and three carriers were soon racked with secondary explosions coming one after another and wreathed in flames. The only reason the fourth escaped was it was temporarily hidden beneath the clouds of a rain squall that kept it from being spotted.

In those few minutes the entire tide of the Pacific War shifted to running for the Americans, and the war was as good as lost to the Japanese, though they required three more years of convincing.