The Battle of Midway: Hiryu's Counterstrike (2/3)

(Animated Battle Map)

I don’t have a Patreon but if you want to show appreciation for my work feel free to donate.

Artwork done by Mateusz Dąbrowski.

Corrections:
Kurita and Kondo were Rear Admirals to be exact. I referred to them simply as “admirals” in the video. I will be more specific next time.
Also, The Track map has changed and has been updated from the previous video. It’s more accurate this time.

Music :

Sources:
Isom, D. W. (2007). Midway inquest: Why the Japanese lost the Battle of Midway. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Lundstrom, J. B. (2013). The First Team Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway. New York: Naval Institute Press.

Parshall, Jonathan B.; Tully, Anthony P.: Shattered Sword. The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway. Potomac Books: United States, 2007.

Stille, M. (2010). Midway 1942: Turning-point in the Pacific(Vol. 226, Campaign). Oxford: Osprey Publishing.

Symonds, C. L. (2013). The Battle of Midway. Oxford University Press.

Toll, I. W. (2012). Pacific crucible: War at sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942. New York: W.W. Norton.

Willmott, H. P. (2008). The barrier and the javelin: Japanese and Allied Pacific strategies, February to June 1942. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.

And of course:

[mcgruff]

Talk about the longest cliffhanger in the history of YouTube, haha

[nathanglover]

YouTube: Here's a Midway video from Montemayor
Me: Meh, I've already seen it
YouTube: (2/3)
Me: *surprised pikachu*

[Jamesupsilon]

The fact that Thatch distracted the enemy enough with his snazzy flying, leading to the destruction of the carriers, and then personally took out Tomonaga to save the Yorktown (albeit temporarily) has all the feels of the main character storming through the campaign and taking out the final boss single-handedly.

[Xeonerable]

The Yorktown's surviving planes getting the final strike on the Hiryu was some bittersweet revenge.
Also, Jimmy Thach had some serious plot-armor in WW2. Dude was a badass.

[Gszarco]

And when the world needed him most he returned.

[OryxTheMadGod]

"Winning is optional, but trying your hardest is not" is an oddly inspiring quote

[lanceschaina]

Hey Montemayor: your Midway trilogy and Coral Sea documentaries are the best WWII sea battle documentaries on Earth. Better than anything on US or British TV or film. I don't know what else you do with your life, and how fortunate or unfortunate you have been in other matters, but I hope that, for the rest of your life, you take comfort and pride in that fact. You made the best WWII sea battle documentaries ever made. Thank you so so very much!

[theiron]

He finally remembered his password for his youtube channel.

[TheOneWhoMightBe]

Yorktown: 'sunk' in the Coral Sea; 'sunk' at Midway; 'sunk again at Midway; finally finished off by a submarine while under tow. The ship was too angry to die.

[diedertspijkerboer]

Japan on losing 4 carriers: "We basically lost the war."
US, if it had lost 4 carriers: "We'll have four more in two months."

[simontide]

Legends say Yorktown didn't sunk. She just tactically submerged into the Pacific.

[noshurviverse]

A noteworthy thing to mention: Mogami's commander made the decision to jettison the torpedo stores once it became obvious they were going to come under air attack. Mikuma did not. When the cruisers came under attack by the carrier bombers, both Mogami and Mikuma took hits that started fires in or near the torpedo storage rooms.

The results were as might be expected.

[Artyomi]

He protecc
He midway attacc
But most importantly
HE BACC

[Corristo]

I think the general reaction aboard the Yorktown, after getting her patched up again, was a massive "Oh come on! Seriously?! Not again!!!". But the fact that the Americans patched her up so fast and well that the Japanese thought that she was another carrier speaks volumes about the men serving on her.

[rrf]

Love the narration. No forced melodramatic voice, just straight story telling. Well done

[withertax]

*And when the world needed him most, he returned*

[Shloomy_Shloms]

The legend himself has awoken once more

[ozcsstr]

the Hiryu chasing the enemy was definitely a wounded pride situation.. its honestly insane how much ordinance it took to sink the Yorktown..

[leokimvideo]

It's always the one you miss that's going to cause you grief

[andrewtaylor]

The Mogami and Mikuma don’t get enough examination. They are textbook examples of how Japanese Damage Control was entirely dependent on the leadership of individual officers on a per ship basis. Mogami survived because she (almost alone of the Japanese ships that day) had an aggressive and forward thinking Damage Control Officer. As soon as the ship was crippled in the collision he ordered the Torpedos jettisoned. Realizing that at her limping speeds they and the floatplanes aviation gas were the greatest danger to the ship. As the bomb hits occurred he further quickly ordered the ships magazines flooded. This meant that the dive bomber attacks really only tore up Mogami’s superstructure. As would be seen in other battles, dive bombers while damaging were nowhere near an efficient weapon against well prepared armored heavy surface units. Unless they could cause subsequent secondary explosions of the ships own weapons. The Mogami got rid of her Torpedos, dumped her AV gas and flooded her main magazines. The far less aggressive damage control officer on Mikuma did none of these things. The dive bombers triggered a raging AV gas fire as her seaplanes went up like kindling. The AV gas fire in turn cooked off her rear torpedo battery causing a massive explosion which left her dead in the water with her rear half wrecked just waiting for her other Torpedos and magazines to cook off.

At that stage of the war most Japanese Damage Control doctrine was strictly reactive. They weren’t thinking ahead of the problem until things actually started exploding and burning. And it shows up in the smallest details when comparing their ships to their American counterparts. The first thing everyone notes in seeing pictures of the Japanese Carriers in operation is what look to the American eye to be sand bags tied around the bridge and other exposed positions. The Americans think putting sandbags around like that is a cheap and clever trick to limit shrapnel damage in combat. Which would be true, if they were sandbags. But they’re not. They are the crews Cotton bedrolls tied up all around the bridge and superstructure, to air out. Y’know their highly flammable bedding is tied around the admirals command bridge like a pillow fort. All the furniture in the ship is wooden. The walls are paneled with wood. Wooden floors etc. Paper and flammable paint everywhere. Contrast that with American ships. Everything on them was placed with an eye towards fire risk. Furniture and floors were metal. And after Pearl Harbor every crew in the Navy was spending what little spare time they had scrapping off the old flammable paint and repainting with fire resistant stuff. They tried to anticipate and thus reduce the damage before the hits started coming.