World War II--Before the War
The
seventh USS Enterprise (CV-6),
also called the “Big E,” was launched from the dry-docks
on October 3rd ,
1936. The ship had a displacement of
19,800 tons as built, over 25,000 tons with a full load. Its length at the waterline was 230 meters.
Total length was 251.38 meters. The aircraft carrier was commissioned in
1938, cruised to Rio de Jeneiro, and
then toured the Caribbean. In 1939, the USS
Enterprise was
ordered to the Pacific. She was first
based in San Diego where she was used in the filming of the movie Dive
Bomber. Then, President Roosevelt ordered the Enterprise and
her fleet to Pearl Harbor. The carrier
left Pearl Harbor on November 28, 1941 to deliver a Marine fighter squadron to
Wake Island. She was returning to Hawaii
when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th.
Pearl Harbor
Eighteen SBD Dauntless planes from the
Enterprise’s Scouting Squad 6 and Bombing Squad 6 reached Pearl Harbor during
the Japanese attack. They were very
surprised, but went into action defending the port immediately. Several planes were lost due to enemy
aircraft and friendly fire.
After the attack, Enterprise
planes set out in search of the enemy fleet.
The search proved futile, and the Enterprise visited
Pearl Harbor for food and supplies the night of December 8th.
She then set out to patrol against further attacks on the Hawaiian
Islands.
On December 10th, her
planes sank a Japanese submarine.
The Doolittle Raid
During
the next few months, the Enterprise escorted convoys and attacked Japanese
positions.
In
1942, she escorted the Hornet,
which was carrying Doolittle’s Raiders.
The Hornet’s
flight deck was covered with B-25s and could not be used by the Hornet’s own
planes, so the Enterprise’s
planes flew combat patrol while the Raiders took off.
The
carrier’s part in the Doolittle mission accomplished, the Enterprise
hurried to the South Pacific to reinforce aircraft carriers there. However, she arrived too late for the Battle
of the Coral Sea.
The Battle of Midway
The
Enterprise’s next assignment was to “hold Midway [island] and inflict maximum damage on the enemy by strong
attrition tactics.” The carrier left
Pearl Harbor on the 28th of
May after intense preparation. On this mission, the Enterprise
was
to serve as Rear Admiral Raymond A. Sprance’s
flagship. The Enterprise was
accompanied by the Hornet, six cruisers, and ten destroyers. On the 30th of
May, the Yorktown (hastily
repaired) 3 cruisers, and 6 destroyers also left Pearl Harbor to join the Enterprise
and
the Hornet.
Meanwhile,
four Japanese aircraft carriers, the Akagi,
Kaga, Hiryu,
and
Soryu, were
also on their way to Midway Island, at the extreme northwest of the Hawaiian
island chain. With the carriers were 2 battleships and
15 support ships. The Japanese believed the Yorktown had
been sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea and that the Americans had been
demoralized by their many losses in the Pacific. Their reason for attacking Midway was not
specifically to gain the island, which to them had little value, but to draw
out the remainder of the American Pacific fleet and destroy it. What they did not know was that the Americans had broken Japanese naval
code, and therefore their plans were not secret. The Americans had planned a counter-surprise
attack.
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| Midway Island |
The
Battle of Midway began at 12:30 on June 3rd as 9
B-17s took off from Midway Island. Three
hours later, the Flying Fortresses found the Japanese and, in spite of heavy
anti-aircraft fire, released their bombs.
None of the bombs found their targets.
At
01:00 the next morning, a PBY Catalina from Midway launched the only successful
U.S. torpedo strike of the entire battle, hitting the Japanese oil tanker Akebono
Maru. Vice-Admiral Chūichi Nagumo's
(Japanese) carrier
striking force
launched its attack on Midway Island at 04:30 with 36 Aichi dive bombers, 36
Nakajima torpedo bombers, and their escort of 36 Zero fighter planes. Nagumo also deployed his combat air patrol and
8 search aircraft.
Radar alerted the Americans to the oncoming Japanese force, and while
bombers were assembled to strike the Japanese carrier force, U.S. fighter
planes (Wildcats and Buffalos) remained behind to defend Midway. Most of the U.S. fighters were shot down within the first few
minutes. Anti-aircraft batteries put up
a good show, but the Japanese succeeded in bombing and heavily damaging the base at Midway. The American bombers had little effect on the Japanese carrier force.
_during_Battle_of_Midway.jpg) |
| Torpedo Squadron 6 prepares for takeoff on the USS Enterprise |
It
was time for the air forces of the carriers to show their prowess. Admiral Fletcher of the Yorktown, the
overall commander, ordered Admiral Spruance of the Enterprise to
launch the attack as soon as possible.
Spruance gave the order “Launch the attack” at 06:00. Shortly after 07:00, the planes took off from the Enterprise and
Hornet. Spruance ordered his planes to proceed to the
target as quickly as possible, without waiting for the entire task force to
assemble.
Admiral
Fletcher’s planes took off from the Yorktown at
08:00.
The
aircraft encountered difficulty finding the target. The 10 Wildcat fighter planes from the Hornet
ran out of fuel and ditched in the ocean, leaving Torpedo Squadron 8 without an
escort. All of the Torpedo 8 planes were
shot down during their attack at 9:20 without inflicting damage on the
carriers. Only one man survived.
The
fighter escort from the Enterprise also
ran low on fuel. They turned back and
Torpedo Squadron 6 lost 10 out of 14 planes, also without inflicting damage on
the enemy.
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| On the Hornet |
The
torpedo bombers from the Yorktown faced similar losses, losing 10 of 12
Devastators when they attacked at 10:00.
Thanks to the bad performance of
their torpedoes, they also obtained no results.
The torpedo bombers did, however, keep the
Japanese carriers busy and force them into evasive maneuvers, making them unable to launch a counterattack. The torpedo planes also forced the Japanese
Combat Air Patrol out of position and made the Zeros run low on ammunition and
fuel.
Three
squadrons of dive-bombers from the Enterprise and Yorktown were
quickly approaching. They too had had
difficulty in finding the carriers and were running low on fuel. Some of the planes were forced to ditch in
the sea before the attack even began because of fuel exhaustion.
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| Japanese carriers during the dive-bombing attack |
The
remaining bombers, however, arrived at the perfect time to attack. Dive bombers under Squadron Commander McClusky of
the Enterprise
scored 4 or 5 hits on the Kaga. Yorktown
bombers led by Max Leslie hit the Soryu
three times. Both the Soryu and Kaga were
ablaze within 6 minutes. One
of Lieutenant Commander Richard Hasley Best’s bombs hit the Akagi, and
one of his men (from the Enterprise)
scored a near-miss. The Akagi, Soryu,
and
Kaga were
all abandoned and scuttled.
The
only Japanese carrier left undamaged was the Hiryu. The
Hiryu wasted
no time in looking for revenge.
The USS Yorktown after being hit by dive bombers--then hit by a torpedo
Japanese
dive-bombers from the Hiryu hit
the Yorktown 3 times, snuffing out its boilers. However, the Yorktown’s damage control teams
patched the decks of the carrier so well that the next wave of Japanese—torpedo
bombers—mistook the Yorktown for an undamaged carrier, the Enterprise. The Yorktown received 2 torpedo hits, and
with no power and a 26 degree list to port, she was forced out of action. Admiral Fletcher moved his command staff to
the heavy cruiser Astoria, and soon after, he handed over command of the
mission to Admiral Spruance of the Enterprise.
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| The Hiryu Burning |
Late
in the afternoon, a scout plane from the Yorktown spotted the Hiryu. Enterprise
dive-bombers, aided by 10 Yorktown
dive-bombers, launched their final attack.
Although
the Hiryu was
defended by more than a dozen Zeros, the dive-bombers were successful with
their attack and 4 or 5 bombs plunged into the Hiryu. Soon the carrier was ablaze. After unsuccessful attempts to stop the fire,
the Hiryu was
evacuated. The carrier was sunk, taking
with it Rear Admiral Yamaguchi, one of Japan’s greatest carrier commanders, who
chose to go down with his ship.
The
Battle of Midway (June 4-7th), in
which the USS Enterprise
played an important role, is often considered the most important battle of the
Pacific in World War II. It was the
first clear victory for the Americans, and a turning point in the Pacific
theater.
The USS Enterprise: 1775-2012: Part 3 (The Battle of the Eastern Solomons and Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands) will be posted tomorrow.
