I Sank the AKAGI

摘要

Throughout History, the truly crucial naval victories have been more decisive than they first appeared. At Salamis, the Athenians not only defeated the Persian invasion fleet of Xerxes but also determined that Western civilization would continue to exist and develop as a world force. Trafalgar didn't merely mean that Napoleon would not be able to invade Great Britain and would instead end his career in defeat; it meant that Britain would be the dominant world power for the next 125 years. So, too, the Battle of Midway, fought on June 4 through 6, 1942, did not merely mean that the United States would eventually win the Pacific War, but also that it would be the dominant Pacific power in all the years since. In every great battle, there comes a moment when it truly seems that the gods of war have chosen the winner. At Midway, this came at approximately 10 a.m. on the morning' of June 4, when the Douglas SBD Dauntless dive-bombers of Bombing-6 and Scouting-6 from the USS Enterprise, led by Air Group Commander Lt. Cmdr. Clarence Wade McClusky, arrived over the Japanese carrier force at its single most vulnerable moment. At that time, the United States was losing. The U.S. air forces on Midway had launched small strikes at the Japanese but had not been successful in damaging the fleet. The Japanese, having sent their first strike against the island at dawn, prepared the second strike that was to knock out what was left of Midway's aircraft and ground defenses and allow the soldiers of the accompanying invasion fleet to take possession of the strategic mid-Pacific atoll. This would push the U.S. back to Hawaii and perhaps force a consideration of a retreat to the West Coast and grant the Japanese control of the Pacific.