The Midmorning Strike Force
Enterprise (CV-6) strike planes are aloft around 0800. The Yorktown (CV-5) waits until closer to the enemy; her squadrons are aloft by 0905.
USS Enterprise
Air group commander: LCDR Wade McClusky (operating as part of VS-6)
Scouting Squadron (VS) 6
LT Earl Gallaher
18 SBDs armed with 1x500-lb. bombs (most also carry 2x100-lb. bombs)
8 aircraft lost, 2 damaged
12 aviators KIA/MIA, 1 WIA
Bombing Squadron (VB) 6
LT Richard Best
15 SBDs with 1x1,000-lb. bombs
8 aircraft lost, 1 damaged
10 aviators KIA/MIA, 2 WIA
USS Yorktown
Bombing Squadron (VB) 3
LCDR Max Leslie
17 Dauntless dive bombers with 1x1,000-lb. bombs (4 bombs had been accidentally released earlier)
2 aircraft lost, 1 aviator WIA
Torpedo Squadron (VT) 3
LCDR Lem Massey
12 TBD torpedo bombers with 1x17.7-in. torpedoes
12 aircraft lost
20 aviators KIA/MIA, 1 WIA
1st Div., Fighting Squadron (VF) 3
LCDR Jimmy Thach
6 F4F Wildcat fighters
5 aircraft lost or unusable
1 aviator KIA, 1 WIA
Time: 1015
Since 0710, the Japanese Mobile Striking Force has fought off a series of uncoordinated U.S. aerial attacks. At 1006, soon after Torpedo Squadron Six’s strike is broken up, Japanese attention begins to focus on another low-level threat—VT-3’s approaching Devastators.
1
Zero fighters swarm low-flying VT-3, which initiates its attack before the SBD strikes. Zeroes also concentrate on VF-3’s F4Fs, which are soon fighting for their lives. The first combat use of the “Thach Weave” maneuver frustrates Japanese pilots. VT-3 is still under attack when SBDs head for home. Only five TBDs drop torpedoes; all miss.
2
McClusky, leading VS-6 and the trailing VB-6, violates doctrine by ordering VS-6 to dive on the closer target, the Kaga. Best aborts his Kaga attack, but most of his squadron follow McClusky and VS-6, resulting in a devastating strike. Best leads his two wingmen in an attack on the Akagi.
3
Believing VS-3 is trailing his squadron, Massey targets the more distant Sōryū, but VB-3’s attack is delayed as the squadron moves upwind of the carrier. VB-3 separates into three sections that attack the Sōryū from different angles, resulting in a fire-control breakdown on board the carrier.
The Evening Strike Force
USS Enterprise, with a/c from USS Yorktown
LT Earl Gallaher
Scouting Squadron (VS) 6
LT Earl Gallaher
6 SBDs armed with 1x1,000-lb. bombs
0 aircraft lost
Bombing Squadron (VB) 6
LT Richard Best
3 SBDs with 1x1,000-lb. bombs
1 aircraft lost
2 aviators KIA
Bombing Squadron (VB) 3
LT Dewitt Shumway
15 SBDs with 1x500-lb. bombs
2 aircraft lost, 3 damaged
4 aviators KIA, 3 WIA
USS Hornet (CV-8)
Scouting Squadron (VS) 8
LT Edgar Stebbins
7 SBDs with 1x1,000-lb. bombs
0 aircraft lost
Bombing Squadron (VB) 8
LT Frederic Bates
7 SBDs with 1x500-lb. bombs
0 aircraft lost
Time: 1700–1720
1
The Enterprise’s composite group contains more aircraft from the Yorktown than from the “Big E.” Yorktown aviators are instructed to attack the battleship Haruna, but most of them strike the Hiryū.
2
A communications failure results in the Hornet’s aircraft launching late and arriving after the Hiryū has been smashed. Attacking the heavy cruisers Tone and Chikuma instead, they score no hits.
The Damage Done by Hits and Near Misses
Kaga
The Kaga is hit by so many bombs that the Japanese lose count. One bomb almost certainly strikes very near her island, instantly killing her captain and four other senior officers. The other hits start fires throughout her upper hangar deck, leading to an enormous fuel air explosion minutes later. The Kaga is scuttled in the evening of 4 June, the tomb of 811 sailors.
Akagi
A near miss close astern will eventually jam the Akagi’s rudders. However, it is a single bomb, dropped by LT Richard Best, that strikes her amidships in the upper hangar deck and dooms the carrier. This hit starts irrecoverable fires that cannot be checked. The Akagi is scuttled the morning of 5 June, taking 267 men with her.
Sōryū
The Sōryū is hit by three bombs evenly spaced down her length. One of them slices deeply into her lower hangar deck, destroying her engine uptakes and immediately taking her engines offline. The Sōryū burns so fiercely she is abandoned within 20 minutes. Scuttled around the same time as the Kaga, she carries 711 sailors down with her.
Hiryū
Four bombs strike the Hiryū, all concentrated in the forward end of her upper hangar deck. The carrier’s elevator is thrown against the bridge. Although she remains under power for several hours, her firefighting efforts are doomed. Scuttled on the morning of 5 June, she is the grave of 392 men, including Carrier Division 2 commander RADM Tamon Yamaguchi.