Midway question!

[HMSVF]

Currently watching "Midway" (70's version).

Question!

Why did the Japanese keep swapping between torpedoes and bombs!? You can still hit a carrier with a bomb but you cannot torpedo an airstrip!? I suppose what I'm asking is if they hadn't prevaricating over ordinance and actually stuck with bombs and attacked would they have

a) Not been caught rearming

b) Actually damaged one of the US carrier before they got bushwhacked, losing Akagi, Kaga, Soryu?

[OpanaPointer]

They bombed Midway, then prepared to tackle the US CVs. Then a report came that Midway needed another strike. THEN the scouts found the US CVs.

I like my waffles with lots of syrup.

[OpanaPointer]

prevaricating:

pre·var·i·cate
/prēˈverəˌkāt/
Learn to pronounce
verb
gerund or present participle: prevaricating
speak or act in an evasive way.

[Steve Crandell]

I don't think Japanese torpedo planes were capable of dive bombing. Their training for ship attack involved using torpedoes and their bomb attacks on airfields weren't considered appropriate for attacking ships. Kind of like using a TBM to bomb a ship. You can do it, but it's not the best way to sink a ship.

[OpanaPointer]

But they had to swap out deck loads so the torp planes were shuttled around. And expedients lead to sloppy weapon handling and poor safety measures.

This from memory, of course.

[marcelo_malara]

The torpedo planes were capable of:

-torpedoing
-high level bombing

The high level bombing was not effective attacking manouvering ships, plus for sure the bombs loaded for Midway were not armour piercing nor delayed fused. So the need to change weapons.

Regards

[wadinga]

Hi All,

If anything the Japanese were too decisive, with all four carriers committed to the same tactic, and willing to instantly change that tactic based on any new information (even if unreliable/incomplete) with no contingency plan for the unexpected.

After decimating Midway's offensive and defensive aircraft in the air, if a second strike on the island was required, did it really need all four carriers' aircraft committed to it? They had already equipped remaining aircraft for a strike against any potential maritime threat, the thought being torpedoes letting water in the bottom being better at sinking ships than letting air in at the top. When a second Midway strike was required they started changing to air to ground weapons, but shouldn't one or more carriers have retained an anti-ship strike force?

The Japanese change of course disrupted the US carrier strike badly, with uncoordinated elements either missing the interception entirely or attacking like the luckless Devastators in dribs and drabs. McClusky and co were fortunate the Japanese CAP fighters had been pulled down to low altitudes whilst slaughtering the torpedo planes, or they might have been massacred as well.

I personally enjoyed the 2019 Roland Emmerich movie version with CGI providing reasonable likenesses of the ships and planes, and cramming in everything from Pearl Harbor to Midway in its running time. It's a bit gung-ho for general audiences today, but I suspect we here don't mind that kind of thing too much. Despite some trivial technical errors it's miles better than other recent war film offerings like the truly dreadful, amateurish Dunkirk 2017. And there's some lovey-dovey emotional content to keep our "other-halfs" happy too.

All the best

wadinga

[marcelo_malara]

The Japanese plan for Midway was faulty in many aspects. In the case of this thread, the error was assigning the carrier force two totally different objectives, violating the cardinal rule of unity of objective. Nagumo was tasked with attacking Midway for the landing, and search and destroy any USN carrier force that would show up. Nevertheless Yamamoto ordered Nagumo to keep ready a force for striking ships, what Nagumo disobeyed. For the next two carrier operations, Santa Cruz and Eastern Salomons, Yamamoto divided the carrier force, Shokaku and Zuikaku tasked with dealing with the enemy carriers while light carriers were tasked with raiding Gauadalcanal, implicitly recognizing that his planning for Midway was bad.

Regards