Decision+Rochefort

Decision Rochefort Read the information below to find out what happened during the Battle of Midway

After COMMANDER JOESPH P. ROCHEFORT discovered “AF” meant Midway he went to the NAVAL COMMUNICATIONS in Washington D.C. where he failed to convince his superiors of his findings. __COMMANDER JOHN R. REDMAN (one of those who rejected the theory) had a theory of his own that was if Japan was to attack it would be at HAWAII, but Redman did not act on this idea which gave Rochefort time to get further information on his decoding. Even though soon after Redman found out Rochefort was an “ex-Japanese language student” with no Naval Communications training (Smith 144), he was infuriated by Rochefort so much he complained to his superiors to get him fired. Commander Rochefort was replaced shortly, but many soon felt it was a “waste of a priceless talent for political payback” and allowed him back into his old position in deciphering where he jumped back into full swing along with the rest of his crew (Smith 144).__ He had thought, “Utilizing the underwater telephone connection with Midway, he asked that Midway transmit, via uncoded radio traffic, a message saying that the desalination plant was out of order -- which would be a serious matter on a lonely Pacific isle full of men but lacking substantial natural fresh water supplies” (Bruce 1). This was soon retrieved by the Japanese as he had planned and Rochefort picked up one of their messages saying “AF has problems with desalting plant” (Bruce 1). Since the message was sent from Midway this proved Rochefort’s previous theory and he was to provide Admiral Nimitz. From this, the U.S. was provided more Japanese information than they needed.

__**Out-smarting the Japanese**__
U.S. Intelligence found out about Japan’s plan to attack Dutch Harbor, along with planning to use a submarine cordon which gave them the heads up to disperse their naval fleets around Midway in order to dodge Japan’s initial bombing and save the ships. The U.S. also found out about Admiral Yamamoto planning to scope out the positioning of the U.S.’s main ships by a “flight of Emily flying boats to Pearl Harbor from Wotje in the Marshall Islands” (Bruce 2). In the message, the U.S. also knew that the ships would refuel right before at a camouflaged submarine at French Frigate Shoals, so ships were sent to that area so when the Japanese arrived they would be spooked by the U.S.’s occupation of that area and retreat the mission entirely. To our great happiness, the U.S.’s plan to surprise the Japanese worked and they retreated the mission. On June 3rd in 1942, the U.S. knew the Japanese planned an attack on Dutch Harbor and were able to position their ships so they was the least damage. The Japanese soon found out though, the Dutch Harbor wasn’t a good place to fight at because of the “long, curving, rocky, west-pointing Aluetians chain” (Bruce 2). Along with bad weather, Japan’s timing was off and for about ten minutes Commander Kakuta ships were forced to start the fight alone. The attack didn’t fail completely but none of the U.S.’s important ships were sunk, so it wasn’t a victory either. The worst part for the Japanese is that the American Forces (led by native Alaskan scouts) found a crashed Zero that the Japanese eren’t able to find. This lead to the defeat of Japan. Later at around 9 a.m., Ensign Jack Reid of VP-44, flying a Catalina flying boat caught sight of the front of the Japanese Invasion Force and radioed back the speed and force for the U.S. to prepare for the enemy. The U.S. sent out bombers to attack the force, which came back in good shape. At midnight on June 4th in 1942, Japan shot torpedoes that managed to damage one of the U.S.’s oil ships, Akebono Maru, but didn’t sink it (Bruce 2). The preparations for air attacks against Midway began. Pilots and aircrews aboard the flagship were awakened fifteen minutes before the same thing happened to Midway. Midway’s base commander launched any available planes which included Avenger torpedo-bombers, medium bombers, Marine Vindicator dive bombers, and B-17 bombers. All the planes were inadequate and fifteen in total were shot down, but even before the Japanese planes attacked Midway Nagumos carriers were spotted and they lost their most important defense against Midway. Lt. Langdon K. Fieberling led six Avengers towards the Japanese to protect Midway, but before they could even release their torpedoes four Avengers were fallen. After that the rest of the Avengers retired back to Midway Island and Lt. Tomonaga Joichi decided that a second attack would be necessary. As Nagumos planes dispersed towards the carrier ships the U.S. saw this as a perfect time to attack because all their fighter jets were in one place and easy to destroy. The attacks on the planes made not one single hit and this convinced Nagumo that another attack was needed for Midway. No sooner than 7:15AM Nagumo had already ordered an attack and replaced the torpedoes in his planes for bombs, but after 8:20AM Nagumo's air crew was deemed incapable for air attacks. Only half of the Japanese planes were actually loaded with bombs properly, but the U.S. did not know this so to stop the the planes from acting U.S. ships the U.S. sent there oldest planes to act as a martyr attack. Only one U.S. plane survived but the attack was successful (Bruce, 8).

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 * __The Turning of the Tide__ **======

The U.S. had managed to hit the Japanese destroyer Arashii and decided to follow it back to where most of their ships were reloading and getting repaired. Dive bombers were then sent to strike both side of this ship leaving the Japanese not worried because all earlier dive bomb attempts had failed. But this would soon be a fatal judgement. Bombs were lying around along with fueled planes and ships were not war ready so when the bombs were dropped the ships were engulfed in flames from the explosions. Arashii, Akagi, and Soryu were all abandoned losing almost all the ammunition and weapons. Admiral Yamamoto was ordered for revenge on the U.S.’s enemy carrier Yorktown. In two attacks Yorktown was taken down, being Japan’s only target, but many on board were still able to abandon ship and found later on. To continue fighting for revenge the U.S. (now ahead in this battle) sent a few dive bomber in different directions to attack minor battleships. This could have brought disaster to U.S, but surprisingly was a success and hit the ship Hiryu which was later abandoned (Bruce 9). Admiral Yamamoto made once last attempt to take something out of this battle by ordering his fastest best ships to attack Midway. The U.S. caught sight of them in time to prepare and plan for a counter attack. There was little damage to U.S. but the Japan lost more ships from this allowing the U.S. to claim victory. “History’s greatest naval battle was over”(Bruce 10). ** Aftermath: ** The U.S. motivation to finally end the war was boasted from this battle. The U.S. used this victory to obtain more island on the Pacific front by a naval stragedy called “Island Hopping”. Chester Nimitz, the U.S. commander leading this new battle stragedy, had control of the islands Iwo Jima and Okinawa and planned to bombard Japan as a final attack. This was used to prepare for a later land invasion of Japan. In 1945, a Harry Truman had just become the 26th U.S. president and said he “felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on (him)” (Beschloss 1). But Truman was a very independent man and was not afraid to make a hard decision, so when the Manhattan project( the group formed to build the atomic bomb) informed him the bomb had been made and tested, he was ready to end the war by threatening Japan of what could be in their near future unless they surrendered (Beschloss 2). Japan would not surrender but after two extremely destructive atomic bombs were dropped they finally did and the Allied Powers were able to claim victory on VJ day.

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