The Battle of Midway (67 page)

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Authors: Craig L. Symonds

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BOOK: The Battle of Midway
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Commander, Cruiser Division 8, RADM Abe Haroaki, IJN

CA
Tone
(flagship), CAPT Okada Tametsugu, IJN

CA
Chikuma
, CAPT Komura Keiz
ō
, IJN

Battleship Division 3

BB
Haruna
, CAPT Koma Tamotsu, IJN

BB
Kirishima
, CAPT Iwabughi, IJN

Commander, Destroyer Squadron 10, RADM Kimura Susumu, IJN

CL
Nagara
(flagship), CAPT Naoi Toshio, IJN

Commander, Destroyer Division 4, CAPT Ariga Kosaku, IJN

DD
Nowaki
, CDR Yoshida Masayoshi, IJN

DD
Arashi
, CDR Watanabe Yasumasa, IJN

DD
Hagikaze
, CDR Iwagami Juichi, IJN

DD
Maikaze
, CDR Nakasugi Seiji, IJN

Commander, Destroyer Division 10, CAPT Abe Toshio, IJN

DD
Kazagumo
, CDR Yoshida Masayoshi, IJN

DD
Yugomo
, CDR Semba Shigeo, IJN

DD
Makigumo
, CDR Fujita Isamu, IJN

Commander, Destroyer Division 17, CAPT Kitamura Masayuki, IJN

DD
Urakaze
, CDR Shiraishi Nagayoshi, IJN

DD
Isokaze
, CDR Toshima Shunichi, IJN

DD
Tanikaze
, CDR Katsumi Motoi, IJN

DD
Jamakaze
, CDR Orita Tsuneo, IJN

Plus 5 small oilers escorted by DD
Akigumo
, CDR Soma Shohei

Close Support Group (4 cruisers, 2 destroyers)

Commander, Close Support Group, VADM Kurita Takeo, IJN
Commander, Cruiser Division 7, VADM Kurita

CA
Kumano
(flagship), CAPT Tanaka Kikumatsu, IJN

CA
Suzuya
, CAPT Kimura Masatomi, IJN

CA
Mikuma
, CAPT Sakiyama Shakao, IJN

CA
Mogami
, CAPT Soji Akira, IJN

Commander, Destroyer Division 8, CDR Ogawa Nobuki, IJN

DD
Asashio
, CDR Yoshii Gor
ō
, IJN

DD
Arashio
, CDR Kuboki Hideo, IJN

Plus an oiler, the
Nichiel Maru

Midway Invasion Force (1 small carrier, 2 battleships, 4 cruisers, 1 light cruiser, 8 destroyers)

Commander, Midway Invasion Force, VADM Kond
ō
Nobutake, IJN
Chief of Staff, RADM Shiraishi Kazutaka, IJN

Commander, Battle Division 3, Section 1, RADM Mikawa Gunichi, IJN

BB
Kongo
(flagship), CAPT Koyanagi Tomiji, IJN

BB
Hiei
, CAPT Nishida Masao, IJN

Cruiser Division 4, Section 1

CA Atago
(invasion force flagship), CAPT Ijuin Matsuji, IJN

CA
Chokai
, CAPT Hayakawa Mikio, IJN

Commander, Cruiser Division 5, VADM Takagi Takeo, IJN

CA Myoko
(flagship), CAPT Miyoshi Teruhiki, IJN

CA Haguro
, CAPT Mori Tomoichi, IJN

Commander, Destroyer Squadron 4, RADM Nishimura Sh
ō
ji, IJN

CL
Yura
(flagship), CAPT Sato Shir
ō
, IJN

Commander, Destroyer Division 3, CAPT Tachibana Masao, IJN

DD
Murasame
, CDR Suenaga Naoji, IJN

DD
Samidare
, CDR Matsubara Takisaburo, IJN

DD
Harusame
, CDR Kamiyama, IJN

DD
Yudachi
, CDR Kikkawa Kiyoshi, IJN

Commander, Destroyer Division 9, CAPT Sat
ō
Yasuo, IJN

DD
Asagumo
, CDR Iwahashi T
ō
ru, IJN

DD
Minegumo
, CDR Suzuki Yasuatsu, IJN

DD
Natsugumo
, CDR Tsukamoto Moritar
ō
, IJN

Commander, Escort Carrier Group, CAPT Obayahi Sueo, IJN

Light Carrier
Zuih
ō
,
CAPT Obayashi

Commander, Fighter Planes (Kansen Buntai), LT Hidaka Moriyasu, IJN

Commander, Torpedo Planes (Kanko Buntai), LT Matsuo Kaji, IJN

DD
Mikazuki
, LCDR Maeda Saneho, IJN

The Midway Invasion force was accompanied by 4 oilers and a supply ship.

Transport Group (1 light cruiser, 10 destroyers, 13 transports)

Commander, Transport Group, RADM Tanaka Raiz
ō
, IJN
Commander, Destroyer Squadron 2, RADM Tanaka

CL
Jintsu
(flagship), CAPT Kozai Toraz
ō
, IJN

Commander, Destroyer Division 15, CAPT Sat
ō
Torajir
ō
, IJN

DD
Kuroshio
, CDR Ugaki Tamaki, IJN

DD
Oyashio
, CDR Arima Tokikichi, IJN

Commander, Destroyer Division 16, CAPT Shibuya Shir
ō
, IJN

DD
Yukikaze
, CDR Tobita Kenjir
ō
, IJN

DD
Amatsukaze
, CDR Hara Tameichi, IJN

DD
Tokitsukaze
, CDR Nakahara Giichir
ō
, IJN

DD
Hatsukaze
, CDR Takahashi Kameshir
ō
, IJN

 Commander, Destroyer Division 18, CAPT Mikyasaka Yoshito, IJN

DD
Shiranuhi
, CDR Akasawa Jisuo, IJN

DD
Kasumi
, CDR Tomura Kiyoshi, IJN

DD
Kagero
, CDR Yokoi Minoru, IJN

DD
Arare
, CDR Ogata Tomoe, IJN

Commander, Landing Force, COL Ichiki Kiyonao, IJA
  (5,000 soldiers carried in 13 transport and supply ships)

Submarine Force (15 submarines)

Commander, Submarine Force, VADM Komatsu Teruhishi, IJN
Chief of Staff, RADM Mito Hisashi, IJN
Commander, Submarine Squadron 3, RADM Kono Chirnaki, IJN

Submarine Division 11

I-174, LCDR Kusaka Toshi, IJN

I-175, LCDR Uno Kameo, IJN

Submarine Division 12

I-168, LCDR Tanabe Yahachi, IJN

I-169, LCDR Watanabe Katsuji, IJN

I-171, LCDR Kawasaki Rokuro, IJN

Submarine Division 13 (CAPT Miyazaki Takeharu)

I-121, LCDR Fujimori Yasuo, IJN

I-122, LCDR Norita adatoshi, IJN

I-123, LCDR Ueno Toshitake, IJN

Commander, Submarine Squadron 5, RADM Tadashige Daigo, IJN

Submarine Division 19 (CAPT Ono Ry
ō
jir
ō
)

I-156, LCDR Ohashi Katsuo

I-157, LCDR Nakajima Sakae, IJN

I-158, LCDR Kitamura Soshichi, IJN

I-159, LCDR Yoshimatsu Tamori, IJN

Submarine Division 30 (CAPT Teraoka Masao)

I-162, LCDR Kinashi Takakuzu, IJN

I-165, LCDR Harada Hakue, IJN

I-166, LCDR Tanaka Makio, IJN

The Aleutians Force (5th Fleet) (1 carrier, 1 light carrier, 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers)

Commander, Aleutians Force, VADM Hosogaya Moshir
ō
, IJN
Chief of Staff, CAPT Nakazawa Tasuku, IJN

CANachi
(flagship), CAPT Kiyota Takahiko, IJN

DD
Inazuma
, CDR Takeuchi Hajime, IJN

DD
Irazuchi
, LCDR Kudo Shunsaku, IJN

Commander, 2nd Carrier Striking Force, RADM Kakuta Kakuji, IJN

Light Carrier
Ry
ū
j
ō
(flagship), CAPT Kato Tadao, IJN

Commander,
Ry
ū
j
ō
Air Group, LT Kobayashi Minoru, IJN

Commander, Fighter Planes (Kansen Buntai), LT Kobayashi

Commander, Torpedo Planes (Kanko Buntai), LT Yamagami Masayuki, IJN

CV
Jun’y
ō
,
CAPT Ishii Shizue, IJN

Commander
Jun’y
ō
Air Group, LT Shiga Yoshio, IJN

Commander, Fighter Planes (Kansen Buntai), LT Shiga

Commander, Bombing Force (Kanbaku Buntai), LT Abe Zenji, IJN

Cruiser Division 4, Section 2

CA Maya, CAPT Nabeshima Shunsaku, IJN

CA
Takeo
, CAPT Asakura Bunji, IJN

Commander, Destroyer Division 7, CAPT Konishi Kaname, IJN

DD
Akebono
, LCDR Nakagawa Minoru, IJN

DD
Ushio
, CDR Uesugi Yoshitake, IJN

DD
Sazanami
, LCDR Uwai Hiroshi, IJN

Attu Invasion Force (1 light cruiser, 4 destroyers, plus transports)

Commander, Attu Invasion Force, RADM
Ō
mori Sentar
ō

CL Abukuma
(flagship), CAPT Murayama Seiroku, IJN

Commander, Destroyer Division 21, CAPT Shimizu Toshio, IJN

DD
Wakaba
, LCDR Kuroki Masakichi, IJN

DD
Nenohi
, LCDR Terauchi Sabur
ō
, IJN

DD
Hatsuharu
, CDR Makino Hiroshi, IJN

DD
Hatsushimo
, LCDR Migihama Satoru, IJN

Army North Seas Detachment (1,200 soldiers), MAJ Hozumi Matsuoshi, IJA Plus 3 oilers, 3 supply ships, and 2 minelayers

Kiska Invasion Force (2 light cruisers, 3 destroyers, 4 support vessels, 3 minesweepers)

Commander, Kiska Invasion Force, CAPT Ono Takeji, IJN
Cruiser Division 21

CL
Kiso
, CAPT Ono

CL
Tama
, CAPT Kawabata Masaharu, IJN

Commander, Destroyer Division 6, CAPT Yamada Yusuke, IJN

DD
Hibiki
, LCDR Ishii Hagumu, IJN

DD
Atatsuki
, CDR Takasuka Osamu, IJN

DD
Hokaze
, LCDR Tanaka Tom
ō
, IJN

Plus 4 support vessels and 3 minesweepers

Submarines Assigned to Aleutians Group (6 submarines)

Commander, Submarine Squadron 1, RADM Yamazaki Shigenaki, IJN
  I-9 (flagboat), CDR Fujii Akiyoshi, IJN

Submarine Division 2, CAPT Imazato Hiroshi, IJN

I-15, CDR Ishikawa Nobuo, IJN

I-17, CDR Nishino Kozo, IJN

I-19, CDR Narahara Seigo, IJN

Submarine Division 4, CAPT Nagai Mitsuru

I-25, CDR Togami Meiji, IJN

I-26, CDR Yokota Minoru, IJN

Aleutians Guard Force (4 battleships, 2 light cruisers, 12 destroyers)

Commander, Guard Force, VADM Takasu Shir
ō
, IJN
Chief of Staff, RADM Kobayashi Keng
ō
, IJN

Battleship Division 1

BB
Hyuga
(flagship), CAPT Matsuda Chiaki, IJN

BB
Ise
, CAPT Takeda Isamu, IJN

BB
Fuso
, CAPT Kinoshita Mitsuo, IJN

BB
Yamashiro
, CAPT Kogure Gunji, IJN

Commander, Cruiser Division 9, RADM Kishi Fukuji, IJN

CL
Kitakami
(flagship), CAPT Norimitsu Saiji, IJN

CL Oi, CAPT Narita M
ō
ichi

Commander, Destroyer Division 20, CAPT Yamada Yuji, IJN

DD
Agagiri
, CDR Maekawa Nisaburo, IJN

DD
Yugiri
, CDR Motokura Masayoshi, IJN

DD
Shirakumo
, CDR Hitomi Toyoji, IJN

DD
Amagiri
, CAPT Ashida Buichi, IJN

Commander, Destroyer Division 24, CAPT Hirai Yasji, IJN

DD
Umikasa
, CDR Sugitani Nagahide, IJN

DD
Yamakaze
, CDR Hamanaka Shuishi, IJN

DD
Kawakase
, CDR Wakabayashi Kazuo, IJN

DD
Suzukaze
, CDR Shibayama Kazuo, IJN

Commander, Destroyer Division 27, CAPT Yoshimura Matake, IJN

DD
Ariake
, CDR Yoshida Sh
ō
ichi, IJN

DD
Yugure
, CDR Kamo Kiyoshi, IJN

DD
Shigure
, CDR Seo Noboru, IJN

DD
Shiratsuyu
, LCDR Hashimoto Kimmatsu, IJN

APPENDIX E

How Much Did the U.S. Know
of Japanese Plans?

Though it was long kept a secret, the contribution of the code breakers to American victory in the Battle of Midway is now well known. At the center of that story, however, is a continuing mystery about a particular message: the detailed twelve-part Japanese operational order dated May 20 that Joseph Rochefort says he took with him to the meeting with Chester Nimitz on May 25. According to the oral testimony of several cryptanalysts at both Melbourne and Pearl Harbor who claim to have seen it, this message contained the complete Japanese order of battle as well as their prescribed route, the bearing to Midway, and even the timing of the air attack. In many subsequent histories of the battle, this document is credited with giving the Americans the decisive edge against their superior foe and making American victory not only possible but even inevitable.
*
The problem is that no copy of this intercept has survived.

At least six men later testified that they saw and handled the document. Petty Officer Bill Tremblay, who found it, Lieutenant Commander Gil Richardson, the duty officer at FRUMEL, who sent it on to Hypo, Ensign (later Rear Admiral) Ralph Cook who was at FRUMEL during the effort to break the message, Ensign (later Rear Admiral) Donald “Mac” Showers, and Lieutenant (later Captain) Jasper Holmes at FRUPAC, who worked on it, and of course Commander (later Captain) Joseph Rochefort, who took it with him to his meeting with Nimitz on May 25. It is improbable that all six men should invent such a document and cling to the story of it so consistently over seventy years. Nevertheless, the document itself has never been found. Such a mystery has led some scholars to wonder if it ever existed at all.

Edwin Layton, who was the person in the best position to know, insisted for the rest of his life that no such document ever existed and, moreover, that the code breakers
never had the complete Japanese order of battle for Midway. In an interview with Etta Belle Kitchen on May 31, 1970, Layton declared emphatically that “everything that has been written about that is absolutely, unqualifiedly false,” and that “there was no such message.” When Kitchen pressed him, asking “to make it perfectly clear, [that] there never was a complete battle order as it reported in some of the books,” Layton replied: “Never was. Not available to us” (Layton Oral History, 125–27).

Why, then, do so many people remember it? An investigation of the Layton Papers at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, suggests a possible explanation. Layton kept a personal (and highly confidential) journal during his time as Nimitz’s intelligence officer. The physical journal itself offers insight into the kind of mind that is drawn to cryptanalysis, for it is written in four colors and in tiny—almost microscopic—handwriting; reading it today requires the use of a magnifying glass. In this journal, Layton carefully recorded all the intercepted messages that he considered important each day. There is no record in that journal of a unified twelve-part message on May 20, but it does indicate a dramatic upswing in the volume of message traffic that day. Some of the messages concerned a planned Japanese “fleet exercise,” but a dozen others obviously referred to a forthcoming operation. One revealed the presence of “occupation forces” for both Midway and Alaska. Another mentioned that Japanese forces would approach the target from the northwest. As the Hypo analysts worked on these messages, the results would have been collated and compared so that Rochefort could present the collected findings to Nimitz. Very likely, therefore, the men who achieved this intelligence coup recalled their effort as having focused on a single message rather than a group of shorter messages. If so, instead of one lengthy and detailed operational order, the May 20 decrypt remembered by several of the Hypo analysts and reported in several histories of the battle may well have been a composite of a dozen shorter messages.

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