The Battle of Midway Roundtable Opening Remarks
Welcome to the September issue of the Battle of Midway RoundTable. I was delayed a while getting the newsletter put together for a variety of work-related duties. But this issue also had a few things I had to research to make sure they were valid as well as get permissions to post and transcript of an article as the link to the source would not let anyone read it without subscribing.
At any rate this month we have a further confirmation of radar equipped PBY's at Midway, the War College reports on the Battle of Midway and Coral Sea plus more submissions on the return to the lost aircraft carriers on both sides.
Plus the last article this month is a photo I found interesting. I had to verify it was an accurate caption as there is nothing special about it or that it in any way was tied to Midway just by the photo. Could have been taken anywhere at any time. But break out the trusty "Maru Special" magazines and there it was in the Midway issue with the same caption, in Japanese of course, but still verified. Again, nothing special about it but interesting none the less.
So I should go through that issue for more photos. Each issue is filled with photos taken by the Japanese Navy before and during the war I would guess. I am somewhat surprised so many survived the war.
So hope everyone is having a great fall so far. Till next month.
PBY Radar at Midway
21 September 2023 From Thomas Wildenberg Arizona
For those interested the following site on the ASV Mark II/ASE radar answers the radar question. Unfortunately no source is given which raises questions on is validity.
You can find it on the Pacific Eagles website at:
https://pacificeagles.net/asv-mark-ii-ase-radar/?unapproved=6333&moderation-hash=815134461b09eb3a9fafa4742408f02b#comment-6333
Allan Rothbers's article in the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation 9, no. 1, (Spring 1988) confirms the use of radar to locate the Japanese fleet. I'm attaching a pdf file of the article so that you can include it in the next issue for those readers who want to know more.
Tom Wildenberg
RothenbergArticle
Aleutians
21 September 2023 From William Longton
In noting the Roundtables recommended book list, I became aware that contained therein, there are no recommendations for anything specifically covering the Aleution part of the Midway operation. I have read many books and conducted much research from the books recommended on this site, some of which include some detail regarding the Aleutions. However, even though it was a small part of the Midway campaign, I would like to submit (2) books and (3) websites for the roundtable to examine and give me feedback on how you feel they stack up as anything "authoritative". Thank you in advance.
(1) Thousand Mile War by Brian Garfield
(2) The Aleution Warriors: A History of the 11th AF and Fleet Air Wing 4 by John Haile Cloe
(3) The Battle of Midway including the Aleution Phase US Naval War College 1948
https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/browse-by-topic/War%20and%20Conflict/WWII/midway_strategic_and_tactical_analysis.pdf
(4) Hyper War: Pacific Theatre of Operations
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/PTO/TideTurns/index.html
(5) The Defense of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. -From Military Construction to Base Cleanup by D. Colt Denfeld
https://www.arlis.org/docs/vol1/P/18065618.pdf
Bill
These are good suggestions.
I don't think the attack on the Aleution Islands were left out for any particular reason other than a lack of published material. I did pick up a copy of The Thousand-Mile War when it first came out and found it to be quite interesting. My uncle was one of the many that landed on Kiska expecting a fight but found nobody home. He said he spent most of the war on Kiska until the impending invasion of Japan appeared likely and he was transferred to Hawaii and then training for the invasion of Japan.
TW
War College Coral Sea analysis 1947
16 October 2023 From Barrett Tillman
As usual FWLFSE.
https://ia802907.us.archive.org/21/items/battleofcoralsea00nava/battleofcoralsea00nava.pdf
Barrett sends
Right on que Barrett sends the companion study of the Battle of Coral Sea by the US Naval War College in 1947.
TW
Medal of Honors for Midway Aviators
19 October 2023 From Thomas Rychlik
Thanks for using my review of C&C. Placing a copy of the book cover with the review was a nice touch. Is it your intention to eventually list it on the book review page?
Here is a link to an article that was just published in the Watertown newspaper that I coauthored with Chuck Race.
PDF of Article
Word Document of Letter
The Word Document is the Letter he send to the Paper and it was reprinted in the article.
Broken Links
Book list not working
21 September 2023 From William Longton
The Japanese Story of the Battle of Midway (OPNAV P32-1002) does not open when clicking on the link. I tried several times, but no go. Any help would be appreciated.
Feature Links Page
Link to Mitscher's Midway After Action Report
26 September 2023 From Thomas Rychlik
We continue to make progress on the MOH Project for Waldron, Lindsey, and Massey. FYI I needed a copy of the subject report but the link to the NHC was not working. A copy of the report is still available on the NHC website but it’s not the same authentic looking report that I printed from the Roundtable several years ago.
Tom Rychlik
I found the old page they had published a while back. Looks like they took the page down sometime in the past few years. I copied the information on the page and put up a new page and updated it from the same link. Hope this is what you are looking for.
TW
AAR Hornet
Unfortunately some of the links we have go out of date from time to time due to websites being updated or changing or closing down or in some cases the site is not responding for a variety of reasons. If you find a link that doesn't work let me know and I will see if the page is still good and if not try to find the new page. If one no longer is online I can usually find a copy of the information from the Internet archive. If so I can copy it and make a page to host it on the RoundTable.
in the first case the site was not responding but eventually came back online so it was just a temporary thing. In the second case I had to find a copy from the Internet Archive and make a new page to host the information on the RoundTable.
TW
Yorktown revisited 25 years later
We still have many members sending in articles on the Yorktown.
21 September 2023 From Jeffrey McMeans
UNBELIEVABLE!!!
Akagi found at 18,000 ft
Deep Sea Dive on Battle of Midway Wreck IJN Kaga Nautilus Live - YouTube
21 September 2023 From Jon Parshall
I was feeding commentary to the bridge crew, but I wasn’t live. Next time I’m going to ask if I can be part of the Comms team.
In regards to this quote from last months article.
"Why wasn't Chuck Haberlein, among others, standing by even remotely to share his knowledge? I know the folks they did have were doing their best, but what a missed opportunity. "
1 October 2023 From Paul O. Sanchez
Japanese World War II wreck was recently explored
Preston Richardson Saw Attack Upon Yorktown
Saw this posted on Facebook on the USS Hammann DD-412 page. Asked permission to post it here on the RoundTable and was granted permission.
TW
Photos
Sometimes I see interesting photos or ones I've collected over the years. Here are some. May try to include a few each month.
Atago on the way to Midway June 2, 1942 from the Maru Special on the The Battle of Midway.
A picture of the one TBD-1 that was converted to a floatplane.
And just for fun two more aircraft the US converted to a floatplane variant.
The first is a Wildcat F4F-3 sent to Edo Corporation in October of 1942 to be converted to a floatplane in response to the Japanese Zero float planes encountered. Tests revealed it further reduced speed and performance when the Wildcat already suffered both in regards to the Zero. It was not completed until February 1943. By the time any would be produced the US was already advancing across the Pacific and as Island Air bases could be constructed rapidly by the Seabees plus the number of Escort Carriers being built that would fill the role it was no longer needed. Only one F4F-3 was converted.
The second is XSB2C-2 an SB2C-1 built as a floatplane in pictured here in September 1942. It looks like from research that 287 SB2C-2 production float planes were ordered but then cancelled and not built. The SB2C-1 was underpowered to begin with and could only take off in calm waters. The SB2C-2 did not have that much better performance and needed considerable modifications to be accepted by the Navy. So by the time the floatplane versions were to be built they were no longer considered necessary and cancelled.
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