Battle of Midway: Difference between revisions

In reality, the ships sighted by ''Tambor'' were the detachment of four cruisers and two destroyers Yamamoto had sent to bombard Midway. At 02:55, these ships received Yamamoto's order to retire and changed course to comply.<ref name="prange_320" /> At about the same time as this change of course, ''Tambor'' was sighted and during maneuvers designed to avoid a submarine attack, the heavy cruisers {{Ship|Japanese cruiser|Mogami|1934|2}} and {{Ship|Japanese cruiser|Mikuma||2}} collided, inflicting serious damage on ''Mogami''{{'}}s bow. The less severely damaged ''Mikuma'' slowed to {{convert|12|kn}} to keep pace.<ref>{{Harvnb|Parshall|Tully|2005|pp=345–346, diagram 347, 348}}</ref> Only at 04:12 did the sky brighten enough for Murphy to be certain the ships were Japanese, by which time staying surfaced was hazardous and he dived<!--this is the correct Sub Force usage, do not change it--> to approach for an attack. The attack was unsuccessful and at around 06:00 he finally reported two westbound {{sclass-|Mogami|cruiser|1}}s, before diving again and playing no further role in the battle.<ref name="Blair 1975 246–247"/> Limping along on a straight course at 12&nbsp;knots—roughly one-third their top speed—''Mogami'' and ''Mikuma'' had been almost perfect targets for a submarine attack. As soon as ''Tambor'' returned to port, Spruance had Murphy relieved of duty and reassigned to a shore station, citing his confusing contact report, poor torpedo shooting during his attack run, and general lack of aggression, especially as compared to ''Nautilus'', the oldest of the 12 boats at Midway and the only one which had successfully placed a torpedo on target (albeit a dud).<ref name="Blair, 250"/><ref name="Parshall & Tully, 359"/><!-- because of some misleading reports Spruance thought there may have been a fifth carrier lurking to the north-west of Midway - the sighting of the cruisers did not influence Spruance's decision making: instead, he sent his carrier bombers to attack the non-existent carrier: it was these aircraft that later attacked the cruisers. --><!--Can you source it? -->

 

 

Meanwhile, salvage efforts on ''Yorktown'' were encouraging, and she was taken in tow by {{USS|Vireo|AM-52|6}}. In the late afternoon of 6 June, the {{Ship|Japanese submarine|I-168||6}}, which had managed to slip through the cordon of destroyers (possibly because of the large amount of debris in the water), fired a salvo of torpedoes, two of which struck ''Yorktown''. There were few casualties aboard, since most of the crew had already been evacuated, but a third torpedo from this salvo struck the destroyer {{USS|Hammann|DD-412|6}}, which had been providing auxiliary power to ''Yorktown''. ''Hammann'' broke in two and sank with the loss of 80 lives, mostly because her own depth charges exploded. With further salvage efforts deemed hopeless, the remaining repair crews were evacuated from ''Yorktown'', which sank just after 05:00 on 7 June.<ref>{{Harvnb|Parshall|Tully|2005|pp=374–375, 383}}</ref>