Narrator: ‘It’s been 6 months since the attack on Pearl Harbour.’ Me: ‘It’s been 15 months since the last video.’ FINALLY THE LONG WAIT IS OVER!!! CONGRATS EVERYBODY!!! 🎊🎊🎊🎉🎉🎉
The Mogami and Mikuma don’t get enough examination. They are textbook examples of how Japanese Damage Control was entirely dependent on the leadership of individual officers on a per ship basis. Mogami survived because she (almost alone of the Japanese ships that day) had an aggressive and forward thinking Damage Control Officer. As soon as the ship was crippled in the collision he ordered the Torpedos jettisoned. Realizing that at her limping speeds they and the floatplanes aviation gas were the greatest danger to the ship. As the bomb hits occurred he further quickly ordered the ships magazines flooded. This meant that the dive bomber attacks really only tore up Mogami’s superstructure. As would be seen in other battles, dive bombers while damaging were nowhere near an efficient weapon against well prepared armored heavy surface units. Unless they could cause subsequent secondary explosions of the ships own weapons. The Mogami got rid of her Torpedos, dumped her AV gas and flooded her main magazines. The far less aggressive damage control officer on Mikuma did none of these things. The dive bombers triggered a raging AV gas fire as her seaplanes went up like kindling. The AV gas fire in turn cooked off her rear torpedo battery causing a massive explosion which left her dead in the water with her rear half wrecked just waiting for her other Torpedos and magazines to cook off. At that stage of the war most Japanese Damage Control doctrine was strictly reactive. They weren’t thinking ahead of the problem until things actually started exploding and burning. And it shows up in the smallest details when comparing their ships to their American counterparts. The first thing everyone notes in seeing pictures of the Japanese Carriers in operation is what look to the American eye to be sand bags tied around the bridge and other exposed positions. The Americans think putting sandbags around like that is a cheap and clever trick to limit shrapnel damage in combat. Which would be true, if they were sandbags. But they’re not. They are the crews Cotton bedrolls tied up all around the bridge and superstructure, to air out. Y’know their highly flammable bedding is tied around the admirals command bridge like a pillow fort. All the furniture in the ship is wooden. The walls are paneled with wood. Wooden floors etc. Paper and flammable paint everywhere. Contrast that with American ships. Everything on them was placed with an eye towards fire risk. Furniture and floors were metal. And after Pearl Harbor every crew in the Navy was spending what little spare time they had scrapping off the old flammable paint and repainting with fire resistant stuff. They tried to anticipate and thus reduce the damage before the hits started coming.
I also had heard that the Japanese's DC crew was more trained in one ship, like their carrier pilots were, meanwhile the US DC crew was trained to be more universal. Like being trained in more then one ship (Also helps that most of the ships in the US fleet was near identical to each other) and that they were allowed to bring in their experience that often improved the damge control of a ship. Like if a DC crew from Yorktown had done something special to the AV gas to more sure it didnt ignite during battle, then got transferred to say Enterprise and brought that experience with them to improve the damage control on Enterprise. The same can be seen in the pilots. As said, the Japanese's carrier pilots was only trained in one carrier. Which hinder their transfer to an other carrier if their starting carrier was too damaged or sunk during battle. Meanwhile the US carrier pilots was trained to be used on more then one carrier so they could be easily transferred to an new carrier in case something happened to the one they were stationed on
@@Danspy501st That modularity wasn't just linked to damage control. An example is the carriers uss lexington and saratoga. You'll recall their initial armament was some twin 8" gun turrets. But because they were carriers, they actually received radars early on. Such that the lexington (I believe) was the first ship equipped with 8" guns to receive a fire control radar system for them. As such, the lexington crew was rotated out after lexington had proven the tech so as to train the other 8" cruisers as they received their fire control radar upgrades.
Battle of Midway Jun 4, 1942 - Jun 7, 1942 Description DescriptionThe Battle of Midway was a significant naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4-7 June 1942, six months after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. Wikipedia Location: Midway Atoll Dates: Jun 4, 1942 - Jun 7, 1942 Result: American victory Combatants United States United States Empire of Japan Empire of Japan
The fact that Thatch distracted the enemy enough with his snazzy flying, leading to the destruction of the carriers, and then personally took out Tomonaga to save the Yorktown (albeit temporarily) has all the feels of the main character storming through the campaign and taking out the final boss single-handedly.
Thatch Weave was so effective, the vastly superior Zeros were forced to slow down trying to chase a wildcat, not realizing the wildcat’s wingman is doing the counter attack ended up the zero diving down or risked getting shot down. Slower American fighters were able to hold off vastly superior Zero until the Corsairs and hellcats arrived.
@@diegosilang4823 The Wildcat was also built like a tank and couldn't be disabled very easily. The Zero's weakness vs. early WW2 American fighters was that it was lightly armored and could be torn to shreds easily given the right tactics.
A noteworthy thing to mention: Mogami's commander made the decision to jettison the torpedo stores once it became obvious they were going to come under air attack. Mikuma did not. When the cruisers came under attack by the carrier bombers, both Mogami and Mikuma took hits that started fires in or near the torpedo storage rooms. The results were as might be expected.
Especially considering the Japanese "Long Lance" torpedoes were oxygen-fueled. So they needed liquid oxygen (LOX) generation and storage facilities on board, and THAT was the real hazard. LOX = BOOM
Yes, incredible videos. So much information and alternate points of view. Strategy, tactics and Luck are all clearly explained. Hope to see more from Montemayor soon.
The old Battlefield docs from like 25 years ago are great. They go into a huge amount of detail though (mini bio of key officers; break down all the planes etc.). Great series...Here' Midway: ruclips.net/video/1w30FkSXyTE/видео.html
The Yorktown's surviving planes getting the final strike on the Hiryu was some bittersweet revenge. Also, Jimmy Thach had some serious plot-armor in WW2. Dude was a badass.
@@ThatChester to a degree it makes some sense that the primary strike forces of both navies would eventually face each other but it so rarely happens it does have that mythical quality to it
Yorktown: 'sunk' in the Coral Sea; 'sunk' at Midway; 'sunk again at Midway; finally finished off by a submarine while under tow. The ship was too angry to die.
I know. I could not wait to see what happens next. I was really hoping Japanese would turn things around and use Hiryu and the surface fleet to finally take Midway!
It needs to be on a poster, with a picture of a kitten trying to climb up a step. Seriously, though, it is the kind of sentiment, that, in war, lead to a massive loss of life on both sides 😢
@Han Lockhart It makes sense when you realize CV-10 was renamed Yorktown and it fucked the Japanese up mentally, because "The Yorktown was sunk" No I wasn't!
I actually read about how the Japanese had a horrible crew training for plugging holes and damage and basically keep it afloat during/after a battle or engagement. Their hubris grew and they thought it was basically beneath them because they wouldn’t turn lose or be hit in the first place . Meanwhile, we had awesome crews and it saved us a TON.. look at the USS Yorktown. It was hit and survived multiple times.
@@marquisdelafayette1929 Another big example is the Enterprise. The Japanese called her "The Grey Ghost" because the Enterprise was reported as sunk on three separate occasions and survived past the end of the war. This was actually pretty huge, because for a stretch of time the Enterprise was the sole American carrier active on the Pacific.
@Han Lockhart It is also funny because they left the Yorktown smoking and on fire, only to have it back in the action by the time the next wave got there.
Kholiq Well they taught us in class(15yrs old or so) that we lost the battle which was the turning point of the war. Also there are many books about the battle but never seen anything like this video that helps me imagine and visualize how each ships and cruisers acted.
Hey Montemayor: your Midway trilogy and Coral Sea documentaries are the best WWII sea battle documentaries on Earth. Better than anything on US or British TV or film. I don't know what else you do with your life, and how fortunate or unfortunate you have been in other matters, but I hope that, for the rest of your life, you take comfort and pride in that fact. You made the best WWII sea battle documentaries ever made. Thank you so so very much!
“Best WWII sea battle documentaries ever made” is right! Thx Pedro! I am curious what you will do with the strategic and tactical analytic capabilities you have at your command. Well done. (posted by a former A-6E pilot)
Montemayor's content is unbelievably better than anything I've watched on the military channel, discovery channel, or any other Television network in many years, if ever. The delightful visuals and detailed examination are truly superb. The commercial-less format, paired with not being rewarded by just filling time in with nonsense probably helps. Cheers Montemayor.
thats because TV documentaries only care about producing as cheap as possible. They basically read out Wikipedia and put some bad CGI on top. They dont actually let it be produced by historians. They also tend to over-dramatise certain stuff (like a lot of Bismarck documetaries saying if she roamed free the Allies would have automatically lost the war and stuff like that. Yes that would have been bad but it would not lead to a lost war, only a few lone merchant ships sunk since all the large convoys were heavily escorted)
just on the visual part, you will be looking at a wargame set up, the artwork looks like an exact copy(if not taken directly) of the wargame: Task Force, (the latest reprint) published by Kokusai-Tsushin, they made their artwork available for download on their website. If you like the visuals and is interested in historical battles (or commanding one of your own), some of these games are worth a try
Arguably biased, the narrator struggles to keep his ill-begotten, pro-Japanese sentiments at bay. Seemingly unbeknownst to him, Japan got whacked and paid for it. USA. USA.
Wow, at last! I stood up and shouted "He's back!" My wife, what? who's back?. Montemayor, you have outdone yourself, twice again (2/3 & 3/3). Now the question arises - What are you going to do next? Your videos and talent are simply outstanding. Based on the number of posts to your videos, I hope you understand that you have become a RUclips star. Thank you for all of your efforts putting these videos together. I look forward to seeing more of your productions in the not too distant future... God has blessed you with a talent that most of us could only wish we had a fraction of. I had three uncles who were in the US Navy aboard different destroyers throughout the Pacific theater during WWII. Fortunately, all of them made it safely back home again but none of them ever talked about their experiences.
I was close to my grandfather and I'm also a vet. He was in WW2 and Korea and was one of the earliest jet pilots. I think he told me about just 3 of his military experiences during his life.
The Yorktown was the ghost ship to the Japanese. They first thought they sunk it back in pearl sea, but then it shows up here only to be set on fired and dead in the water, then when the third wave came it was repaired and sunk again, making it the ship that was sunk 3 times
Shattered Sword (which if anyone hasn't read, go buy it now, it's fantastic) has a long section detailing how much of a priority the US Navy put on damage/fire control, both in terms of designing to mitigate damage and designing to enable recovery from damage. It's particularly noteworthy as compared to the Japanese, whose damage/fire control philosophy "We'll never get hit, so who needs damage/fire control?"
No, Yorktown was only sunk by aircraft. The wide starting torpedo of submarines only hit Harmann, with the calculated angle of the lines of fire they missed the rest, so there were enough aircraft to sink him
*Repair ship came by and being tow* Yorktown: Finally! Going home and to talk my sister Enterprise what a da- I-168: Enterprise!! Yorktown: For god sake I'm Yorktown!! *torpedoes away* *Wake up in bed* Yorktown: I got a strange dream Enterprise. Enterprise: Akashi, did you put something in her drink?! Akashi: Neya!!!
When you have the most elite carrier pilots in the world, but the elite carrier pilots burnt in the hanger 2 years ago. - Mariana turkey shoot, probably.
My father served during World War ll and was in the Battle of the Bulge so of course I have read and watched many accounts of that but this Midway documentary is the best of them all. I can only imagine how much time was spent on this work of art. Thanks for all you did to bring this to us.
There is a book called “Shattered Sword” that describes all of this. This video has it correct all movies prior to this have been wrong. Aleutian Island was not a diversion and unlike this video all movies have Japanese flight decks full of planes.
Yes....I've heard so much about Midway and read about it and have seen the film, but this really laid it out for me, in simple terms ever I could finally understand. My dad was a USMC captain and a gunner on the USS Santa Fe the night the USS Franklin was hit, and he and his shipmates ended up saving the ship and taking off the wounded. He had nightmares thru his life about the sick and dying lying on cold steel among burning oil. Very sad what war does.
Yorktown ends up being the punching bag the USN needs. She participated in coral sea, where she helped to put down a light carrier and to put two carriers out of commission prior to midway. Had she not been at coral sea it's possible that it would have been 6-3 at midway. Then she gets repaired and shipped out to midway where she takes the brunt of two different strikes from hiryu, likely saving either enterprise or hornet.
The repair crews for the Yorktown all deserve the highest praise the Navy can give. They are the unsung heroes of this battle. The whole battle would have gone entirely differently if the Yorktown was still under repair at Pearl Harbor. They shouldn't have even been there, let alone getting hit early in the battle and doing such a miraculous job on fire control and repair that two hours latter the Japanese couldn't even tell that it was the same carrier and hit it again, drawing fire away from the Enterprise and Hornet.
Jim Powell writing here. This was a great video. The history and the actual photos of the naval battle, was all important story. My father and my uncles were all sailors in WWII. One uncle was in the battle of Midway. I believe he was on a cruiser. I am a Navy vet who was in a fighter squadron during the Vietnam war. I served from 1965-1969. I served aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger. Two war time cruises. Thank you for this all important video of such an important naval battle. When this battle was fought, the importance of winning was paramount in America’s success against the Japanese.
Jim, two points: - I believe what this channel is telling us is the importance of winning this battle was probably equally paramount in Japan's hoped for success against the USA. Of course, I like it the way it happened! - Thank you for your service sir, and that of your father and uncles.
@@abigailryder8315 Same. Wow just wow. Perfect pacing and narrative. When he started providing the loss of life aboard the Japanese carriers, I could even start to feel the real tragedy of what they were going through. Well done.
i love the plane counts, read numerous books and articles on this battle, including one written by a Japanese reporter who was there (translated into Chinese) but never fully grasp the remaining US planes at this point. The torpedo planes were completed erased and many Hornet's planes were stuck in midway
I think the general reaction aboard the Yorktown, after getting her patched up again, was a massive "Oh come on! Seriously?! Not again!!!". But the fact that the Americans patched her up so fast and well that the Japanese thought that she was another carrier speaks volumes about the men serving on her.
And most of Yorktown's crew survived the battle. By contrast, the heavy majority of the crews aboard the four Kido Butai carriers were lost. Yorktown's loss was obviously not a deliberate tactical sacrifice, but had it been, it would have been a genius one: one already-damaged carrier lost with most of her complement surviving, in return for four undamaged, elite enemy carriers lost along with most of their crew. Yorktown did her job, and then some.
Or as another comment speculates: " 1) An aircraft carrier has no business in a surface engagement, but a surface fleet has no business fighting aircraft alone. Just ask Nagato. As long as the Hiryu stuck with the surface task force, it could provide air cover for the fleet, then break off once enemy surface ships were sighted but before they were in range. 2) The Japanese battle doctrine called for a decisive defeat of the enemy with the goal of total control of the sea, and while that decisive battle had been intended to be won by the Battleships, that thinking would naturally drift into the minds of the Carrier task forces as they took up the primary duty as capital ships. If Hiryu opened the range when they sent their torpedo strike, and then somehow managed to damage a second fleet carrier, then that decision to disengage would leave no time to turn around for a strike on the final carrier. No decisive victory there! Just a loss of 3 Japanese carriers to two American Carriers. A pyrrhic draw. 3) If your sending out elite pilots in damaged planes with leaky fuel tanks, you’re probably gunna want to maximize the chance those pilots make it back by reducing the distance to the enemy as much as possible. It’s kinda suck if you evaded the American air fighters only to realize your carrier just sailed out of return range! "
@@artificialintelligence8328 I had another thought too. point one is probably the most likely reason though. But another is the surface fleet itself. If nagumo is going to charge into a surface engagement of 10+ ships, he needs all the escort ships for the surface engagement. Thus, there is none available to escort the hiryu out. And you would be a fool to leave her off alone as arashi returned without sinking the nautilus. Thus, nagumo is looking at least one submarine still possibly in the area that could finish off hiryu if unescorted.
@@artificialintelligence8328 Also, Remember the battle of Leyte Gulf? If a swarm of outdated aircrafts can fight off 4 battleships and 6 heavy cruisers, it is not hard to imagine ~20 elite bombers to pick off some vessels here or there amid a chaotic surface firefight. Also, a pyrrhic draw may be enough for Japanese to successfully capture midway. Note the heavy loss of US aircraft in the battle (they have already lost 55% of aircraft for the assault of JP fleet carrier, plus those onboard Yorktown,) the unengaged battleship group and the potential of light carrier support from operation AL 2 days away, further engagements can create a temporal void of aircraft cover over midway for the invasion to successfully proceed.
The Yorktown was the only carrier of the five who fought at the Coral Sea and fought again at Midway. Her planes sank two carriers at Midway. She was the ship that would not die. Any day, she may burst from the the depths of the Pacific to fight yet again.
IJN were convinced they sank the Yorktown at Coral Sea. They anticipated 2 carriers at most. By the end if the battle they believed the US had 5 carriers, including two converted carriers.
Some years ago, a guy I know had the opportunity to buy flight deck plank pieces from CV6 that the Navy had kept in some storage shed since the war. He spent a high, at least three figure sum of USD on two of them. Kept one as is, and used the other to make ship makers for tabletop wargaming.
Amazing. In a couple of hours I went from knowing almost nothing about this battle to having a thorough view of the tactics and, more importantly, seeing the tremendous loss of life on both sides, and the bravery shown by both. Excellent. Thanks for the videos.
The photos taken by the Hiryu hours before it went under was chilling. Also the Yorktown, that ship was just too stubborn to die and it deserved a better fate than to be swallowed by the ocean. Great video!
It's telling though. No matter how big the SHIP, no matter how Formidable it may be.......it's never more than an insignificant spec allowed to remain on the surface of the Ocean for only so long as the Ocean itself will allow it. Davey Jones locker is never-ever remotely close to it's capacity.
It took longer to upload the second part of this series than it did for the United States Navy to respond to the Pearl Harbor attack. And it was well worth it
It's been 1 year 3 months and 16 days since he released part 1. Applying that to ww2 if he released part 1 on the day of Pearl Harbor, it would now be March 22nd 1943. Well worth the wait of course!
I read Ian Toll's 4 book tome about WW2, and read about the Midway, but it kind of went in one lobe and out the other. Now, after seeing this, I can return to Ian's book with fresh eyes and understanding.
Since i saw the original “Midway” movie, I wanted a well detailed depiction of the battle. Since the first installment, I’ve been waiting for its second part on this channel, and an unexpected third. Just as good cooking takes time, it was worth the wait. Gracias Montemayor for delivering such a well made presentation. Kudos and Semper Fi!
There are networks that need to hire you for 5x the pay of their current producers. I learned more from your videos than two decades on mainstream channels. I have probably watched ten documentaries on the Battle of Midway and all of them combined don't provide this amount of detail and simplicity.
There are many facts in history that have been struck out. What you read is indoctrination. I am an old man, born during the steam age and if you really want the truth about history, I don't know it all, but I can give facts that will show conspiracies. I am from UK but not proud of it. 00447771139444.
@@CloroxBleach0 My telephone number. I old and ill and it difficult for me to type so if people want to know truth that has been left out they can contact me.
Alternative Theory: WHAT IF the Hiryu's second counterstrike (Tomanaga's torpedo bombers) had found TF 16 instead of the wounded _Yorktown_ ? In our timeline, Tomanaga's group managed 2 hits on an already-damaged ship ... and still didn't kill it. Had they found the target they were actually looking for - Task Force 16 - they would've been facing two undamaged (read: faster and more maneuverable) carriers, with presumably 2x the number of aircraft flying CAP. The likelihood is that (a) Tomanaga's group may well have been wiped out without scoring any hits, (b) had they managed the same performance, it's entirely possible that two hits on an undamaged carrier may not have been fatal, and (c) they may have split their forces to try to take out both carriers simultaneously, which given the strength of TF-16's defenses vs. the size of the Hiryu's strike package could have prevented any hits being scored. So, had Tomanaga actually found his assigned target, the outcome might have been no fatal damage to _Enterprise_ and _Hornet_ , and _Yorktown_ still steaming at 19 knots just over the northern horizon. With Yorktown still able to make good time under he own power, she would not have been a sitting duck for the I-168 the following day, and thus the battle would have been even more lopsided - the Japanese may have lost the entire _Kido_ _Butai_ with all 3 American carriers making it back to Pearl Harbor.
You have an extraordinary talent for teaching and portraying historical events. Your videos will remain a valuable historical asset for a long time. Thank you!
Obviously Midway is one of the most well known and discussed naval battles in history, and most definitely of WWII, but it still surprises me that this kind of analysis from ONLY the Japanese perspective with full Fog-of-war in effect is practically unique and I thank you for producing it. The wait was worth it. Every Hindsight-General *knows* Nagumo made the wrong choices, but this series shows that while hindsight has perfect vision, in the heat of the moment with incomplete and imperfect information and with a particular doctrine, Nagumo did try his best, almost suicidally so.
@deaks25. One day you may realize that all these Midway videos and supposedly different viewpoints are just a smoke screen to cover up what really should have happened for the IJN. Notice of how the focus is on “Nagumo”. All vid creators mainly put the what if’s or the wrong choices on him. Or simply conclude he really could not have done anything more. If we step back a bit the IJN really had a terrible battle plan. More focus should be on Yamamoto. More people should try to figure out why the IJN didn’t put their battleships, cruisers, and destroyers in better position. The battleships at least some of them including Yamato could have shelled Midway. My theory as to why folks don’t really head down this road is because we can easily see how it could lead to a massive defeat for the US. It’s obvious as to why it would not be a popular discussion.
@@f430ferrari5 The massive battleship and surface fleet became obsolete on Dec 8, 1941. Only air power can ensure an effective outcome to any battle. Your "unpopular discussion" will never happen because its simply not historically significant. The two biggest words in the language - "What if?"
@@tooterooterville 🤣😂. Yet another clown. The what if’s are already constantly discussed here in the vid and others such as why did Hiryu go towards the US fleet. 🤣. Like it would have made a difference had they turned away and allow the IJN surface ships to group with them first? How about Nagumo’s dilemma which is constantly discussed from a what if perspective. 🤣😂. What if he launched as is. Like this would have made a difference? 🤣 The only true difference is if the IJN used their surface ships up front. Even the US Navy War College stated this. So listen up dummy. If you disagree with me then you’re disagreeing with the US Navy War College. 🤣😂. What a clown. Because even the NWC knows that 11 battleships, 22 cruisers, 64 destroyers and 9 carriers absolutely slaughter the US 2.75 carriers with 8 cruisers and 15 destroyers. 🤣😂 Seriously where do folks like you come from. You won’t be coming back. None of you do. 😂🤣
@@yoseipilot Perhaps it's because I'm throughoutly familiar with Japanese media, and they constantly portray their carriers and pacific front as "The tragic tale of the IJN." Also, I'm mostly just annoyed at the lack of recognition Yorktown got, because Enterprise got all the glory. The rest of the comment section praises Hiryuu's last stand, so I figured I might as well write something for Yorktown
When I was young there was a guy my grandpas age, at church. I can still see him smiling. I was a huge history buff and was very disappointed when no one in my family told me he was on the Yorktown for its war service. I guess he talked freely about it but being as I was a regarded as a kid no one informed me. Imagine the stories I missed from this legend. Here’s the real kicker he was assigned to the USS South Dakota, meaning he was in the first CV on CV fight and the last BB vs BB fight. Talk about a front row to history. Rest In Peace Mr Paur
My uncle was on the CV5 at Midway. Because of his salvage experience he was on the Hamman after the Yorktown abandon ship and then went back aboard the Yorktown. He was lucky enough to be topside when the torpedo hit and survived as many of the salvage crew working below did not. FYI I am 80 years old and had several conversations with my uncle before he passed on. He loved computers and his email was XXXCV5.
I had similar. I'm a Brit and my Uncle was a paratrooper at Arnheim. It was well known in our family that he was a 'hero' but as a small child it meant nothing to me. I just remember a tall, quiet very craggy faced man (he looked a lot like a young Sean Connery). Arnheim (Market Garden) meant nothing to me, and I had no interest whatsoever. It was only in later life I became fascinated with military history and regretted the fact that I had never asked him anything, he was long dead by that time. Doing some research I came across his name in despatches. He was missing for the best part of a week, lost behind enemy lines, but he fought his way back to his unit and was decorated for it. I can only imagine the stories he could have told.
Oh my god, getting a notification after all this time made my day. Haven’t watched it yet but I know it will be great. New Edit: this was really worth the wait, great content and keep up the great work
I like the subtle forshadowing in this video that the Yorktown isn't out yet. After the first attack, the graphic just turns yellow, and after the second, it's still orange, when a deep red is the code for truly sunk ships.
This is priceless content. Of course there’s much more details left out (plane engineering, crews, fire response details, build details of the ship, list goes on and on); but this is the BEST CONCISE presentation of the battle I’ve ever seen. WELL DONE.
Montemayor, I spent some time serving in the USN on a modern carrier and I enjoy reading about the naval battles in the Pacific. Thank you for this piece of work that you made. It's a great visual and I can tell a lot of research and careful reading of the accounts went into the production. The most impressive part of the battle to me is the great damage control efforts by the Yorktown to restore propulsion and flight ops within two hours of sustaining 3 critical hits. An impressive feat. Something that is important to me personally is that after the first attack the Americans raised the big flag on the Yorktown, signaling to everyone in the strike group that they were still in the battle. I can only imagine what it felt like to everyone there to see that.
Legit upset at my teachers in high school and college for skimming over and poorly explaining history. Raced through it all as if not important. When done properly, as in this vid, it captures your attention and should make one think and appreciate history. Thank you for taking the time to put this together. Sincerely, it’s an awesome and well done documentary of history. 🙏
it's always amazed me that these huge WWII pacific battles came down to just a handful of planes. You'd think with the might of both countries and the scale of this war, you'd be talking hundreds of planes vs each with when it was just 6 vs 5 type situations. The fate of world resting on just a dozen aircraft.. blows my mind.
Ya got realize, most of these pilots are very young men, flying a jug with thousands of horse power no GPS, no radar, in the vast endless ocean looking for a dot, that they have to identify what it is. Scary enough if you ask me, then being shot at with AAA , flack, machine guns, slingshots and Samaria swords, while lining up a manual bomb sight on a moving target. Remarkable they ever scored hits.
This is the US just fighting with what it happened to have in the Pacific for peacetime. The Japanese were spread over the entire Pacific and fighting a large war in China. Later on, it would be hundreds of planes. For Leyte, the US had something absurd like over 60 aircraft carriers involved. By the war's end, the US had well over a 100 aircraft carriers in the Pacific. Amazing considering it was only a couple years after it had only one, the Enterprise, isn't it? Sleeping giant indeed.
@@Korkzorz You are missing the escort carriers of which about 125 were built. The actual number at the time of the end of the war varies depending upon whether you count the ones built but not yet in service and other factors. My memory of, "well over 100 in the Pacific" was probably optimistic considering some were elsewhere in the world while other were not in active duty at the time. The US did possess over 100 carriers. Most of them engaged in the war in the Pacific.
Yeah. Inanimate objects aren't supposed to have personalities, but goddamn the Yorktown was one stubborn grumpy bastard (in the best sense of the word).
Why only pity for US carriers? When the IJN sinks, people just don't say anything and ignored it. If it was US, people always say the same thing as well like these comment. Such as really unfair morality. It's make me mad when any people treating for this Japanese ship so unfairly. Remember, Japan has suffered more bitterly than the United States.
Yorktown was only sunk by aircraft. The wide starting torpedo of submarines only hit Harmann, with the calculated angle of the lines of fire they missed the rest, so there were enough aircraft to sink him
I am lost words on watching this. It is the most detailed, exaustive account of a battle I have ever seen. I am hooked now and have sunscribed to this channell and look forward to watch the rest of the accounts. If RUclips Oscars awards were awarded Montemayor would surely get on.
VERY WELL DONE! I am a Pacific War historian and an authority on that war, but was very impressed with both of these outstanding videos. My father was a TBM pilot on Enterprise, but a year after Midway. This is whet got me interested in WWll history as a 12 year old in 1962. I am still a student of this war at age 71. Thank you so much.
I can see why the Hiroyuki didn’t detach and I don’t think it’s the reasons you provided. Here’s my speculation: 1) An aircraft carrier has no business in a surface engagement, but a surface fleet has no business fighting aircraft alone. Just ask Nagato. As long as the Hiryu stuck with the surface task force, it could provide air cover for the fleet, then break off once enemy surface ships were sighted but before they were in range. 2) The Japanese battle doctrine called for a decisive defeat of the enemy with the goal of total control of the sea, and while that decisive battle had been intended to be won by the Battleships, that thinking would naturally drift into the minds of the Carrier task forces as they took up the primary duty as capital ships. If Hiryu opened the range when they sent their torpedo strike, and then somehow managed to damage a second fleet carrier, then that decision to disengage would leave no time to turn around for a strike on the final carrier. No decisive victory there! Just a loss of 3 Japanese carriers to two American Carriers. A pyrrhic draw. 3) If your sending out elite pilots in damaged planes with leaky fuel tanks, you’re probably gunna want to maximize the chance those pilots make it back by reducing the distance to the enemy as much as possible. It’s kinda suck if you evaded the American air fighters only to realize your carrier just sailed out of return range! You might say these aren’t the best reasons and you probably have a point. But I’m not trying to argue it’s the best decision; I’m trying to argue their are better reasons than just “Japanese Culture Demands it” and “Tunnel Vision”.
The Japanese were fixated on dying a glorious death while in a glorious battle. Problem was, they suffered too many glorious deaths while getting their asses kicked. Japan lost what were some of the best combat pilots alive by having such low regard for those people who actually did the fighting. Japan was playing "samurai" while living in a fantasy world. Example; no room for parachutes in the cockpit of the Zero. The biggest mistake Japan made in the Pacific air was losing experienced pilots through attrition while not providing for real combat training by those veteran pilots to the up-and-coming next generation of naval aviators.
Well said. It's always more complicated than it seems. Always layers to the complexity. Whilst I'm sure they did have target fixation and culture played its part, there were practical and somewhat pragmatic reasons for their decision-making. Still, I think I would have retreated after the initial counter-attack to regroup, personally. But again, it's more complicated than that. I probably would have been relieved of command for that decision etc.
@@michaelschmidtman4298 . speaking about the Zero, Saburo Sakai wrote that Japanese pilots were indeed issued with parachutes, but many chose not to wear them as it made the cockpit more cramped. Their reasoning was that as the Zero was lightly built and lacked self sealing fuel tanks and armour, the possibility of surviving battle damage was very slim, so may as well be comfortable and save some weight.
The one thing lacking in this video is a visual placement / explanation that paralleled the American strateggy and shiip and plane placement....the idea of have just the Japanese perspective kind of leaves the viewer in the dark regarding the complete picture.
Probably for the best, though. Had they attacked one of the undamaged ships, they probably would have failed to score any kills at all. Clearly the Yorktown would have survived its wounds up to that point. "If you chase two rabbits, you will lose them both"
The USS Yorktown is a crazy story. A damn near unsinkable ship, to have survived as long as she did and required two more torpedo hits to sink as she was being towed for salvage
I have to imagine that the Japanese, twice over, thought they'd sunk/destroyed a second carrier only to learn that they'd actually just hit the Yorktown _again_ .
An exceptional video of one of the most famous modern naval battles of all time. It’s interesting that all of the carrier battles that will probably ever be fought, occurred in a short 3.5 year period of history.
@@Spacemongerr What do you mean? They already exist. In fact an article came out this week detailing how they plan to start sticking them on cargo planes. If a plane can hold one, you better bet your ass that our premier state of the art ships will have them, even if it's not advertised publicly. The technology isn't new or in some experimental phase, it's been a proven tech for over 15 years, and the supporting technology to miniaturize it to practical levels has also existed for years already.
The fact they made Enterprise the focus of the movie that came out last year was, to me, was a disservice to Yorktown. It was the underdog of the battle, with it getting repaired ahead of schedule and taking its hits like a champ til the death blow. Say what you will about the 70s film, at least they had her in it where she needed to be. Also, glad to see you are back. I’ve waited a while to see you finish these series.
I'd say it wasn't a bad choice to make Enty and her crew the focus of the film. The bigger disservice was they didn't put as much focus on Yorktown as they should've, especially with her damage control efforts and how incredibly she survived all that until a sub had to put the kibosh on her. That's what happens when they tried to cram so many events that weren't part of the big picture of the film's intent, the Battle of Midway.
well tbh Hollywood always give the US more credit than really nessesary. There was one movie (cant remember the name) that showed US forces capturing the enigma machine from a german U-boat. In reality, it were british forces that did that. Not a single mention in the film that it wasnt the US. It only said "based on true events". Nice, now 99% of all people that see this movie believe the US captured the enigma machine. It would not have taken much to say in a text at the end screen that it were British Forces. It is stuff like that that really annoys me. Same with Greyhound recently: a Fletcher class destroyer (which is not a good anti submarine ship since it lacks manouverability compared to lets say the British Flower class) with a captain that is on his first command sinks almost an entire Wolfpack while the other (british and canadian) escords do almost nothing.
@@xxnightdriverxx9576 in defend of the movie Greyhound it was based on a book not a real event. The movie still have very good historical authenticity, the action on deck of the Grey Hound is a very authentic of WW2 Atlantic escort experience.
@@xxnightdriverxx9576 It's why I don't like Hollywood when they're doing historical films as they usually change so many things it's insulting to the actual players because they want to wank off the US efforts in a fictional story practically. Them altering the U-110's capture and taking the crew of HMS Bulldog's credit away was just insulting. In Emmerich's Midway, I feel it was less did it to wank Enty but more he just didn't had enough time to put in for Yorktown. He really should've picked building up to the events of Midway itself and the battle rather than previous events before it. Otherwise, a TV series like the USN's own Band of Brothers onboard Enterprise would've been the much better choice.
I just discovered this channel. This is awesome work! The animation, the commanders dilemma summaries, the tactics details, etc. This is so impressive quality that even large history networks are not achieving. Kudos man! Real great work.
The 1976 Midway movie has its flaws to be sure, but the scene where the Japanese pilots on the Hiryu rush to the deck and see the burning carrier fleet is one of the most striking scenes of that film.
I can't stomach either Midway movie. They both suck in my opinion. Each time I try to sit through them, I end up turning it off and watching Montemayor's Midway trilogy instead.
@@canaanclb I think the new Midway movie had some strong moments despite it’s flaws. The attack on the Kaga, and Nagumo’s despair upon having to leave the Akagi being my favorite moments. Especially with how they treated the Japanese forces, not just making them cartoon bad guys.
I have to express how impressive and compelling this video is. This is a marvel of work. As a history buff who has seen so many documentaries on WW2 I have highly recommended it to those with interest in knowing this battle.
i subbed like a week ago, after watching the "midway from Japanese perspective" vid. now this one just came out. that was such an easy wait compared to everyone else :) this made me real excited to see thanks
Thank you for a very cogent explanation of a fascinating battle. So many lives lost, let us not forget that all war is disastrous for them and their loved ones left behind
Viewing the (by now) three parts of this video serie has been truly astonishing! I've never before seen such excellent use of nowadays technology to describe this crucial battle of 78 years ago. It brings it back to live enormously. I've read a lot about Midway and the 2019 movie gave a good visual impression. But never before did I see such a detailed and (probably amost fully) correct analysis of the events as they happened. Especially to inexperienced people it's usually difficult to understand all those different Midway attacks at different time stamps at different locations. Montemayor brings all to your screen in an easy to understand format. Well done sir!
Great job - this is a lot of work. It took me days to put together a 30 minute PowerPoint presentation - can't imagine how long this took, and it was done well. The artwork by Mateusz Dąbrowski was also very impressive, very talented.
*Image* if the Japanese *ships* have equal trained *damage control* like the Americans. Yorktown was hit by 3 (250 kg) bombs her speed drop to 0 knots, Hiryu was hit by 4 (450 kg) bombs her speed is still fast at 30 knots for hours (like the others carrier). Also Japanese carriers are better design, but they have poor damage control.
@@yoseipilot even with damage control, they took so much damage because all the fuel, bombs, etc, I dont think even the US carriers would have survive such hits, lets remember the japanese carriers had all the bombs & torpedos around them
Thank you very much Montemayor. One of the clearest, most interesting and well produced videos that I have ever seen on RUclips. Very good graphics, chilling photos of the floundering ships and, best of all, the excellent narration. It was not only balanced and informative but was narrated without the unnecessary repetition or the game show host delivery style that has become so common in documentaries. A new subscriber.
CO2 injected into USN carrier aircraft fueling lines made an incredible difference to our carriers survival. Apparently a young naval officer came up with the idea. Please do a video on damage control practices USN vs IJN!
That's a structural weakness of Japanese carriers, they were very poorly engineered (enclosed hangars etc) and crew poorly trained in damage control. They were glass cannons: great at offense, very weak at defense. It's amazing that the Yorktown survived 2 waves of Japanese attacks and 2 Torpedo hits + 3 direct bomb hits, while the Akagi sank after being hit by a single bomb.
@@richardliu5297 Have you seen the first video? Akagi was converted carrier from a *battleship*. The design was the most heavily armored, highest capacity and slowest out of all of them. Seems you've just been fed pop culture trivia without regard to the ships circumstance. I agree that the Japanese have probably had most of their design considerations to be build around offense and that's probably one of the reasons why they managed to take so much of the pacific in such a short time with just paper planes but ships are ships, heavy steel is the main product from the production of ships.
@@mikuhatsunegoshujin Not only have I watched the first Vid, but I strongly recommend *Shattered Sword* by *Anthony P. Tully and Jonathan Parshall* Which I read and much of the Vid is based on. To address your point: the main engineering problem with Akagi were damage control design, enclosed Hangars, and well...a whole bunch of other stuff. Not necessarily armor per say (although it is possible being built from a battleship hull might have led to a bunch of engineering problems itself weakening the deck armor but let's not get into that) The problem with the Akagi was that it had extremely poor damage control built in: among other things, there were only 2 water mains on the whole ship: one for each half. That means if one of the water mains gets taken out: half the ship gets no water. And that's exact what Lt.Best's bombs did. It took out a water main: hard to fight fire without water! Damage control equipment in general tend to be insufficiently distributed: it's very easy for a single bomb to take it out. Such was not the case with USN carriers. Second of all, Japanese carriers like Akagi had enclosed Hangars, what this means is that Hangars cannot be open to the outside. Which means one cannot simply shove flammable material off the ship into the Ocean, it also meant that destroyers cannot use their water hoses to help fight the fires on the Akagi. The fire started by Lt.Best's bomb was actually pretty contained to begin with, but there was no way to get bombs/torpedo/fueled planes off the ship before the fire reaches them. When the Yorktown got bombed: this option was available to the Americans because their Carrier hangars can be opened to the outside. Lastly there were a bunch of miscellaneous things too numerous to name: such as fuel lines not secured with inert CO2 gas against fires, or that the carrier's fuel tanks are build into the superstructure which means it's vulnerable to shocks to the Carrier. There's other things we can also talk about: such as their extremely poor Anti-Aircraft fire relative to USN, but I don't want to post too many words. All of those things were done better on US carriers which is how the Yorktown survived so long. The Japanese Carriers were designed with offensive operations in mind, perhaps too much, defense was secondary. Their survival capacities was extremely poor and led to their Carriers sinking when really, a better engineered ship *should* have survived. What's more, it continued to be poor even with new Carriers they built during the war such as the Taiho. I would ask you to please be more respectful, I know this is youtube comment section which is garbage 99% of the time but this video actually has knowledge people and people willing to learn. Please don't assume other person's ignorance!
,,...emotional...Yorktown...badass...“? Ok? Let’s ignore how badass was Hiryu (vs 3 US carrier) with their last counterstrike, right? Why only pity for US carriers? Such as really unfair morality. Are you treating for those Japanese ship so unfairly? Japan has suffered more bitterly than the United States.
I know you always hear how they were the best naval pilots in the world at the time but peeling off to attack planes when their mission is to protect the bombers was an amateur mistake and they paid for it.
Thank you, Mr. Montemayor. You do a great job. I cannot get enough of your detailed presentations. It is obvious that you put in some hard work in your research. Thank you and please keep your presentations coming.
What’s with the “I will go down with my ship” mentality. That never made any sense to me. Hiryu Officers: We shall go down with our ship. The next morning; ship has not sunk. Hiryu Officers: “Geeez… how long is this going to take?”
The whole concept of "going down with the ship" stems from the idea that a captain bears ultimate responsibility for the wellbeing of all passangers and crew and is therefore obligated to attempt saving all of them before he tries to save himself. He's not _supposed_ to go down with the ship, but since this tradition developed long before adequate safety measures and effective search and rescue operations became a thing, it was just kind of expected that you usually couldn't adhere to it and also come out alive (especially on warships). Now what happened on the Hiryu has more to do with the same Japanese cultural norms mentioned at 16:59. It was about preserving some abstract sense of "honor" that was wholly detached from any rational or practical considerations (like not holding up rescue operation with your sentimental goodby ceremony and increase the risk for the rescuing ships getting blown out of the water by a submarine attack). So if all of this seems stupid and pointless to you, then that's because it is. It's merely confusing sacrifice with suicide.
Well I don’t think it’s always dumb. Something like the titanic, the captain was important and arguably deserved a lifeboat spot but at the same time, there was limited space and it’s the honorable thing to give his seat up because he was at least partially responsible. However, if you can evacuate everyone, then it’s kinda a waste not to, especially if say you have a family or you are an important leader in an on going military conflict *cough cough*. But ya, the Japanese had Prioritized honor over pretty much everything else so that’s how it happened.
IJN's Gettysburg. This was well done! The pictures, some of which I have never seen before are a fantastic touch & told from the view of IJN is also another thing I have not seen before & I watch a lot of WWII coverage. The manner in which you showed the battle, complete with movement, air strike damage sorties etcetera makes this mandatory viewing for WWII Pacific theatre people
RUclips: Here's a Midway video from Montemayor
Me: Meh, I've already seen it
RUclips: (2/3)
Me: *surprised pikachu*
This is the exact reason for why I haven’t viewed this yet.
exact same thing happened to me
Exact for me
Im subscribed and belled but it didnt notify WTF?
@@DanksterPaws youtube is behind that
Narrator: ‘It’s been 6 months since the attack on Pearl Harbour.’
Me: ‘It’s been 15 months since the last video.’
FINALLY THE LONG WAIT IS OVER!!!
CONGRATS EVERYBODY!!!
🎊🎊🎊🎉🎉🎉
When u wait a video longer than Americans losing in the Pacific
Don't hate - it's here. Enjoy.
ENJOY WE SHALL BROTHER
@@peterc_dancestudio where's the hate?
So I wasn't the only one waiting, waiting, waiting...
The Mogami and Mikuma don’t get enough examination. They are textbook examples of how Japanese Damage Control was entirely dependent on the leadership of individual officers on a per ship basis. Mogami survived because she (almost alone of the Japanese ships that day) had an aggressive and forward thinking Damage Control Officer. As soon as the ship was crippled in the collision he ordered the Torpedos jettisoned. Realizing that at her limping speeds they and the floatplanes aviation gas were the greatest danger to the ship. As the bomb hits occurred he further quickly ordered the ships magazines flooded. This meant that the dive bomber attacks really only tore up Mogami’s superstructure. As would be seen in other battles, dive bombers while damaging were nowhere near an efficient weapon against well prepared armored heavy surface units. Unless they could cause subsequent secondary explosions of the ships own weapons. The Mogami got rid of her Torpedos, dumped her AV gas and flooded her main magazines. The far less aggressive damage control officer on Mikuma did none of these things. The dive bombers triggered a raging AV gas fire as her seaplanes went up like kindling. The AV gas fire in turn cooked off her rear torpedo battery causing a massive explosion which left her dead in the water with her rear half wrecked just waiting for her other Torpedos and magazines to cook off.
At that stage of the war most Japanese Damage Control doctrine was strictly reactive. They weren’t thinking ahead of the problem until things actually started exploding and burning. And it shows up in the smallest details when comparing their ships to their American counterparts. The first thing everyone notes in seeing pictures of the Japanese Carriers in operation is what look to the American eye to be sand bags tied around the bridge and other exposed positions. The Americans think putting sandbags around like that is a cheap and clever trick to limit shrapnel damage in combat. Which would be true, if they were sandbags. But they’re not. They are the crews Cotton bedrolls tied up all around the bridge and superstructure, to air out. Y’know their highly flammable bedding is tied around the admirals command bridge like a pillow fort. All the furniture in the ship is wooden. The walls are paneled with wood. Wooden floors etc. Paper and flammable paint everywhere. Contrast that with American ships. Everything on them was placed with an eye towards fire risk. Furniture and floors were metal. And after Pearl Harbor every crew in the Navy was spending what little spare time they had scrapping off the old flammable paint and repainting with fire resistant stuff. They tried to anticipate and thus reduce the damage before the hits started coming.
Jeez man, what a good explanation. The pillow thing was hilarious.
Great write up. Alays wondered how the Mogami managed to escape despite the damage of the collision and bomb hits in comparison to her sister ship.
I also had heard that the Japanese's DC crew was more trained in one ship, like their carrier pilots were, meanwhile the US DC crew was trained to be more universal. Like being trained in more then one ship (Also helps that most of the ships in the US fleet was near identical to each other) and that they were allowed to bring in their experience that often improved the damge control of a ship. Like if a DC crew from Yorktown had done something special to the AV gas to more sure it didnt ignite during battle, then got transferred to say Enterprise and brought that experience with them to improve the damage control on Enterprise.
The same can be seen in the pilots. As said, the Japanese's carrier pilots was only trained in one carrier. Which hinder their transfer to an other carrier if their starting carrier was too damaged or sunk during battle. Meanwhile the US carrier pilots was trained to be used on more then one carrier so they could be easily transferred to an new carrier in case something happened to the one they were stationed on
@@Danspy501st That modularity wasn't just linked to damage control. An example is the carriers uss lexington and saratoga. You'll recall their initial armament was some twin 8" gun turrets. But because they were carriers, they actually received radars early on. Such that the lexington (I believe) was the first ship equipped with 8" guns to receive a fire control radar system for them. As such, the lexington crew was rotated out after lexington had proven the tech so as to train the other 8" cruisers as they received their fire control radar upgrades.
Battle of Midway
Jun 4, 1942 - Jun 7, 1942
Description
DescriptionThe Battle of Midway was a significant naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4-7 June 1942, six months after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. Wikipedia
Location: Midway Atoll
Dates: Jun 4, 1942 - Jun 7, 1942
Result: American victory
Combatants
United States
United States
Empire of Japan
Empire of Japan
The fact that Thatch distracted the enemy enough with his snazzy flying, leading to the destruction of the carriers, and then personally took out Tomonaga to save the Yorktown (albeit temporarily) has all the feels of the main character storming through the campaign and taking out the final boss single-handedly.
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Thatch Weave was so effective, the vastly superior Zeros were forced to slow down trying to chase a wildcat, not realizing the wildcat’s wingman is doing the counter attack ended up the zero diving down or risked getting shot down. Slower American fighters were able to hold off vastly superior Zero until the Corsairs and hellcats arrived.
@@diegosilang4823 ruclips.net/video/cT-3DE6nSZs/видео.html
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@@diegosilang4823 The Wildcat was also built like a tank and couldn't be disabled very easily. The Zero's weakness vs. early WW2 American fighters was that it was lightly armored and could be torn to shreds easily given the right tactics.
And the Thach Weave is like players abusing the enemy AI pathfinding to draw them all in towards them.
And when the world needed him most he returned.
I'm really impressed that he returned. It would have been easier to disappear into the dark never to be seen again
haha thanks man
Montemayor Good job sir. Thank you
@@MontemayorChannel good to see you again buddy
he protecc
he attacc
but the most importantly
he always come bacc
A noteworthy thing to mention: Mogami's commander made the decision to jettison the torpedo stores once it became obvious they were going to come under air attack. Mikuma did not. When the cruisers came under attack by the carrier bombers, both Mogami and Mikuma took hits that started fires in or near the torpedo storage rooms.
The results were as might be expected.
Especially considering the Japanese "Long Lance" torpedoes were oxygen-fueled. So they needed liquid oxygen (LOX) generation and storage facilities on board, and THAT was the real hazard. LOX = BOOM
@@fredsanford5954 IIRC in the battle of samar, some of japanese cruisers were sunken by being hit around these torpedoes too.
Clearly, Mikuma's CO learned his craft from playing video games - "Torpedoes and armament aboard ship cause a problem? Nah never."
A fine story. What is your proof?
@@zeroqp Shattered Sword, p.348, 371
Best battle of Midway documentary I've ever seen.
Indeed!
Yes, incredible videos. So much information and alternate points of view. Strategy, tactics and Luck are all clearly explained. Hope to see more from Montemayor soon.
The old Battlefield docs from like 25 years ago are great. They go into a huge amount of detail though (mini bio of key officers; break down all the planes etc.).
Great series...Here' Midway:
ruclips.net/video/1w30FkSXyTE/видео.html
I have butthole
Not even close.
The Yorktown's surviving planes getting the final strike on the Hiryu was some bittersweet revenge.
Also, Jimmy Thach had some serious plot-armor in WW2. Dude was a badass.
q
@@alhaynie5339 w
I find it poetical that the USN's best pilot went toe-to-toe with the IJN's best pilot during the battle. That's some anime fight type writing.
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@@ThatChester to a degree it makes some sense that the primary strike forces of both navies would eventually face each other but it so rarely happens it does have that mythical quality to it
Yorktown: 'sunk' in the Coral Sea; 'sunk' at Midway; 'sunk again at Midway; finally finished off by a submarine while under tow. The ship was too angry to die.
And then was promtly reincarnated...
Talk about a vengeful ghost
and eventually recovered, this ship is f*cking indestructible
Yorktown be like: FUCK YOU DEATH I DO WHAT I WANT
@@axolotlfiregaming4107 LMAO
maybe it aint had time to die
Talk about the longest cliffhanger in the history of RUclips, haha
I know.
I could not wait to see what happens next. I was really hoping Japanese would turn things around and use Hiryu and the surface fleet to finally take Midway!
I don't know any other series here that can create a years worth of suspense!
McGruff scene 28 reimagined was pretty long too!
Lol the hollywood version came and went in the interim.
agreed, and way better than the recent movie, LMAO.
Man, just imagine what wonders can Montemayor do to Battle Of Leyte Gulf with a history-telling and analysis as good as this.
WE NEED THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes! Taffy 3!!!!
Battle of Leyte Gulf Part 1/63
This was my exact thought! I also wished Hanks would act in a movie about Leyte Gulf, but sadly he appeared in Greyhound
@@adrianmervindelacruz431 Taffy 3 alone could be a damn good story
"Winning is optional, but trying your hardest is not" is an oddly inspiring quote
It needs to be on a poster, with a picture of a kitten trying to climb up a step.
Seriously, though, it is the kind of sentiment, that, in war, lead to a massive loss of life on both sides 😢
@@euansmith3699 yes in war this is a less than ideal standpoint but outside of war its pretty good
Gambaru, Gambate
You can't always win, but you have to try your best.
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*And when the world needed him most, he returned*
The Japaneses: We've taken out Yorktown
Yorktown: Good job
The Japanese: What?
Yorktown: What?
@Han Lockhart
It makes sense when you realize CV-10 was renamed Yorktown and it fucked the Japanese up mentally, because "The Yorktown was sunk" No I wasn't!
I actually read about how the Japanese had a horrible crew training for plugging holes and damage and basically keep it afloat during/after a battle or engagement.
Their hubris grew and they thought it was basically beneath them because they wouldn’t turn lose or be hit in the first place . Meanwhile, we had awesome crews and it saved us a TON.. look at the USS Yorktown. It was hit and survived multiple times.
@@marquisdelafayette1929 Another big example is the Enterprise. The Japanese called her "The Grey Ghost" because the Enterprise was reported as sunk on three separate occasions and survived past the end of the war. This was actually pretty huge, because for a stretch of time the Enterprise was the sole American carrier active on the Pacific.
@Han Lockhart It is also funny because they left the Yorktown smoking and on fire, only to have it back in the action by the time the next wave got there.
The number of people responding who didn't get the joke but THINK they got the joke and are now arguing about how ships are named is pretty hilarious.
This is why I learn English. I now know much more than I ever did reading books in Japanese. Thank you.
Did they teach less than this?
は
Chen Huang ??
@@WickedTkl tried to type Japanese... Fail
Kholiq Well they taught us in class(15yrs old or so) that we lost the battle which was the turning point of the war. Also there are many books about the battle but never seen anything like this video that helps me imagine and visualize how each ships and cruisers acted.
Hey Montemayor: your Midway trilogy and Coral Sea documentaries are the best WWII sea battle documentaries on Earth. Better than anything on US or British TV or film. I don't know what else you do with your life, and how fortunate or unfortunate you have been in other matters, but I hope that, for the rest of your life, you take comfort and pride in that fact. You made the best WWII sea battle documentaries ever made. Thank you so so very much!
ruclips.net/video/doPlKvTdIbA/видео.html
No exaggeration. This is better education than some military strategists get on the Battle of Midway
@@YamatoTre ruclips.net/video/YcuMTAUCzK4/видео.html
Well done and explained. Keep working Montemayor 💪
“Best WWII sea battle documentaries ever made” is right! Thx Pedro! I am curious what you will do with the strategic and tactical analytic capabilities you have at your command. Well done. (posted by a former A-6E pilot)
The day has finally come
eQuariuz don’t forget countless 2020 disasters
Flying Pancake in these times, such videos would be a blessing.
The day had finally come.
yes, yes it has
Montemayor's content is unbelievably better than anything I've watched on the military channel, discovery channel, or any other Television network in many years, if ever. The delightful visuals and detailed examination are truly superb. The commercial-less format, paired with not being rewarded by just filling time in with nonsense probably helps.
Cheers Montemayor.
Commercial-less??? Not hardly...6 commercial breaks by my count. There are no decent adblockers for phones.
Is he not great our Montemayor?
thats because TV documentaries only care about producing as cheap as possible. They basically read out Wikipedia and put some bad CGI on top. They dont actually let it be produced by historians. They also tend to over-dramatise certain stuff (like a lot of Bismarck documetaries saying if she roamed free the Allies would have automatically lost the war and stuff like that. Yes that would have been bad but it would not lead to a lost war, only a few lone merchant ships sunk since all the large convoys were heavily escorted)
just on the visual part, you will be looking at a wargame set up, the artwork looks like an exact copy(if not taken directly) of the wargame: Task Force, (the latest reprint) published by Kokusai-Tsushin, they made their artwork available for download on their website. If you like the visuals and is interested in historical battles (or commanding one of your own), some of these games are worth a try
khar siidim Thank you for the heads-up about Task Force.
The legend himself has awoken once more
haha! far too kind with your words
@@MontemayorChannel what he's saying is true
The return of the king
@@MontemayorChannel You are far too kind to spoil the world with your content.
@@MontemayorChannel no he's correct. Those of us who watch RUclips to learn understand how tough it can be to find accurate, consise information
Love the narration. No forced melodramatic voice, just straight story telling. Well done
Mrk
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I would say the Iron Fist and the Wagnerian opera was just a tad melodramatic. Although to be absolutely honest that was in the first episode.
@@Beemer917 ruclips.net/video/TGlDJmgeHlo/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/dFf4AgBNR1E/видео.html
Arguably biased, the narrator struggles to keep his ill-begotten, pro-Japanese sentiments at bay. Seemingly unbeknownst to him, Japan got whacked and paid for it. USA. USA.
Wow, at last! I stood up and shouted "He's back!" My wife, what? who's back?. Montemayor, you have outdone yourself, twice again (2/3 & 3/3). Now the question arises - What are you going to do next? Your videos and talent are simply outstanding. Based on the number of posts to your videos, I hope you understand that you have become a RUclips star. Thank you for all of your efforts putting these videos together. I look forward to seeing more of your productions in the not too distant future... God has blessed you with a talent that most of us could only wish we had a fraction of. I had three uncles who were in the US Navy aboard different destroyers throughout the Pacific theater during WWII. Fortunately, all of them made it safely back home again but none of them ever talked about their experiences.
I did the same thing (exclaimed "it's out!"), only at work
I've been recommending the first video in this series whenever the Battle of Midway has come up, and I'm so glad to see parts two and three!
I was close to my grandfather and I'm also a vet. He was in WW2 and Korea and was one of the earliest jet pilots. I think he told me about just 3 of his military experiences during his life.
This was a beautiful morning after seeing this 😊
He protecc
He midway attacc
But most importantly
HE BACC
HE’S BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER
Yesss lol
Nice
Japan on losing 4 carriers: "We basically lost the war."
US, if it had lost 4 carriers: "We'll have four more in two months."
in two weeks*
M U R I C A *rifle shoots n eagle sounds*
That’s why war was won on the production line.
The Enterprise and Essex class carriers were just cranked out. Japan was at its limit, while the US was just getting started.
Yeah but all the men lost damn
I love how he starts like it hasn’t been 15 months since his last upload and starts it like any regular video!
I'm only just watching these in Feb 2021. I can't imagine the tension waiting 18 months!
@@gicking3898 right?!
He finally remembered his password for his youtube channel.
TheIron09 lol.
PS he was working the WHOLE time.
HHAHAHAHAHAHAA
@@wk6499 R/whosh
Actually RUclips finally responded and reset his password.
pole23405 1 I get the joke.
I typed a lol.
America: Took out 4 carriers
Japan: Took out one carrier 3 times
They will return the rape japan
☆ I SWEAR, that damned carrier just won't die! It must be made of Darwin Bark Spider silk! (Tough as steel).
@@Ed-ss1uh You think sailors of all people would mind off colour humor? Fuck off. They would high five and toast to a good joke.
Turns out putting all your carriers on top of each other is not optimal.
@@whynotdean8966 what was teh comment written he deleted it
Legends say Yorktown didn't sunk. She just tactically submerged into the Pacific.
...melted away, as they say...
She’s actually a submarine carrier
promoted to submarine
Ruzzia moment lol
@@DuplexWeevil337 except YorkTown did more damage time and time again XD
its honestly insane how much ordinance it took to sink the Yorktown.
The Yorktown was too busy to die. Until June 5/6...
The Yorktown was the ghost ship to the Japanese. They first thought they sunk it back in pearl sea, but then it shows up here only to be set on fired and dead in the water, then when the third wave came it was repaired and sunk again, making it the ship that was sunk 3 times
Shattered Sword (which if anyone hasn't read, go buy it now, it's fantastic) has a long section detailing how much of a priority the US Navy put on damage/fire control, both in terms of designing to mitigate damage and designing to enable recovery from damage. It's particularly noteworthy as compared to the Japanese, whose damage/fire control philosophy "We'll never get hit, so who needs damage/fire control?"
@@kurosujiomake It runs in the family.
No, Yorktown was only sunk by aircraft. The wide starting torpedo of submarines only hit Harmann, with the calculated angle of the lines of fire they missed the rest, so there were enough aircraft to sink him
IJN: Sir! We bombed an aircraft rendering it out of action, its now a 1v2,
USS: 1v3 actually
IJN: Sir! We torpedoed another aircraft carrier rendering it out of action, it's now a 1v1.
USN: 1v2 still.
USS Yorktown: I'm not dead yet!
Japanese navy :We killed the ship its 2 on 1
Yorktown: am i a joke to you?
*Repair ship came by and being tow*
Yorktown: Finally! Going home and to talk my sister Enterprise what a da-
I-168: Enterprise!!
Yorktown: For god sake I'm Yorktown!!
*torpedoes away*
*Wake up in bed*
Yorktown: I got a strange dream Enterprise.
Enterprise: Akashi, did you put something in her drink?!
Akashi: Neya!!!
When you have the most elite carrier pilots in the world, but the elite carrier pilots burnt in the hanger 2 years ago. - Mariana turkey shoot, probably.
Well yeah, Midway was still there and her planes still sunk a ship.
Yorktown: I didn’t hear no bell
You could say the world turned upside down
@@orelez1518 freedom for merica freedom for france.
Japan: How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, Old Man?
Shokaku: me even also further
Yorktown the Randy Marsh of the Pacific Fleet XD
My father served during World War ll and was in the Battle of the Bulge so of course I have read and watched many accounts of that but this Midway documentary is the best of them all. I can only imagine how much time was spent on this work of art. Thanks for all you did to bring this to us.
Seconded!!
There is a book called “Shattered Sword” that describes all of this. This video has it correct all movies prior to this have been wrong. Aleutian Island was not a diversion and unlike this video all movies have Japanese flight decks full of planes.
God bless your dad. Both my grand fathers were there. 1 @ verdan
To the German Commander:
NUTS!
The American Commander
Best wartime message ever.
Yes....I've heard so much about Midway and read about it and have seen the film, but this really laid it out for me, in simple terms ever I could finally understand. My dad was a USMC captain and a gunner on the USS Santa Fe the night the USS Franklin was hit, and he and his shipmates ended up saving the ship and taking off the wounded. He had nightmares thru his life about the sick and dying lying on cold steel among burning oil. Very sad what war does.
Yorktown ends up being the punching bag the USN needs.
She participated in coral sea, where she helped to put down a light carrier and to put two carriers out of commission prior to midway. Had she not been at coral sea it's possible that it would have been 6-3 at midway.
Then she gets repaired and shipped out to midway where she takes the brunt of two different strikes from hiryu, likely saving either enterprise or hornet.
The repair crews for the Yorktown all deserve the highest praise the Navy can give. They are the unsung heroes of this battle. The whole battle would have gone entirely differently if the Yorktown was still under repair at Pearl Harbor. They shouldn't have even been there, let alone getting hit early in the battle and doing such a miraculous job on fire control and repair that two hours latter the Japanese couldn't even tell that it was the same carrier and hit it again, drawing fire away from the Enterprise and Hornet.
Honestly if it went for the sub hitting her i feel as tho Yorktown would have ended up receiving the same reputation as her sister
@@the_jamers1415 Damn right, have Yorktown survived Midway, Enterprise probably have to share the title "Grey Ghost" with her elder sister
Let’s be real if Yorktown and enterprise were lost Cv6’s prestigious career would be gone
wow americans are always the strongest and cleverest, ah it's because we only hear your versions of stories!
Jim Powell writing here. This was a great video. The history and the actual photos of the naval battle, was all important story.
My father and my uncles were all sailors in WWII. One uncle was in the battle of Midway. I believe he was on a cruiser. I am a Navy vet who was in a fighter squadron during the Vietnam war. I served from 1965-1969. I served aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger. Two war time cruises. Thank you for this all important video of such an important naval battle. When this battle was fought, the importance of winning was paramount in America’s success against the Japanese.
Thank you for your service.
Thank you for your service Sir!
Jim, two points:
- I believe what this channel is telling us is the importance of winning this battle was probably equally paramount in Japan's hoped for success against the USA. Of course, I like it the way it happened!
- Thank you for your service sir, and that of your father and uncles.
SALUTE!
Thanks to you, your Dad and uncles for service to this great nation. I salute all of you.
I have to hand it to you. This is the best, most detailed understandable documenting of the Midway battle Ive ever seen on RUclips. Cheers!
Agreed, so glad I came across this
@@abigailryder8315 Same. Wow just wow. Perfect pacing and narrative. When he started providing the loss of life aboard the Japanese carriers, I could even start to feel the real tragedy of what they were going through. Well done.
i love the plane counts, read numerous books and articles on this battle, including one written by a Japanese reporter who was there (translated into Chinese) but never fully grasp the remaining US planes at this point. The torpedo planes were completed erased and many Hornet's planes were stuck in midway
I absolutely agree!! We need more of this type of presentation. Very, very well done.
that was well spent time.......
I think the general reaction aboard the Yorktown, after getting her patched up again, was a massive "Oh come on! Seriously?! Not again!!!". But the fact that the Americans patched her up so fast and well that the Japanese thought that she was another carrier speaks volumes about the men serving on her.
And most of Yorktown's crew survived the battle. By contrast, the heavy majority of the crews aboard the four Kido Butai carriers were lost. Yorktown's loss was obviously not a deliberate tactical sacrifice, but had it been, it would have been a genius one: one already-damaged carrier lost with most of her complement surviving, in return for four undamaged, elite enemy carriers lost along with most of their crew. Yorktown did her job, and then some.
the Hiryu chasing the enemy was definitely a wounded pride situation.
Or as another comment speculates:
"
1) An aircraft carrier has no business in a surface engagement, but a surface fleet has no business fighting aircraft alone. Just ask Nagato. As long as the Hiryu stuck with the surface task force, it could provide air cover for the fleet, then break off once enemy surface ships were sighted but before they were in range.
2) The Japanese battle doctrine called for a decisive defeat of the enemy with the goal of total control of the sea, and while that decisive battle had been intended to be won by the Battleships, that thinking would naturally drift into the minds of the Carrier task forces as they took up the primary duty as capital ships. If Hiryu opened the range when they sent their torpedo strike, and then somehow managed to damage a second fleet carrier, then that decision to disengage would leave no time to turn around for a strike on the final carrier. No decisive victory there! Just a loss of 3 Japanese carriers to two American Carriers. A pyrrhic draw.
3) If your sending out elite pilots in damaged planes with leaky fuel tanks, you’re probably gunna want to maximize the chance those pilots make it back by reducing the distance to the enemy as much as possible. It’s kinda suck if you evaded the American air fighters only to realize your carrier just sailed out of return range!
"
@@artificialintelligence8328 I had another thought too. point one is probably the most likely reason though. But another is the surface fleet itself. If nagumo is going to charge into a surface engagement of 10+ ships, he needs all the escort ships for the surface engagement. Thus, there is none available to escort the hiryu out. And you would be a fool to leave her off alone as arashi returned without sinking the nautilus. Thus, nagumo is looking at least one submarine still possibly in the area that could finish off hiryu if unescorted.
I agree but there was no reason to get the carrier in
It's not aggressive to run full speed into a spear; it's stupid.
@@artificialintelligence8328 Also, Remember the battle of Leyte Gulf? If a swarm of outdated aircrafts can fight off 4 battleships and 6 heavy cruisers, it is not hard to imagine ~20 elite bombers to pick off some vessels here or there amid a chaotic surface firefight.
Also, a pyrrhic draw may be enough for Japanese to successfully capture midway. Note the heavy loss of US aircraft in the battle (they have already lost 55% of aircraft for the assault of JP fleet carrier, plus those onboard Yorktown,) the unengaged battleship group and the potential of light carrier support from operation AL 2 days away, further engagements can create a temporal void of aircraft cover over midway for the invasion to successfully proceed.
"This turned out to be a foolish move" can be said for much of human history.
I know...it's like hearing, "Watch this, everyone, it's gonna be cool!"
"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
@@ex-navyspook Hold my beer...
yeah, like my parents giving birth to me...
@Han Lockhart
relax, it's just a bit of satirical dark humor.
What a ship the Yorktown was! And what a shame the Enterprise was eventually sold for scrap. Talk about destroying history...
David D you should see the BLM rioters
The Yorktown was the only carrier of the five who fought at the Coral Sea and fought again at Midway. Her planes sank two carriers at Midway. She was the ship that would not die. Any day, she may burst from the the depths of the Pacific to fight yet again.
IJN were convinced they sank the Yorktown at Coral Sea. They anticipated 2 carriers at most. By the end if the battle they believed the US had 5 carriers, including two converted carriers.
Michael Hunt I agree 100 percent
Some years ago, a guy I know had the opportunity to buy flight deck plank pieces from CV6 that the Navy had kept in some storage shed since the war. He spent a high, at least three figure sum of USD on two of them. Kept one as is, and used the other to make ship makers for tabletop wargaming.
Amazing. In a couple of hours I went from knowing almost nothing about this battle to having a thorough view of the tactics and, more importantly, seeing the tremendous loss of life on both sides, and the bravery shown by both. Excellent. Thanks for the videos.
The photos taken by the Hiryu hours before it went under was chilling. Also the Yorktown, that ship was just too stubborn to die and it deserved a better fate than to be swallowed by the ocean. Great video!
That Ninja submarine that sank the Yorktown did a hell of ninjitsu job !!
Reborn in CV10...Yorktown... less than a year later....sits in Charleston South Carolina
It's telling though. No matter how big the SHIP, no matter how Formidable it may be.......it's never more than an insignificant spec allowed to remain on the surface of the Ocean for only so long as the Ocean itself will allow it. Davey Jones locker is never-ever remotely close to it's capacity.
Yorktown is like that one kid that always broke rules yet never got expelled until something stupid happened.
@@rmsteutonic3686 Like Patton dying as a result of a car crash after the war.
It took longer to upload the second part of this series than it did for the United States Navy to respond to the Pearl Harbor attack.
And it was well worth it
It's been 1 year 3 months and 16 days since he released part 1. Applying that to ww2 if he released part 1 on the day of Pearl Harbor, it would now be March 22nd 1943.
Well worth the wait of course!
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I was more surprised to see this in my notifications than the Japanese fleet at Midway.
I have heard of this battle my whole life and never really understood it. Through your efforts, know I do. Excellent job!
I read Ian Toll's 4 book tome about WW2, and read about the Midway, but it kind of went in one lobe and out the other. Now, after seeing this, I can return to Ian's book with fresh eyes and understanding.
Since i saw the original “Midway” movie, I wanted a well detailed depiction of the battle. Since the first installment, I’ve been waiting for its second part on this channel, and an unexpected third. Just as good cooking takes time, it was worth the wait. Gracias Montemayor for delivering such a well made presentation. Kudos and Semper Fi!
There are networks that need to hire you for 5x the pay of their current producers. I learned more from your videos than two decades on mainstream channels. I have probably watched ten documentaries on the Battle of Midway and all of them combined don't provide this amount of detail and simplicity.
For real.
I couldn’t agree more. This young man knows his history. Dammed impressive.
Great idea! A little polishing and proofreading (i.e. reputated is not a word 6:32 is all he would need!
My father and I are huge history fanatics, and I just called him to tell him this video came out and we were both giggling like school kids lol
Wonderful, the same My father and I did when I was a kid.
Same.
There are many facts in history that have been struck out. What you read is indoctrination. I am an old man, born during the steam age and if you really want the truth about history, I don't know it all, but I can give facts that will show conspiracies. I am from UK but not proud of it. 00447771139444.
@@peterharwood1430 what is that number
@@CloroxBleach0 My telephone number. I old and ill and it difficult for me to type so if people want to know truth that has been left out they can contact me.
It's always the one you miss that's going to cause you grief
Thats so true on so many levels.
What else would cause you grief, the one you got?
@@kingmuddy5898 yes, look at all the unhappy husbands with their wives lol
I always heard it as the idiom: _"There's always one more son-of-a-bitch than you counted on"._
To be fair, if you miss all of em, they'll all cause you greif
Wait, this isn’t sponsored by World of Warships?
Surprising ain’t it
Western movies
We
Western. Movies
Foyals war
FYI the wrecks of both the Kaga and the Akagi were just found in October 2019
And, my gosh, the damage to Kaga is catastrophic
That means soryu is nearby
did they even find hiryu?
I was expecting, "Previously on The Battle of Midway", at the beginning.
Battle 360
Alternative Theory: WHAT IF the Hiryu's second counterstrike (Tomanaga's torpedo bombers) had found TF 16 instead of the wounded _Yorktown_ ? In our timeline, Tomanaga's group managed 2 hits on an already-damaged ship ... and still didn't kill it. Had they found the target they were actually looking for - Task Force 16 - they would've been facing two undamaged (read: faster and more maneuverable) carriers, with presumably 2x the number of aircraft flying CAP. The likelihood is that (a) Tomanaga's group may well have been wiped out without scoring any hits, (b) had they managed the same performance, it's entirely possible that two hits on an undamaged carrier may not have been fatal, and (c) they may have split their forces to try to take out both carriers simultaneously, which given the strength of TF-16's defenses vs. the size of the Hiryu's strike package could have prevented any hits being scored.
So, had Tomanaga actually found his assigned target, the outcome might have been no fatal damage to _Enterprise_ and _Hornet_ , and _Yorktown_ still steaming at 19 knots just over the northern horizon. With Yorktown still able to make good time under he own power, she would not have been a sitting duck for the I-168 the following day, and thus the battle would have been even more lopsided - the Japanese may have lost the entire _Kido_ _Butai_ with all 3 American carriers making it back to Pearl Harbor.
You have an extraordinary talent for teaching and portraying historical events. Your videos will remain a valuable historical asset for a long time. Thank you!
thank you for the kind words Peter Hunt!
@@MontemayorChannel They may be kind words but they are also true.
ruclips.net/video/Bmc9NFfhx74/видео.html
So proud of you my beloved brother. Mom and I are your #1 fans!!
Hi 👋 thanks montemayor’s mom and bro!
Obviously Midway is one of the most well known and discussed naval battles in history, and most definitely of WWII, but it still surprises me that this kind of analysis from ONLY the Japanese perspective with full Fog-of-war in effect is practically unique and I thank you for producing it. The wait was worth it.
Every Hindsight-General *knows* Nagumo made the wrong choices, but this series shows that while hindsight has perfect vision, in the heat of the moment with incomplete and imperfect information and with a particular doctrine, Nagumo did try his best, almost suicidally so.
@deaks25. One day you may realize that all these Midway videos and supposedly different viewpoints are just a smoke screen to cover up what really should have happened for the IJN.
Notice of how the focus is on “Nagumo”. All vid creators mainly put the what if’s or the wrong choices on him. Or simply conclude he really could not have done anything more.
If we step back a bit the IJN really had a terrible battle plan. More focus should be on Yamamoto.
More people should try to figure out why the IJN didn’t put their battleships, cruisers, and destroyers in better position. The battleships at least some of them including Yamato could have shelled Midway.
My theory as to why folks don’t really head down this road is because we can easily see how it could lead to a massive defeat for the US. It’s obvious as to why it would not be a popular discussion.
@@f430ferrari5 The massive battleship and surface fleet became obsolete on Dec 8, 1941. Only air power can ensure an effective outcome to any battle. Your "unpopular discussion" will never happen because its simply not historically significant. The two biggest words in the language - "What if?"
@@tooterooterville 🤣😂. Yet another clown.
The what if’s are already constantly discussed here in the vid and others such as why did Hiryu go towards the US fleet. 🤣. Like it would have made a difference had they turned away and allow the IJN surface ships to group with them first?
How about Nagumo’s dilemma which is constantly discussed from a what if perspective. 🤣😂. What if he launched as is. Like this would have made a difference? 🤣
The only true difference is if the IJN used their surface ships up front. Even the US Navy War College stated this. So listen up dummy. If you disagree with me then you’re disagreeing with the US Navy War College. 🤣😂. What a clown.
Because even the NWC knows that 11 battleships, 22 cruisers, 64 destroyers and 9 carriers absolutely slaughter the US 2.75 carriers with 8 cruisers and 15 destroyers. 🤣😂
Seriously where do folks like you come from. You won’t be coming back. None of you do. 😂🤣
@@tooterooterville this guy obviously did'nt read general kenney's report on midway ....he was big time on control of the skies over any battle.....
@@f430ferrari5 Triggered much?
By far, this is the best presentation on Midway I have ever seen. Great work and thank you.
Yorktown's grit against the odds is enough to make a man cry.
Seriously. The whiskey is only exacerbating the feels! Here's to you, you stubborn Navy Frankenstein bastard ship!
Hiryu did against the odds very well, did you forget about?
@@phantomship3935 I agree, but Yorktown is my personal favorite ship from history, so i'm a bit biased.
All these other Americans are looking at this video with such patriotic vigor. Does someone else feel the melancholy?
@@yoseipilot Perhaps it's because I'm throughoutly familiar with Japanese media, and they constantly portray their carriers and pacific front as "The tragic tale of the IJN."
Also, I'm mostly just annoyed at the lack of recognition Yorktown got, because Enterprise got all the glory. The rest of the comment section praises Hiryuu's last stand, so I figured I might as well write something for Yorktown
When I was young there was a guy my grandpas age, at church. I can still see him smiling. I was a huge history buff and was very disappointed when no one in my family told me he was on the Yorktown for its war service. I guess he talked freely about it but being as I was a regarded as a kid no one informed me. Imagine the stories I missed from this legend. Here’s the real kicker he was assigned to the USS South Dakota, meaning he was in the first CV on CV fight and the last BB vs BB fight. Talk about a front row to history. Rest In Peace Mr Paur
I feel that pain from across the world, sad.
My uncle was on the CV5 at Midway. Because of his salvage experience he was on the Hamman after the Yorktown abandon ship and then went back aboard the Yorktown. He was lucky enough to be topside when the torpedo hit and survived as many of the salvage crew working below did not. FYI I am 80 years old and had several conversations with my uncle before he passed on. He loved computers and his email was XXXCV5.
I had similar. I'm a Brit and my Uncle was a paratrooper at Arnheim. It was well known in our family that he was a 'hero' but as a small child it meant nothing to me. I just remember a tall, quiet very craggy faced man (he looked a lot like a young Sean Connery). Arnheim (Market Garden) meant nothing to me, and I had no interest whatsoever. It was only in later life I became fascinated with military history and regretted the fact that I had never asked him anything, he was long dead by that time. Doing some research I came across his name in despatches. He was missing for the best part of a week, lost behind enemy lines, but he fought his way back to his unit and was decorated for it. I can only imagine the stories he could have told.
Oh my god, getting a notification after all this time made my day. Haven’t watched it yet but I know it will be great.
New Edit: this was really worth the wait, great content and keep up the great work
[clicks bell] _what's that icon? … 'midway' … ? … can it be? … it IS!! … TWO!!_
I like the subtle forshadowing in this video that the Yorktown isn't out yet. After the first attack, the graphic just turns yellow, and after the second, it's still orange, when a deep red is the code for truly sunk ships.
This is priceless content. Of course there’s much more details left out (plane engineering, crews, fire response details, build details of the ship, list goes on and on); but this is the BEST CONCISE presentation of the battle I’ve ever seen. WELL DONE.
Montemayor, I spent some time serving in the USN on a modern carrier and I enjoy reading about the naval battles in the Pacific. Thank you for this piece of work that you made. It's a great visual and I can tell a lot of research and careful reading of the accounts went into the production. The most impressive part of the battle to me is the great damage control efforts by the Yorktown to restore propulsion and flight ops within two hours of sustaining 3 critical hits. An impressive feat. Something that is important to me personally is that after the first attack the Americans raised the big flag on the Yorktown, signaling to everyone in the strike group that they were still in the battle. I can only imagine what it felt like to everyone there to see that.
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Legit upset at my teachers in high school and college for skimming over and poorly explaining history. Raced through it all as if not important. When done properly, as in this vid, it captures your attention and should make one think and appreciate history. Thank you for taking the time to put this together. Sincerely, it’s an awesome and well done documentary of history. 🙏
I remember in 8th grade I was pretty disappointed the American Revolutionary War was breezed over in literally less than five minutes.
You should of had me as a teacher.
The kids were on the end of there seats.
By the way I used an eraser as a dive bomber
Hey, it looks like you even used a 48 star flag there at the very end! Now that's a high level of attention to detail!
When A small Low to Nun budget Chanel makes a better documentary than National Geographic
Or the History channel.
@@faisalaldan3420 no aliens helped Americans actually.
Tru dat
Remember to give Motamoyer a little $ help! He deserves it.
it's always amazed me that these huge WWII pacific battles came down to just a handful of planes. You'd think with the might of both countries and the scale of this war, you'd be talking hundreds of planes vs each with when it was just 6 vs 5 type situations. The fate of world resting on just a dozen aircraft.. blows my mind.
Ya got realize, most of these pilots are very young men, flying a jug with thousands of horse power no GPS, no radar, in the vast endless ocean looking for a dot, that they have to identify what it is. Scary enough if you ask me, then being shot at with AAA , flack, machine guns, slingshots
and Samaria swords, while lining up a manual bomb sight on a moving target. Remarkable they ever scored hits.
This is the US just fighting with what it happened to have in the Pacific for peacetime. The Japanese were spread over the entire Pacific and fighting a large war in China. Later on, it would be hundreds of planes. For Leyte, the US had something absurd like over 60 aircraft carriers involved. By the war's end, the US had well over a 100 aircraft carriers in the Pacific. Amazing considering it was only a couple years after it had only one, the Enterprise, isn't it? Sleeping giant indeed.
@@01Z06guy The US had 27 aircraft carriers by the end of the war. Impressive enough but not quite hundreds :)..
@@Korkzorz You are missing the escort carriers of which about 125 were built. The actual number at the time of the end of the war varies depending upon whether you count the ones built but not yet in service and other factors. My memory of, "well over 100 in the Pacific" was probably optimistic considering some were elsewhere in the world while other were not in active duty at the time. The US did possess over 100 carriers. Most of them engaged in the war in the Pacific.
Howdy neighbour xD
I can't believe that I feel genuinely sad that a ship sunk more then 75 years ago, the Yorktown really was too angry to die.
I thought i was the only one
Man, I wish she was saved. :(
Yeah. Inanimate objects aren't supposed to have personalities, but goddamn the Yorktown was one stubborn grumpy bastard (in the best sense of the word).
Why only pity for US carriers? When the IJN sinks, people just don't say anything and ignored it. If it was US, people always say the same thing as well like these comment. Such as really unfair morality.
It's make me mad when any people treating for this Japanese ship so unfairly. Remember, Japan has suffered more bitterly than the United States.
Yorktown was only sunk by aircraft. The wide starting torpedo of submarines only hit Harmann, with the calculated angle of the lines of fire they missed the rest, so there were enough aircraft to sink him
I am lost words on watching this. It is the most detailed, exaustive account of a battle I have ever seen. I am hooked now and have sunscribed to this channell and look forward to watch the rest of the accounts. If RUclips Oscars awards were awarded Montemayor would surely get on.
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VERY WELL DONE! I am a Pacific War historian and an authority on that war, but was very impressed with both of these outstanding videos. My father was a TBM pilot on Enterprise, but a year after Midway. This is whet got me interested in WWll history as a 12 year old in 1962. I am still a student of this war at age 71. Thank you so much.
*_IT'S HERE._*
I can see why the Hiroyuki didn’t detach and I don’t think it’s the reasons you provided. Here’s my speculation:
1) An aircraft carrier has no business in a surface engagement, but a surface fleet has no business fighting aircraft alone. Just ask Nagato. As long as the Hiryu stuck with the surface task force, it could provide air cover for the fleet, then break off once enemy surface ships were sighted but before they were in range.
2) The Japanese battle doctrine called for a decisive defeat of the enemy with the goal of total control of the sea, and while that decisive battle had been intended to be won by the Battleships, that thinking would naturally drift into the minds of the Carrier task forces as they took up the primary duty as capital ships. If Hiryu opened the range when they sent their torpedo strike, and then somehow managed to damage a second fleet carrier, then that decision to disengage would leave no time to turn around for a strike on the final carrier. No decisive victory there! Just a loss of 3 Japanese carriers to two American Carriers. A pyrrhic draw.
3) If your sending out elite pilots in damaged planes with leaky fuel tanks, you’re probably gunna want to maximize the chance those pilots make it back by reducing the distance to the enemy as much as possible. It’s kinda suck if you evaded the American air fighters only to realize your carrier just sailed out of return range!
You might say these aren’t the best reasons and you probably have a point. But I’m not trying to argue it’s the best decision; I’m trying to argue their are better reasons than just “Japanese Culture Demands it” and “Tunnel Vision”.
Makes sense. Good analysis.
Good analysis. Monte is an idiot
The Japanese were fixated on dying a glorious death while in a glorious battle. Problem was, they suffered too many glorious deaths while getting their asses kicked.
Japan lost what were some of the best combat pilots alive by having such low regard for those people who actually did the fighting.
Japan was playing "samurai" while living in a fantasy world. Example; no room for parachutes in the cockpit of the Zero.
The biggest mistake Japan made in the Pacific air was losing experienced pilots through attrition while not providing for real combat training by those veteran pilots to the up-and-coming next generation of naval aviators.
Well said. It's always more complicated than it seems. Always layers to the complexity. Whilst I'm sure they did have target fixation and culture played its part, there were practical and somewhat pragmatic reasons for their decision-making. Still, I think I would have retreated after the initial counter-attack to regroup, personally. But again, it's more complicated than that. I probably would have been relieved of command for that decision etc.
@@michaelschmidtman4298 . speaking about the Zero, Saburo Sakai wrote that Japanese pilots were indeed issued with parachutes, but many chose not to wear them as it made the cockpit more cramped. Their reasoning was that as the Zero was lightly built and lacked self sealing fuel tanks and armour, the possibility of surviving battle damage was very slim, so may as well be comfortable and save some weight.
This series of 3 videos is absolutely outstanding. Kudos to you for the depth and detail of understanding that you are providing.
The one thing lacking in this video is a visual placement / explanation that paralleled the American strateggy and shiip and plane placement....the idea of have just the Japanese perspective kind of leaves the viewer in the dark regarding the complete picture.
OMG! Today is a good day to die! Montemayor is back in action!
TIRAR!!!! LOVE YOU!!!!
may I suggest lets all live xD
What a strange convergence of my interests!
Not yet brother. 1 more video is needed
@@Penniwhistle I am a huge fan of War battle break downs, and this young man is the best.
Just imagine the looks on the faces of the Japanese pilots when they found out that they attacked the Yorktown twice.
I can just imagine their shock and anger. That's why they sended a submarine to end him.
Probably for the best, though. Had they attacked one of the undamaged ships, they probably would have failed to score any kills at all. Clearly the Yorktown would have survived its wounds up to that point.
"If you chase two rabbits, you will lose them both"
Yorktown is made of "Balls of Steel".
When I thought 2020 was a lost cause, he rises and gives me hope.
Adam P. We killed Japan for 75 years. Today is theirs anniversary of surrender
The USS Yorktown is a crazy story. A damn near unsinkable ship, to have survived as long as she did and required two more torpedo hits to sink as she was being towed for salvage
Yorktown is made of "Balls of Steel".
I have to imagine that the Japanese, twice over, thought they'd sunk/destroyed a second carrier only to learn that they'd actually just hit the Yorktown _again_ .
The Yorktown survived 3 direct bomb hits, 2 near misses, 3 torpedoes from planes and 2 more from i-1168
Yorktown stats:
1,000,000/99 Defence
50,000,000/99 HP
An exceptional video of one of the most famous modern naval battles of all time. It’s interesting that all of the carrier battles that will probably ever be fought, occurred in a short 3.5 year period of history.
[Laughs in South China Sea flash point]
@@shadow7988 laughs in hypersonic surface to surface missiles
@@joeking5679 [Laughs in energy weapon point defense that doesn't care how fast an object is]
@@shadow7988 But those do not exist in any practical way. Maybe in the future.
@@Spacemongerr What do you mean? They already exist. In fact an article came out this week detailing how they plan to start sticking them on cargo planes. If a plane can hold one, you better bet your ass that our premier state of the art ships will have them, even if it's not advertised publicly. The technology isn't new or in some experimental phase, it's been a proven tech for over 15 years, and the supporting technology to miniaturize it to practical levels has also existed for years already.
The fact they made Enterprise the focus of the movie that came out last year was, to me, was a disservice to Yorktown. It was the underdog of the battle, with it getting repaired ahead of schedule and taking its hits like a champ til the death blow. Say what you will about the 70s film, at least they had her in it where she needed to be.
Also, glad to see you are back. I’ve waited a while to see you finish these series.
well for movie shake having the crew of the Enterprise bomb the Akagi do make a very good looking scene.
I'd say it wasn't a bad choice to make Enty and her crew the focus of the film. The bigger disservice was they didn't put as much focus on Yorktown as they should've, especially with her damage control efforts and how incredibly she survived all that until a sub had to put the kibosh on her. That's what happens when they tried to cram so many events that weren't part of the big picture of the film's intent, the Battle of Midway.
well tbh Hollywood always give the US more credit than really nessesary. There was one movie (cant remember the name) that showed US forces capturing the enigma machine from a german U-boat. In reality, it were british forces that did that. Not a single mention in the film that it wasnt the US. It only said "based on true events". Nice, now 99% of all people that see this movie believe the US captured the enigma machine. It would not have taken much to say in a text at the end screen that it were British Forces. It is stuff like that that really annoys me. Same with Greyhound recently: a Fletcher class destroyer (which is not a good anti submarine ship since it lacks manouverability compared to lets say the British Flower class) with a captain that is on his first command sinks almost an entire Wolfpack while the other (british and canadian) escords do almost nothing.
@@xxnightdriverxx9576 in defend of the movie Greyhound it was based on a book not a real event. The movie still have very good historical authenticity, the action on deck of the Grey Hound is a very authentic of WW2 Atlantic escort experience.
@@xxnightdriverxx9576 It's why I don't like Hollywood when they're doing historical films as they usually change so many things it's insulting to the actual players because they want to wank off the US efforts in a fictional story practically.
Them altering the U-110's capture and taking the crew of HMS Bulldog's credit away was just insulting.
In Emmerich's Midway, I feel it was less did it to wank Enty but more he just didn't had enough time to put in for Yorktown. He really should've picked building up to the events of Midway itself and the battle rather than previous events before it. Otherwise, a TV series like the USN's own Band of Brothers onboard Enterprise would've been the much better choice.
I just discovered this channel. This is awesome work! The animation, the commanders dilemma summaries, the tactics details, etc. This is so impressive quality that even large history networks are not achieving. Kudos man! Real great work.
The 1976 Midway movie has its flaws to be sure, but the scene where the Japanese pilots on the Hiryu rush to the deck and see the burning carrier fleet is one of the most striking scenes of that film.
I can't stomach either Midway movie. They both suck in my opinion. Each time I try to sit through them, I end up turning it off and watching Montemayor's Midway trilogy instead.
@@canaanclb I think the new Midway movie had some strong moments despite it’s flaws. The attack on the Kaga, and Nagumo’s despair upon having to leave the Akagi being my favorite moments. Especially with how they treated the Japanese forces, not just making them cartoon bad guys.
I think think they all realized the war was lost.
I have to express how impressive and compelling this video is. This is a marvel of work. As a history buff who has seen so many documentaries on WW2 I have highly recommended it to those with interest in knowing this battle.
i subbed like a week ago, after watching the "midway from Japanese perspective" vid. now this one just came out. that was such an easy wait compared to everyone else :)
this made me real excited to see thanks
Hiryu crew: Captain they outnumbered us three to one
Hiryu Captain: So it is an even fight
Yorktown Damage Control: We can do this all day.
Except they still got rekt
They thought it was a 2v1
Except it wasn’t! Not at all!
For those who don't know this quote is from the Video Game Halo 3.
Thank you for a very cogent explanation of a fascinating battle. So many lives lost, let us not forget that all war is disastrous for them and their loved ones left behind
Godfather 2 , Empire Strikes Back , Montemayor’s Part 2 on Midway
Amazing job! You are a tremendous credit to your generation. As well as an amazing asset. Keep educating Montemayor!
Viewing the (by now) three parts of this video serie has been truly astonishing! I've never before seen such excellent use of nowadays technology to describe this crucial battle of 78 years ago. It brings it back to live enormously. I've read a lot about Midway and the 2019 movie gave a good visual impression. But never before did I see such a detailed and (probably amost fully) correct analysis of the events as they happened. Especially to inexperienced people it's usually difficult to understand all those different Midway attacks at different time stamps at different locations. Montemayor brings all to your screen in an easy to understand format. Well done sir!
Midway was a fantastic movie
he's back!
Woah
Fan ka rin pala ng ww2 documentaries will. Lodi
yes he is
hallo kyah wil
So you're also a fan of WW2 naval battles? Then, you got another 1 subscriber.
Great job - this is a lot of work.
It took me days to put together a 30 minute PowerPoint presentation - can't imagine how long this took, and it was done well.
The artwork by Mateusz Dąbrowski was also very impressive, very talented.
Yes...simple but effective.
American Damage Control: I AWAKEN
*Image* if the Japanese *ships* have equal trained *damage control* like the Americans. Yorktown was hit by 3 (250 kg) bombs her speed drop to 0 knots, Hiryu was hit by 4 (450 kg) bombs her speed is still fast at 30 knots for hours (like the others carrier). Also Japanese carriers are better design, but they have poor damage control.
@@yoseipilot it depends on where the bombs hit.
If you go anywhere on the Anglo Internet you can see DoD Damage control officers on full damage control 24/7. Hardly sleeping by any measure.
@@yoseipilot even with damage control, they took so much damage because all the fuel, bombs, etc, I dont think even the US carriers would have survive such hits, lets remember the japanese carriers had all the bombs & torpedos around them
"A carrier has no bussiness in a surface engagement"
The HMS Formidable: what
Thanks for that rabbit hole!
Zeppelin: what?
HMS Glorious: Battleships are still annoying!
@@jonathan3213 lol
Warspite: Thats what I told her!
montemayor thank you for an amazing analysis over three episodes , will be used for years to come by all historians , thank you again
Thank you very much Montemayor.
One of the clearest, most interesting and well produced videos that I have ever seen on RUclips. Very good graphics, chilling photos of the floundering ships and, best of all, the excellent narration. It was not only balanced and informative but was narrated without the unnecessary repetition or the game show host delivery style that has become so common in documentaries.
A new subscriber.
You've got a serious talent for documentaries. I just watched a 31 minute documentary straight through and never questioned how long this video was.
Yes
It’s crazy that around 2/3rds of the men that the Japanese lost could have been saved if they could just put out those fires.
CO2 injected into USN carrier aircraft fueling lines made an incredible difference to our carriers survival. Apparently a young naval officer came up with the idea.
Please do a video on damage control practices USN vs IJN!
That's a structural weakness of Japanese carriers, they were very poorly engineered (enclosed hangars etc) and crew poorly trained in damage control. They were glass cannons: great at offense, very weak at defense.
It's amazing that the Yorktown survived 2 waves of Japanese attacks and 2 Torpedo hits + 3 direct bomb hits, while the Akagi sank after being hit by a single bomb.
@@richardliu5297 Have you seen the first video? Akagi was converted carrier from a *battleship*. The design was the most heavily armored, highest capacity and slowest out of all of them. Seems you've just been fed pop culture trivia without regard to the ships circumstance.
I agree that the Japanese have probably had most of their design considerations to be build around offense and that's probably one of the reasons why they managed to take so much of the pacific in such a short time with just paper planes but ships are ships, heavy steel is the main product from the production of ships.
@@mikuhatsunegoshujin Not only have I watched the first Vid, but I strongly recommend *Shattered Sword* by *Anthony P. Tully and Jonathan Parshall* Which I read and much of the Vid is based on.
To address your point: the main engineering problem with Akagi were damage control design, enclosed Hangars, and well...a whole bunch of other stuff. Not necessarily armor per say (although it is possible being built from a battleship hull might have led to a bunch of engineering problems itself weakening the deck armor but let's not get into that)
The problem with the Akagi was that it had extremely poor damage control built in: among other things, there were only 2 water mains on the whole ship: one for each half. That means if one of the water mains gets taken out: half the ship gets no water. And that's exact what Lt.Best's bombs did. It took out a water main: hard to fight fire without water! Damage control equipment in general tend to be insufficiently distributed: it's very easy for a single bomb to take it out. Such was not the case with USN carriers.
Second of all, Japanese carriers like Akagi had enclosed Hangars, what this means is that Hangars cannot be open to the outside. Which means one cannot simply shove flammable material off the ship into the Ocean, it also meant that destroyers cannot use their water hoses to help fight the fires on the Akagi. The fire started by Lt.Best's bomb was actually pretty contained to begin with, but there was no way to get bombs/torpedo/fueled planes off the ship before the fire reaches them. When the Yorktown got bombed: this option was available to the Americans because their Carrier hangars can be opened to the outside.
Lastly there were a bunch of miscellaneous things too numerous to name: such as fuel lines not secured with inert CO2 gas against fires, or that the carrier's fuel tanks are build into the superstructure which means it's vulnerable to shocks to the Carrier. There's other things we can also talk about: such as their extremely poor Anti-Aircraft fire relative to USN, but I don't want to post too many words.
All of those things were done better on US carriers which is how the Yorktown survived so long. The Japanese Carriers were designed with offensive operations in mind, perhaps too much, defense was secondary. Their survival capacities was extremely poor and led to their Carriers sinking when really, a better engineered ship *should* have survived. What's more, it continued to be poor even with new Carriers they built during the war such as the Taiho.
I would ask you to please be more respectful, I know this is youtube comment section which is garbage 99% of the time but this video actually has knowledge people and people willing to learn. Please don't assume other person's ignorance!
Richard Liu Excellent post!
Damn I'm getting all emotional over the Yorktown. What a badass ship.
Look into what the Enterprise did all war.
Quite the stubborn lady she was.
I thought i was the only one
,,...emotional...Yorktown...badass...“? Ok? Let’s ignore how badass was Hiryu (vs 3 US carrier) with their last counterstrike, right? Why only pity for US carriers? Such as really unfair morality.
Are you treating for those Japanese ship so unfairly? Japan has suffered more bitterly than the United States.
@@phantomship3935 Why are you surprised by this? Do you not know what happened at Pearl Harbor?
the Hiryu chasing the enemy was definitely a wounded pride situation.. its honestly insane how much ordinance it took to sink the Yorktown..
I know you always hear how they were the best naval pilots in the world at the time but peeling off to attack planes when their mission is to protect the bombers was an amateur mistake and they paid for it.
@@Ken-fh4jc even the greatest warriors can make childish mistakes in the heat of the moment, for no human is without flaw.
@@evanwilliams1839 I think the argument he's making is they're not great warriors if they make those kinds of mistakes.
Thank you, Mr. Montemayor. You do a great job. I cannot get enough of your detailed presentations. It is obvious that you put in some hard work in your research. Thank you and please keep your presentations coming.
What’s with the “I will go down with my ship” mentality. That never made any sense to me.
Hiryu Officers: We shall go down with our ship.
The next morning; ship has not sunk.
Hiryu Officers: “Geeez… how long is this going to take?”
the ship is their home, and its all they had.
The whole concept of "going down with the ship" stems from the idea that a captain bears ultimate responsibility for the wellbeing of all passangers and crew and is therefore obligated to attempt saving all of them before he tries to save himself. He's not _supposed_ to go down with the ship, but since this tradition developed long before adequate safety measures and effective search and rescue operations became a thing, it was just kind of expected that you usually couldn't adhere to it and also come out alive (especially on warships).
Now what happened on the Hiryu has more to do with the same Japanese cultural norms mentioned at 16:59. It was about preserving some abstract sense of "honor" that was wholly detached from any rational or practical considerations (like not holding up rescue operation with your sentimental goodby ceremony and increase the risk for the rescuing ships getting blown out of the water by a submarine attack).
So if all of this seems stupid and pointless to you, then that's because it is. It's merely confusing sacrifice with suicide.
Well I don’t think it’s always dumb. Something like the titanic, the captain was important and arguably deserved a lifeboat spot but at the same time, there was limited space and it’s the honorable thing to give his seat up because he was at least partially responsible. However, if you can evacuate everyone, then it’s kinda a waste not to, especially if say you have a family or you are an important leader in an on going military conflict *cough cough*. But ya, the Japanese had Prioritized honor over pretty much everything else so that’s how it happened.
Nah i dont think they didn't seppuku inside the ship
@@brotlowskyrgseg1018 really, I thought the "I go down with my ship" tradition was a stem from the "I have failed guess I commit die" tradition
I never knew the Yorktown was almost salvaged after the battle.
She was the reason that hiryu thought there was four carriers, not just 3 IIRC i am usually wrong so don't take it to heart
If they hadn’t waited a day, she might’ve been saved.
Neither did I
IJN's Gettysburg. This was well done! The pictures, some of which I have never seen before are a fantastic touch & told from the view of IJN is also another thing I have not seen before & I watch a lot of WWII coverage. The manner in which you showed the battle, complete with movement, air strike damage sorties etcetera makes this mandatory viewing for WWII Pacific theatre people
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agreed
Japan and the American confederacy suffered from the same disease of the ego.
Thus hubris leads them to the same mistakes.
@@wisconsinfarmer4742 Yes....the Japanese sorties that broke off from the main group at the end of the battle, to seek revenge, was critical.