Before being attacked, the US carriers were able to empty all fuel lines and fill them with Carbon Dioxide. All ordinance (ammunition, etc.) was stored in armored compartments. Every sailor was trained in damage control.
Kurita would play another important role later in the war as admiral of Japan's Center Force that engaged with the US' Taffy 3 only to be sent into retreat. The Yamato that Kurita was on outweighed the entirety of the Taffy 3 task force combined. Really a David vs Goliath battle and the heroics of the Americans still captivate people to this day
Enjoyed the reaction. At one point when you were talking about how good the photo's were it sounded like you said in the 1920's. This battle took place in the 1940's. Not trying to roast you just making sure you had the right info. Looking forward to you finding out what the American's knew before the battle.
Beesleys: Great reactions. As a retired career Marine and historian I can tell you it is refreshing to get your reactions and comments. The Battle for Midway was the turning point in the Pacific War. One note not discussed was how the Japanese honor code also led to their defeat. Many senior military leaders chose “death” before cultural “dishonor”. As mentioned during this video, the Admiral and his senior staff went down with the ship. Keep in mind this is still early in the war. This behavior was repeated over and over again during the war. Senior Japanese Army leaders chose the same fate instead of retreat or surrender. By wars end very few experienced senior officers were left to fight the war.
My great grandfather's childhood friend was amoung the 55 that went down with the Yorktown. At the time, my grandfather was a POW in Bataan and didnt find out until the end of the war. As someone who had to deal with a ton of BS in his life, living through the Jim Crowe era and all the hardship that came with it, I think that was still the worst moment of his life. He said thinking about Daisy (My great grandmother) and collecting the $5 his friend owed him was what got him through the day while in prison. He also knew a few people who were possibly killed by US and UK bombers while aboard Japanese "Hell Ships". A really hard and rarely talked about aspect of WWII.
God bless ur great grandfather and all our brave veterans we loss through the whole war we greatly appreciate his service along with all the other brave souls we owe our freedom to all those who served to protect our country we r blessed to have men like ur great grandfather protecting us I thank them all for there service much appreciation and respect to our veterans 🇪🇺🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲
Rear admiral Yamaguchi choosing to go down with the Hiryu is from an old maritime tradition that dictates the captain will always be the last person to leave his ship if it is sinking, and if unable to evacuate everyone else first he will not make an effort to save himself even if he can. Throughout history you will also find countless examples of captains choosing to go down with their sinking ships even after everyone else on board has safely abandoned and he has ample opportunity to do so himself, either out of honor or connection to the ship or the sea. This all should go double for the Japanese, whose culture is honor bound and won't stand the shame of defeat, which also explains why many of Yamaguchi's staff elected to stay with him.
I could've sworn there was a part where he says some of the Japanese went back and found him tied to the front of the ship and convinced him to leave with them. I don't know if I'm remembering things completely wrong, or if I'm getting it mixed up with another story, or if I read it in the comment section of another video.
Meanwhile, the US Navy encouraged officers to save themselves rather than needlessly throw away the huge investment that had been made to prepare them for command. Do everything you can to save the crew and the ship, but if the ship is doomed, just let it sink. By the end of the war, the Navy was having some trouble because they were building ships faster than they could train admirals.
@@MWSin1eah in the military going down with your ship is just dumb, do all your duties & everything you can but if it’s gonna sink get tf outa there. We can give you a new ship, we can’t give you a new life. Call it honor whatever bs you want to in the military that’s just stupid
I have studied WWII most of my life, and The battle of Midway, while both decisive and pivotal, some things must be taken into account, the Kido Butai was a force of absolute professionals and was 15 years in the making, these men were the very best at Naval warfare on the planet in that time period, the U.S. however, like most of the rest of the world, (EXCEPT JAPAN) viewed aircraft carriers as incidental and support craft for the main fleet of battleships, and WHEN the U.S. got a very valuable piece of information, but neither the resources or experience to fully capitalize on it, Admiral Nimitz was forced to to send his NEWEST and least experienced crew to participate in this fight at Midway (U.S.S. HORNET) alongside an experienced veteran (U.S.S. ENTERPRISE) and a forced and partially repaired but battle battered veteran (U.S.S. YORKTOWN) against a force that was far better equipped, had lifetimes worth more experience, and had every advantage that anyone could hope for at the beginning of this fight, if you boil down the minute by minute actions/reactions, decisions/counter decisions, and sheer timing, both missed and benefited from on BOTH sides, on paper, the Japanese should have not only decisively won the Battle of Midway, but should have utterly destroyed ALL that was left of the Pacific fleet, it was sheer luck of timing and pure courage of a few men, that changed the course of the war and human history, replacing the Kido Butai could not happen quickly if at all, as stated in the video, the equipment, could have been replaced in a few years, but the MEN that made it work so efficiently and effectively, was something that likely could never be replaced, IF Japan had indeed succeeded at Midway, Hawaii would have fallen in months and the war would have lasted another year, maybe longer, and cost another 3 or 4 million more lives, Japan was never going to beat the U.S. in WWII, and neither was Germany, although MOST people think it is the battles that win wars, it really is not, when looking through history, at every major military campaign, victory has rarely been decided by the men and women that are doing the actual fighting, it is the manufacturing of the tools of war is what determines the winner, Both Germany and Japan KNEW that conquering the United States of America is IMPOSSIBLE, and reaching the factories that was producing the tools of war COULD NOT be accomplished unless one or both invaded the continental United States either alone or simultaneously, both of them KNEW that doing this would speed up the end of the war as they would both be humiliatingly defeated by the heaviest armed civilian population on the planet, and the conquest of both countries would have been very swift if such plans were ever seriously considered, Admiral Yamamoto even said that the Japanese Empire could never win a long war against the United States, he KNEW that IF Japan was to win a war against the United States, he had to have that done within 6 to 9 months, he would not have one second longer than that, he estimated that after 9 months of time, the industry of the U.S. would be sufficiently online and producing the tools of war that nothing would be able to stop it, but he made a critical error in that thought as well, he was right in the fact that the factories in the U.S. were in fact able to outproduce the entire planet, he mistakenly thought that it would take up to 9 months to get them all up to full production of two 8 hour shifts 5 days a week, when in fact, in just 60 days, they were up to three 8 hours shifts a day 7 days a week,
When it gives the number of people taken down with the ship, Its including the whole number of people who died during the battle from the ship, Its not that they left 800 people on the ship when they sunk it.
I just love the fact about how much a beast the Yorktown was. She had to be attacked three different times in order for her to sink. If I were a sailor watching the Yorktown go down, I would have saluted her the whole time until she disappeared into her resting place.
That's exactly what happened. The 5 destroyers that were escorting her stayed by _Yorktown's_ side until the very end. When she finally succumbed to her wounds in the dawn of June 7th, 1942, she fell into her grave under the salutes of every sailor on the destroyers, who stood like solemn sentinals, their colors lowered to half mast. The men sorrowfully but faithfully manned the rails and held their attention, paying their final respects to the gallant carrier, the first and nameship of her class who came through for her country when it desperately needed her despite her damage from Coral Sea. One sailor wrote, "Waltzing Matilda had seemed as much a great lady as a great ship to many of her crewmen, and her death throes at 0600 seemed almost human. She uttered a sighing sound and rolled over, her tumbling loose gear making a death rattle. Then she sank in two thousand fathoms..."
Its crazy when you really think about how the Yorktown played suck a major roll in the battle. She was Badly damaged at the Coral Sea and limped back to Hawaii to be fixed to mostly operational within a short period of time. Then during the battle she got attacked not once but twice and was still standing. It was only pretty much after the battle was over that the Yorktown and Hammann hit nd sunk a single submarine. The USS Hammann was there giving Yorktown auxiliary power. Even then after that attack the Yorktown didnt go down right away. The Yorktown was a fighter that didnt go down easily.
One of the worst thing about old school Japanese military forces back then is they were still entrenched in the thousand+ year old idea that they must not "lost face" by losing in battle - you were either victorious or you fought to the last man and died trying - noble but not practical in modern warfare. This led them into bad tactical decisions at times and sometimes resulted in losses, but to their credit they were of the school that you never give up, unfortunately they never learned about tactical retreat and returning to fight another day. This was why if a Japanese pilot missed his mark with a bomb, or they just plain ran out of options they resulted to Kamikazee attacks with the plane becoming the bomb and the pilot sacrificing himself in the process, it was considered an honor to die for the emperor - but a trained pilot was lost in the process.and it was considered acceptable.
The Titanic's captain went down with the ship. It was said that he was last seen on the balcony overlooking the front of the ship submerging before elhe eventually walked back into the wheelhouse.
One thing to keep in perspective is that the Yorktown was built originally as a Battle-cruiser. It had been re-worked into a carrier, but alot of the spaces below deck and below the waterline were built more strongly than a comparable carrier of its time.
That's incorrect. Yorktown was a purpose built carrier, and she and her sisters Enterprise and Hornet's designs were an upscaled version of USS Ranger CV-4, the US's first purpose made flattop. You're probably mistaking her for her predecessors, USS Lexington CV-2 and USS Saratoga CV-3, who were indeed converted battlecruisers.
Fun fact, the YorkTown is now a part of The second largest navy in the world, America’s museum ships. She can be found floating high at patriots point in America.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill after the Battle of Midway is quoted as saying: “This memorable American victory was of cardinal importance, not only to the United States but to the whole Allied cause...At one stroke, the dominant position of Japan in the Pacific was reversed." And also: "The annals of war at sea present no more intense, heart-shaking shock than this battle, in which the qualities of the United States Navy and Air Force and the American race shone forth in splendour. The bravery and self-devotion of the American airmen and sailors and the nerve and skill of their leaders was the foundation of all."
Historian and author Walter Lord who wrote the book, Incredible Victory: The Battle of Midway is quoted as saying: “They had no right to win. Yet they did, and in doing so they changed the course of a war...even against the greatest of odds, there is something in the human spirit -- a magic blend of skill, faith and valor -- that can lift men from certain defeat to incredible victory." His quote on Midway is on the WWII Memorial in Washington DC.
19:26 its often forgotten how many men are on a ship, an Army Battalion is around 300 to 800 men (depending on role and nation) so just on the Hiryu alone the Japanese lost a battalion's worth of men wiped out and the total of over 3,000 is around brigade size and these were when the ships didn't sink with the crews still on board so the men had at least a change to get off without being sucked under with the sinking ships and they had ships near by to rescue survivors so the odds of survival were actually quite good. When HMS Hood sank with 1,415 men on board, thats about 3 to 5 Battalions wiped out most of whom were sucked under with the ship and when her killer Bismarck went down with around 2,006 men thats another 6 to 7 battatalion worth of men and those men sadly had no rescue due to the circumstances at the time, that was two ships and the only ones lost in that Operation. To give further context in the later Guadalcanal campagin in the first naval battle, the Battle of Savo Island the US and Australian Navies lost as many men in one night as the US marines lost in the whole 6 month campagin, the US Navy would have to fight 6 large naval battle at Guadalcanal reaching 5 times the losses the US Army and Marines would.
Everytime I watch one of these I just can't resist going "I know something you don't know". Childish yes, but I've been interested in these battles for decades.
Oh, I can't wait till they get to that part! The whole Pacific theater was chocked full of legendary events, yet you have to keep in mind that if just a few small things happened differently the outcomes could be drastically changed. Even things as simple as a typo in a spotting report have major impacts on an entire engagement. The heroics, the resolve, the sacrifice, the courage. As ugly as war is, you can't help but marvel at the amazing people, and events on both sides that shaped the outcome.
Years ago, I flew these missions in a video game called Heroes of the Pacific. It was very hard to even make it within range of the Japanese ships without getting tore up by Zeroes, and if you did make it, getting a torpedo on target was very hard. I resorted to dive bombing, and got a pretty good idea what screaming straight down towards a ship firing AA at you, to release a bomb, and then pull out at the last minute, only to have to make an escape….was like. I’d highly suggest it if u can get your hands on it.
After you completing this trilogy of videos I would recommend watching "The Battle of the Coral Sea 1942: The First Aircraft Carrier Battle in History" which goes into detail of The Battle of Coral Sea mentioned a few times in these videos.
I believe they did another video from the US perspective. It is great because you learn why the US aircraft carriers were where they were and if I'm remembering correctly it also talks a bit about the state of damage the Yorktown received at Coral Sea and the repairs they did to it in Hawaii.
I AM SO GLAD THAT AT YOUR AGE YOU ARE REMEMBERING AND BRINGING UP THE HISTORY OF WWII. ITS A HISTORY THAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE FULLY EDUCATED ABOUT. THEY DON'T KNOW HOW BIG OF A DEAL THAT THIS WAR WAS AND HOW IT AFFECTED ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD. IF YOU COULD PLEASE DO MORE REACTIONS TO WWII. THERE ARE A COUPLE OF CHANNELS THAT ARE REALLY GOOD AT SHOWING AND DISCUSSING THE HISTORY.
The US at that time was looking for pure retribution on the Japanese Carriers , the four Japanese carriers that were sunk at Midway were the same that participated in the Pearl Harbor attack.
Regarding the photography of the time, the cameras were actually very good. They could produce excellent images. However, the film developing technology and paper was well behind today’s standard. Thus, a lot of really good photographs from WW II are now being produced using modern developing techniques with the original film negatives.
It was due to the major loss of these 4 Japanese carriers that they started to convert the 3rd Yamato-Class Battleship the Shinano to be a carrier. Making her the Shinano-Class Carrier. She was a Super carrier and the largest carrier of the time. The Shinanos story is a sad one too. I think this channel has a video on her too.
What is lost in this account? Is that the Japanese also lost all of those pilots and their planes because they had no place to land their planes when they rub in the air at the end.It was a very dangerous thing to do for the pilots.The Japanese did not recover from losing all of these pilots because. But they didn't have a program in place to use their pilots to train newer pilots as United States had.
my uncle was an airplane mechanic in this battle. he would never talk about it. sometimes i feel like the humbleness of that generation is a bit of a shame.
My grandfather was a WWII, Korea, and Vietnam veteran. my dad said he never really talked about it which I fully understand. He died in the late 80s when I was about maybe 4 years old. I only have 1 faint fuzzy memory of him. It was him laying on a hospital type bed in the back room of my grandparent's house. He had a box of toy cars under the bed and I was playing with them and I wanted to keep them. I think he or my dad told me that those cars are for all the grandchildren to play with when they come to visit. Those memories flashed back into my head when I was about 5 or 6 years old visiting my grandmother and seeing this one picture of him and my grandmother on the wall.
The Cruiser Mogami was a bit of a jinx to be honest in the earlier battle of the Sunda Striat she had fired Torpedos at two allied cruisers (HMAS Perth and USS Houston) only to miss them and hit four Japanese troop transports and a mine sweeper which she was meant to be protecting, one of which had the commander of the army's invasion force on board, Mogami had single handedly done more damage to her own side on accident then the allies had done on purpose during the whole battle.
Nagumo had punched out by this time and Yamaguchi was given his head. Inasmuch as he was a swashbuckling Samari "wannabe", his obvious reaction would be to charge in to try a "save the day", save the honor of the Navy by snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Spruance was exactly NOT that realizing that and by sailing east for three hours it allowed him to judge the efficacy of engaging in any more combat. Yamaguchi charged in to either win or commit Hari Kiri with Hiryu. Spruance allowed him to.
To this day the US has the most powerful Air Force in the USAF . The second most powerful Air Force in the US Navy air fleet . The US Navy has eleven fleet carriers , more than every other natiion's navies combined in hull numbers , firepower , and tonnage .
This battle took place in 1942, not 1925. It was 81 years ago not nearly 100. Anther thing the Americans did much better than the Japanese was to rescue men. This was important especially due to rescue of many downed pilots. America could easily replace planes but it took much longer to replace trained air crews. Later in the war Japan had lost most of its experienced pilots and the American flyers shot down their less experienced foes with ease. Japan's last resort was to train young men to take off and crash their planes into American ships.
not only does losing all your carriers a financial loss, but more importantly, it completely destroyed their ability to have any air attack, or air support capability, and without having control of the air, you are doomed...
A really good reaction. All war and loss of life is tragic. What should be remembered is that the Japanese committed horrendous atrocities against the Chinese, the British, the Filipinos, and the Americans. We should carry no grudges now, but if you decide to study the conflict of WW II, keep in mind the brutality of the Japanese. The Americans were so affected that they committed their own atrocities against an enemy that refused to surrender. May we all eventually enjoy peace.
The 5 destroyers that were escorting her stayed by _Yorktown's_ side until the very end. When she finally succumbed to her wounds in the dawn of June 7th, 1942, she fell into her grave under the salutes of every sailor on the destroyers, who stood like solemn sentinals, their colors lowered to half mast. The men sorrowfully but faithfully manned the rails and held their attention, paying their final respects to the gallant carrier, the first and nameship of her class who came through for her country when it desperately needed her despite her damage from Coral Sea. One sailor wrote, "Waltzing Matilda had seemed as much a great lady as a great ship to many of her crewmen, and her death throes at 0600 seemed almost human. She uttered a sighing sound and rolled over, her tumbling loose gear making a death rattle. Then she sank in two thousand fathoms..."
Now that you know a lot more about the the battle of midway, it's time to rewatch that movie. Midway. The 1976 version. Among other things, that movie is a who's who of Hollywood back then. I don't know about the 2019 version.
@2:12 IMO, Hiryu was proceeding with the fleet because otherwise, it would have to take some of the destroyers with it as anti-submarine escorts - thus weakening the surface action force.
8:39 At this time of the war, battleships were considered still the main force of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The aircraft carriers were only considered as vanguard before the battleships' main strike. So in the Japanese commanders' mind, they lost their powerful vanguard, but their main battle fleet is still intact and capable of taking Midway island.
People that think Japan Only used kamikaze It’s mean they never study about this war properly They lose because they don’t have Enough Resource to make more weapon like American did .
I saw the movie when it first came out. It featured a new audio technology called "sensurround" which had multiple large speakers in the movie theater. The sound just BOOMED. It felt like you were in the battle.
Meh. My thoughts on this as an American? I'm glad the battle played out the way it did. But I'm also glad we could help rebuild Japan after the war. I bear no ill will to the sins of prior generations.
Actually the Captain going down with their ship comes from, I think, The battle between Great Britain and Spain. There was a captain that refused to leave his ship and it just became a thing to do when your ship goes down as a captain. I wish I could remember which captain and exactly which war. But it was before WW2 that was considered an honor of the Captain to do.
Midway was the turning point of the war in the Pacific. U.S.⚓💯✨ Repairing the Yorktown after the Battle of the Coral Sea was estimated at 90 days .One day ahead of schedule, on May 27, the Yorktown limped into Pearl Harbor. The next morning, after Nimitz had cut orders voiding the safety rule of spending a day purging her tanks of stored aviation fuel, the Yorktown eased into Drydock Number One. The caissons closed behind her, and pumps began draining out the water. With at least a foot of water still remaining in the drydock, men in waders gathered to inspect the hull. One of them was Nimitz. After staring at the burst seams and other damage on the hull, Nimitz turned to the technicians and said, “We must have this ship back in three days.” After a long silence, hull repair expert Lt. Cmdr. H. J. Pfingstag gulped and said, “Yes, sir.” At 11:00 a.m. on May 28, Drydock Number One was flooded and the Yorktown was towed into the harbor with workmen still busy aboard. On the morning of May 30, more patched than repaired but fit enough to fight, Yorktown steamed out of Pearl Harbor. With an air group composed of aircraft from three carriers, Yorktown sped to a rendezvous with the Enterprise and Hornet at “Point Luck” to participate in one of the most decisive battles in naval history. The four Japanese fleet carriers-Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū, and Hiryū, part of the six-carrier force that had attacked Pearl Harbor six months earlier-were sunk, as was the heavy cruiser Mikuma. Our CODEBREAKERS 👏👏👏ʸᵉᵃʰᵎᵎ े ̡̡ ⍤⃝ ̢̢ेे ꒳ᵒ꒳ᵎᵎ ‼
I have always been interested in this type of content. When I was in school the early 1990's I did a research paper on the Battle of Midway and I sure didn't have access to as much information as there is available now.
Very good conclusion video to the battle of Midway I watch everything I can get my hands on about this naval engagement as it was so pivitol for changing the tide of war in the pacific theater. --- hey ya'll should do video on the Alamo it was quite last stand -- something American and Texan and just crazy to hear how these Texans gave their lives for the freedom of their new found country. Oh and looking good Millie can't wait till your gonna be a mom for the first time.
Why did Adm. Yamamoto persist in thinking that he could win? Probably the reports he received were inaccurate. The Japanese were notorious for inflating victories, and minimizing failures to their commanders. If you watch anything about the Battle of the Philippine Sea, commonly known as "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot", where the IJN lost almost all of their air power, their reports talked about how many enemy planes were shot down, and how many ships that they sunk. They sunk NO ships, and of the 373 Japanese planes that were involved in the attack, only 100 made it back to their carriers. An additional 50 IJA (land based) planes were destroyed. The US lost only 29 planes. The Imperial Japanese based their future plans upon thinking that the US Fleets were decimated.
The purpose of "the captain goes down with the ship" is to force the captain to make the best decisions for the ship, and not take unreasonable risks. If they've got an out, then they're going to risk the ship more. If their life = the ship's life, they're going to make the best decisions for the ship they possibly can. It's a matter of incentive alignment.
Remember the US only had 4 carriers in the Pacific at the time an now they'd lost another one. They were heavily out gunned but the leadership was Very aggressive
“They put up a good fight”. And that’s why America knows USS Yorktown by another name, The Fighting Lady. Defiant till the end. Sadly, USS Northampton would meet the same fate as Hamman at Santa Cruz. Sinking with Hornet as she tried to save her. After this, Enterprise, also known as Big E, Lucky E, and The Grey Ghost, would be forced to fight Japan. Without her sisters. She’d held the line in the Pacific for close to a year until the Essex class carriers were complete. Her vendetta against the nation that took so much from her was so strong, her crew would place a big sign above her flight deck. In large, bold letters it read: ENTERPRISE VS JAPAN.
Part of the Japanese issue with damage control is that, unlike the Americans, didn't use the practice of removing fuel from fuel lines and filling those same lines with CO²
You guys should consider doing a reaction on one of the YT videos that shows charts of a total breakdown of the COMPLETE total number of lives lost by ALL countries that fought during all of WWII from beginning to end including military as well as civilian and the holocaust and more - the number of lives lost is absolutely staggering, figures include all of europe, Russia, the US, Britain and other countries - more lives lost in WWII than in any other military engagement in human history.
The captain going down with the ship is a matter of honor, the Japanese held their honor above most other things, same reason they took their own lives before surrender. The Japanese willingness to kill themselves was a major blow to their ability to maintain skilled fighters, especially their use of kamikaze pilots. A skilled warrior is far more valuable than a bunch of untrained conscripts, we've seen it all throughout history.
Mrs. Beesley, I understand your sadness as it pertains to the loss of men in these battles but with that said, none of these people would have been lost if Japan hadn't attacked Pearl Harbor. The US was just fine with the European war front, but Britain was hanging in the balance receiving daily homeland attacks from the Germans. So the US involvement in the European war was necessary.
100 years ago. Imperial Japan insisted on behaving like an evil empire on the warpath. Nearly 100 years of peace, no WW3. Anytime America gets accused of acting like an evil empire.. I can’t help but think “compared to what empire?” Compare America to any empire throughout human history… if any of those empires had the strength of America, how would they have used it? America is a global superpower and it generally wants to just go home and stay home.
Watch the videos showing America's industrial might. Capitalism was arguably the most important weapon that won America the war. By the end of WW2, we were out producing Germany and Japan on guns, tanks, ships, planes.. etc 5 to 1.
Don't waste any tears on the Japanese losses. They would kill prisoners of war that they captured. The navy supported the army who were well known to rape and kill. I am old enough to have worked with WW2 veterans and many still had a hatred of the Japanese for the things they had seen during the war. The Battle of Midway was the beginning of the end of terror in the pacific.
There doesn't seem to be an explanation of why closing the distance was such a blunder. It was because the Japanese planes could far out range the US planes. So keeping the Hiryu outside of the range of US planes would have meant he could hit them all day & the US didn't have the range to strike back . . . I theory anyway. There were other ways but it was a blunder on Nagumo's part.
In a way Japan did the US a favor by sinking all our battleships. It kept the "Battleship Admirals" from interfering with the proper use of the aircraft carriers. There was one when told that we had sunk all the carriers used in the Pearl Harbor attack, he said something along the of lines of, see I told you that aircraft carriers nothing but expensive toys. What his opinion about them after the war, I don't know.
@@TheLastSane1 I'm talking about real active duty US Navy Admirals that wouldn't believe that the battleship was no longer the most dangerous warship around.
I'm distubed that you keep making references to how much the ships cost and that being a consideration for how they were employed. It was never about the value of the equipment. It was all about winning the war, no matter what it took. Also, I thought i heard you say that this battle was 100 years or so ago? In 1925? No, no, no, this took place on June 4, 1942. Did I hear wrong?
No they are just rounding up. They are saying "It was like a hundred years ago" and well it was 81 years ago, so rounding from 8 to 10 is pretty common. It was nearly a hundred years ago.
It's a real shame that society has changed so much that the Beesleys feel compelled to show compassion to an enemy that started a brutal war and killed so many good men, women, and children. The Japanese were brutal in the same way the Germans were. This is not a condemnation of the Beesleys. I enjoy watching y'alls reactions. It's a comment on the society that we live in compared to the society of that era. This was a time when you could look evil in the face, stare it down, and punch it in the nose. In today' society we allow evil to exit because we're too afraid to offend someone. Unfortunately, people have such short memories that we forgot how it all began to start with. Fascism and evil dictator bent on world domination have not ceased to exist. Instead, it went underground and now controls the politics of the entire planet through the world wide banking system. The same policies used to control entire countries then is being played out across the planet INCLUDING the USA. Before anyone criticizes that statement as wacko conspiracy theory, I encourage you to do some research into the inter-war period of the 1920's and 1930's. The similarities are shocking.
I mean if the US and other nations had not cut off all oil trade to Japan Pearl Harbor would not have happened either, so is the US responsible for the attack? According to you yes. And really it comes down to realizing that not all soldiers are evil, they are just following their orders and doing what they are raised and told to do. We have US soldiers who murdered and tortured many innocents just recently during the War of Terror we had soldiers intentionally target civilians, children, the elder simply because it gave them a thrill to kill someone and know they would never get in trouble for it. The Us commits warcrimes regularly and yet I have no doubt you would have a problem with every US soldier being painted as a warcriminal and baby murderer.
@TheLastSane1. As an old vet, I can assure you that US soldiers take great pains to ensure the safety of civilians in a combat zone. Unfortunately, the enemy we've been fighting has no problem using civilians as human shields. Often the measures they take to ensure the safety of civilians, results in greater risk to their own safety and security. It's important to remember who the aggressor is and the culture these oppressive religious fanatics come from. We didn't start this war. Japan is very similar. During the Meiji Era of the late 1800's and early 1900's the Japanese government adopted the Shinto version of Buddhism and adopted a more aggressive view in which it believed it was racially superior to those peoples it sought to rule over. Like all religious governments it first insisted that it's populace conform to the dictates of the official State religion. During this time period, military factions assumed a dominant role in Japanese politics. Then WWI happened and Japan joined the allied effort against the Axis powers. After the war, when it came time to divvy up the spoils, France and Britain short changed Japan, which felt slighted as a result. Japan was looking to expand its influence in the region and its territory so that their economy would continue to grow and transform according to Western standards and ability. Since the old European Empires wished to protect their interest and refused to recognize Japanese desires to become a leader in world politics and economics, the Japanese walked out of the League of Nations. Afterwards they aggressively pursued conquest in Asia and the South Pacific which were rich in the resources and minerals Japan needed to accomplish this task. The reason the US cut off oil to Japan was because of this Jap[anese expansion into China and the South Pacific, in which it committed vicious crimes against civilians with the intent of committing those crimes so that Japanese people could then occupy conquered areas. They intentionally targeted civilians, children, and the elderly. They intentionally enslaved the populace. They intentionally killed children. They intentionally murdered the elderly. They intentionally suppressed other religions and persecuted their followers. Just as in that time period, a religion is being used for the purpose of expansion. Radical Islam kills those who refuse to conform to their dictates. They give no thought to the pain and suffering of those they seek to rule over. The US and most Western governments intentionally make an effort to mitigate civilian hardships in war. This isn't to say that hardships don't occur. This isn't to say that those who suffer hardships are not suffering. War is a result of mankind's unwillingness to respect the rights of others at the expense of our own desires. The truth of the matter is that generally, civilian populations support the decisions of their governments. Whether you agree with it or not, governments can't conduct war without the support of the civilian population. During WWII the US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Japan knew this to be true. Civilians were targeted to impact weapons production, logistical support, and infrastructure. Governments have a responsibility to their own people first before that of other nations. Now, if you wish to discuss the general inhumanity of war, we can do that in a separate discussion, but to say that US soldiers "kill" for the "thrill" is not factual.
@@joelhefner9897 Iraq didn’t attack us so that’s straight up false. The Saudis attacked us and we bombed the fuck out of every nation but them. Sell that stupid elsewhere
14:33 This might be a REALLY dumb question, but could these guys not jump off the ship with floatation devices or on life boats and try to stay alive? Even if it meant being picked up by enemies, I think I’d rather stay alive, or try to stay alive. Obviously I have NO clue what was going through the guys minds, but I feel like I would have wanted to float in the water and fight like hell to try and live. Don’t be mean to me in the comments, I’m just asking if trying to stay alive was even an option of a thought for these people.
I think when explosions are happening and water is gushing in those very large ships, a lot of people will die before even having a chance to jump overboard.
Well as with the Hammond you have depth charges going off in the water, thats gonna kill any human, fish, or whatever in the water. Bombs that missed would also go off in the water causing damage. This is what is called a "Damaged Near Miss" it did light damage but didn't hit the ship but anyone in the water was super dead. But that was all not the real danger of jumping off. Watch Titanic when the ship goes under it create a vacuum and will pull under anything on the surface. So anyone near the ship when it sinks is gonna go down with it. Also remember these decks for the Japanese were about 43 feet off the water hitting water is not gonna feel good at that height, likely wouldn't kill you but hurt a lot and might knock you out which could lead to drowning. The ships were moving at about 40mph, so not super fast but you are still gonna lose the ship real quick and then you run the risk of getting pulled into the back of the ship. It was an option but it was also a real risk of being killed or abandoned out to sea. As one or a few people would be easily missed by allies coming to look for her. Most cases of a ship picking up survivors is when the damaged ship is stopped and the rescue ship pulls in close and allows the sailors to swim to them. Trying to find handfuls of sailors across the open sea is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
I may have misheard you but i think you said "1920s" and it was 100 years ago. Your math is correct but timeline is off. WWII was late 1930s-mid 1940s. The battle of midway was early June of 1942. Making it 81 years ago.
I must be tripping. I could've sworn there was a part in the video where they said some of the Japanese went back and convinced the Captain to leave with them, and he had tied himself to the front of the ship but did leave. Am I wrong? Am I getting this story mixed with a different one?
1925??????? Don't you know when WW2 happened? The Americans entered the war after the Pearl Harbor attack on 12/7/1941. The war ended in 1945. 1925?????? C'mon dude.
Its awful but i dont have sympathy for them in the slightest. You cant garner anything from me after attacking a country that you're not at war with and killing thousands. I know its an awful way to think but its how i feel
@@AMacLeod426 Clearly not if they think that taking clear pictures would be a difficult thing to do at that time! Photography was invented in 1822 and was widespread by the 1850s. So even in 1922 it would have been quite well developed! So no they don't have a clew!
Before being attacked, the US carriers were able to empty all fuel lines and fill them with Carbon Dioxide. All ordinance (ammunition, etc.) was stored in armored compartments. Every sailor was trained in damage control.
Kurita would play another important role later in the war as admiral of Japan's Center Force that engaged with the US' Taffy 3 only to be sent into retreat. The Yamato that Kurita was on outweighed the entirety of the Taffy 3 task force combined. Really a David vs Goliath battle and the heroics of the Americans still captivate people to this day
Enjoyed the reaction. At one point when you were talking about how good the photo's were it sounded like you said in the 1920's. This battle took place in the 1940's. Not trying to roast you just making sure you had the right info. Looking forward to you finding out what the American's knew before the battle.
Yeah,I think he was saying 1925 as military time
The US was as determined to sink the Japanese fleet as Britain was to sink the Bismarck.
Beesleys: Great reactions. As a retired career Marine and historian I can tell you it is refreshing to get your reactions and comments. The Battle for Midway was the turning point in the Pacific War. One note not discussed was how the Japanese honor code also led to their defeat. Many senior military leaders chose “death” before cultural “dishonor”. As mentioned during this video, the Admiral and his senior staff went down with the ship. Keep in mind this is still early in the war. This behavior was repeated over and over again during the war. Senior Japanese Army leaders chose the same fate instead of retreat or surrender. By wars end very few experienced senior officers were left to fight the war.
Yeah, it's tough to learn from your mistakes when you end yourself for making those mistakes.
My great grandfather's childhood friend was amoung the 55 that went down with the Yorktown. At the time, my grandfather was a POW in Bataan and didnt find out until the end of the war. As someone who had to deal with a ton of BS in his life, living through the Jim Crowe era and all the hardship that came with it, I think that was still the worst moment of his life. He said thinking about Daisy (My great grandmother) and collecting the $5 his friend owed him was what got him through the day while in prison. He also knew a few people who were possibly killed by US and UK bombers while aboard Japanese "Hell Ships". A really hard and rarely talked about aspect of WWII.
Respect to your grandfather. Anyone who survived Bataan makes iron look soft.
God bless ur great grandfather and all our brave veterans we loss through the whole war we greatly appreciate his service along with all the other brave souls we owe our freedom to all those who served to protect our country we r blessed to have men like ur great grandfather protecting us I thank them all for there service much appreciation and respect to our veterans 🇪🇺🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲
Not to be rude or anything but what is your name?!😂
Rear admiral Yamaguchi choosing to go down with the Hiryu is from an old maritime tradition that dictates the captain will always be the last person to leave his ship if it is sinking, and if unable to evacuate everyone else first he will not make an effort to save himself even if he can.
Throughout history you will also find countless examples of captains choosing to go down with their sinking ships even after everyone else on board has safely abandoned and he has ample opportunity to do so himself, either out of honor or connection to the ship or the sea.
This all should go double for the Japanese, whose culture is honor bound and won't stand the shame of defeat, which also explains why many of Yamaguchi's staff elected to stay with him.
I could've sworn there was a part where he says some of the Japanese went back and found him tied to the front of the ship and convinced him to leave with them.
I don't know if I'm remembering things completely wrong, or if I'm getting it mixed up with another story, or if I read it in the comment section of another video.
Meanwhile, the US Navy encouraged officers to save themselves rather than needlessly throw away the huge investment that had been made to prepare them for command. Do everything you can to save the crew and the ship, but if the ship is doomed, just let it sink. By the end of the war, the Navy was having some trouble because they were building ships faster than they could train admirals.
@@MWSin1eah in the military going down with your ship is just dumb, do all your duties & everything you can but if it’s gonna sink get tf outa there. We can give you a new ship, we can’t give you a new life. Call it honor whatever bs you want to in the military that’s just stupid
I have studied WWII most of my life, and The battle of Midway, while both decisive and pivotal, some things must be taken into account, the Kido Butai was a force of absolute professionals and was 15 years in the making, these men were the very best at Naval warfare on the planet in that time period, the U.S. however, like most of the rest of the world, (EXCEPT JAPAN) viewed aircraft carriers as incidental and support craft for the main fleet of battleships, and WHEN the U.S. got a very valuable piece of information, but neither the resources or experience to fully capitalize on it, Admiral Nimitz was forced to to send his NEWEST and least experienced crew to participate in this fight at Midway (U.S.S. HORNET) alongside an experienced veteran (U.S.S. ENTERPRISE) and a forced and partially repaired but battle battered veteran (U.S.S. YORKTOWN) against a force that was far better equipped, had lifetimes worth more experience, and had every advantage that anyone could hope for at the beginning of this fight, if you boil down the minute by minute actions/reactions, decisions/counter decisions, and sheer timing, both missed and benefited from on BOTH sides, on paper, the Japanese should have not only decisively won the Battle of Midway, but should have utterly destroyed ALL that was left of the Pacific fleet, it was sheer luck of timing and pure courage of a few men, that changed the course of the war and human history, replacing the Kido Butai could not happen quickly if at all, as stated in the video, the equipment, could have been replaced in a few years, but the MEN that made it work so efficiently and effectively, was something that likely could never be replaced, IF Japan had indeed succeeded at Midway, Hawaii would have fallen in months and the war would have lasted another year, maybe longer, and cost another 3 or 4 million more lives, Japan was never going to beat the U.S. in WWII, and neither was Germany, although MOST people think it is the battles that win wars, it really is not, when looking through history, at every major military campaign, victory has rarely been decided by the men and women that are doing the actual fighting, it is the manufacturing of the tools of war is what determines the winner, Both Germany and Japan KNEW that conquering the United States of America is IMPOSSIBLE, and reaching the factories that was producing the tools of war COULD NOT be accomplished unless one or both invaded the continental United States either alone or simultaneously, both of them KNEW that doing this would speed up the end of the war as they would both be humiliatingly defeated by the heaviest armed civilian population on the planet, and the conquest of both countries would have been very swift if such plans were ever seriously considered, Admiral Yamamoto even said that the Japanese Empire could never win a long war against the United States, he KNEW that IF Japan was to win a war against the United States, he had to have that done within 6 to 9 months, he would not have one second longer than that, he estimated that after 9 months of time, the industry of the U.S. would be sufficiently online and producing the tools of war that nothing would be able to stop it, but he made a critical error in that thought as well, he was right in the fact that the factories in the U.S. were in fact able to outproduce the entire planet, he mistakenly thought that it would take up to 9 months to get them all up to full production of two 8 hour shifts 5 days a week, when in fact, in just 60 days, they were up to three 8 hours shifts a day 7 days a week,
When it gives the number of people taken down with the ship, Its including the whole number of people who died during the battle from the ship, Its not that they left 800 people on the ship when they sunk it.
I just love the fact about how much a beast the Yorktown was. She had to be attacked three different times in order for her to sink. If I were a sailor watching the Yorktown go down, I would have saluted her the whole time until she disappeared into her resting place.
That's exactly what happened. The 5 destroyers that were escorting her stayed by _Yorktown's_ side until the very end. When she finally succumbed to her wounds in the dawn of June 7th, 1942, she fell into her grave under the salutes of every sailor on the destroyers, who stood like solemn sentinals, their colors lowered to half mast. The men sorrowfully but faithfully manned the rails and held their attention, paying their final respects to the gallant carrier, the first and nameship of her class who came through for her country when it desperately needed her despite her damage from Coral Sea. One sailor wrote, "Waltzing Matilda had seemed as much a great lady as a great ship to many of her crewmen, and her death throes at 0600 seemed almost human. She uttered a sighing sound and rolled over, her tumbling loose gear making a death rattle. Then she sank in two thousand fathoms..."
Its crazy when you really think about how the Yorktown played suck a major roll in the battle.
She was Badly damaged at the Coral Sea and limped back to Hawaii to be fixed to mostly operational within a short period of time. Then during the battle she got attacked not once but twice and was still standing. It was only pretty much after the battle was over that the Yorktown and Hammann hit nd sunk a single submarine. The USS Hammann was there giving Yorktown auxiliary power. Even then after that attack the Yorktown didnt go down right away. The Yorktown was a fighter that didnt go down easily.
One of the worst thing about old school Japanese military forces back then is they were still entrenched in the thousand+ year old idea that they must not "lost face" by losing in battle - you were either victorious or you fought to the last man and died trying - noble but not practical in modern warfare. This led them into bad tactical decisions at times and sometimes resulted in losses, but to their credit they were of the school that you never give up, unfortunately they never learned about tactical retreat and returning to fight another day. This was why if a Japanese pilot missed his mark with a bomb, or they just plain ran out of options they resulted to Kamikazee attacks with the plane becoming the bomb and the pilot sacrificing himself in the process, it was considered an honor to die for the emperor - but a trained pilot was lost in the process.and it was considered acceptable.
The Titanic's captain went down with the ship.
It was said that he was last seen on the balcony overlooking the front of the ship submerging before elhe eventually walked back into the wheelhouse.
One thing to keep in perspective is that the Yorktown was built originally as a Battle-cruiser. It had been re-worked into a carrier, but alot of the spaces below deck and below the waterline were built more strongly than a comparable carrier of its time.
That's incorrect. Yorktown was a purpose built carrier, and she and her sisters Enterprise and Hornet's designs were an upscaled version of USS Ranger CV-4, the US's first purpose made flattop. You're probably mistaking her for her predecessors, USS Lexington CV-2 and USS Saratoga CV-3, who were indeed converted battlecruisers.
Fun fact, the YorkTown is now a part of The second largest navy in the world, America’s museum ships. She can be found floating high at patriots point in America.
Yeah the second Yorktown is a museum ship. CV-5 was sunk, but CV-10 was decommissioned in 1947
Prime Minister Winston Churchill after the Battle of Midway is quoted as saying:
“This memorable American victory was of cardinal importance, not only to the United States but to the whole Allied cause...At one stroke, the dominant position of Japan in the Pacific was reversed."
And also:
"The annals of war at sea present no more intense, heart-shaking shock than this battle, in which the qualities of the United States Navy and Air Force and the American race shone forth in splendour. The bravery and self-devotion of the American airmen and sailors and the nerve and skill of their leaders was the foundation of all."
Historian and author Walter Lord who wrote the book, Incredible Victory: The Battle of Midway is quoted as saying:
“They had no right to win. Yet they did, and in doing so they changed the course of a war...even against the greatest of odds, there is something in the human spirit -- a magic blend of skill, faith and valor -- that can lift men from certain defeat to incredible victory."
His quote on Midway is on the WWII Memorial in Washington DC.
can't wait for the last part to come out, enjoying this series alot! Amazing video.
19:26 its often forgotten how many men are on a ship, an Army Battalion is around 300 to 800 men (depending on role and nation) so just on the Hiryu alone the Japanese lost a battalion's worth of men wiped out and the total of over 3,000 is around brigade size and these were when the ships didn't sink with the crews still on board so the men had at least a change to get off without being sucked under with the sinking ships and they had ships near by to rescue survivors so the odds of survival were actually quite good.
When HMS Hood sank with 1,415 men on board, thats about 3 to 5 Battalions wiped out most of whom were sucked under with the ship and when her killer Bismarck went down with around 2,006 men thats another 6 to 7 battatalion worth of men and those men sadly had no rescue due to the circumstances at the time, that was two ships and the only ones lost in that Operation.
To give further context in the later Guadalcanal campagin in the first naval battle, the Battle of Savo Island the US and Australian Navies lost as many men in one night as the US marines lost in the whole 6 month campagin, the US Navy would have to fight 6 large naval battle at Guadalcanal reaching 5 times the losses the US Army and Marines would.
Everytime I watch one of these I just can't resist going "I know something you don't know". Childish yes, but I've been interested in these battles for decades.
Oh, I can't wait till they get to that part!
The whole Pacific theater was chocked full of legendary events, yet you have to keep in mind that if just a few small things happened differently the outcomes could be drastically changed. Even things as simple as a typo in a spotting report have major impacts on an entire engagement. The heroics, the resolve, the sacrifice, the courage. As ugly as war is, you can't help but marvel at the amazing people, and events on both sides that shaped the outcome.
Years ago, I flew these missions in a video game called Heroes of the Pacific. It was very hard to even make it within range of the Japanese ships without getting tore up by Zeroes, and if you did make it, getting a torpedo on target was very hard. I resorted to dive bombing, and got a pretty good idea what screaming straight down towards a ship firing AA at you, to release a bomb, and then pull out at the last minute, only to have to make an escape….was like. I’d highly suggest it if u can get your hands on it.
After you completing this trilogy of videos I would recommend watching "The Battle of the Coral Sea 1942: The First Aircraft Carrier Battle in History" which goes into detail of The Battle of Coral Sea mentioned a few times in these videos.
I believe they did another video from the US perspective. It is great because you learn why the US aircraft carriers were where they were and if I'm remembering correctly it also talks a bit about the state of damage the Yorktown received at Coral Sea and the repairs they did to it in Hawaii.
I AM SO GLAD THAT AT YOUR AGE YOU ARE REMEMBERING AND BRINGING UP THE HISTORY OF WWII. ITS A HISTORY THAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE FULLY EDUCATED ABOUT. THEY DON'T KNOW HOW BIG OF A DEAL THAT THIS WAR WAS AND HOW IT AFFECTED ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD. IF YOU COULD PLEASE DO MORE REACTIONS TO WWII. THERE ARE A COUPLE OF CHANNELS THAT ARE REALLY GOOD AT SHOWING AND DISCUSSING THE HISTORY.
These videos are good because the records from both sides help fill in the whole story.
Thank goodness for radar.
I LOVE watching these battle videos you all share. Not because I love war or battles, I dislike that very much, but they are so educational.
The US at that time was looking for pure retribution on the Japanese Carriers , the four Japanese carriers that were sunk at Midway were the same that participated in the Pearl Harbor attack.
Regarding the photography of the time, the cameras were actually very good. They could produce excellent images. However, the film developing technology and paper was well behind today’s standard. Thus, a lot of really good photographs from WW II are now being produced using modern developing techniques with the original film negatives.
It was due to the major loss of these 4 Japanese carriers that they started to convert the 3rd Yamato-Class Battleship the Shinano to be a carrier. Making her the Shinano-Class Carrier. She was a Super carrier and the largest carrier of the time.
The Shinanos story is a sad one too. I think this channel has a video on her too.
What is lost in this account? Is that the Japanese also lost all of those pilots and their planes because they had no place to land their planes when they rub in the air at the end.It was a very dangerous thing to do for the pilots.The Japanese did not recover from losing all of these pilots because. But they didn't have a program in place to use their pilots to train newer pilots as United States had.
my uncle was an airplane mechanic in this battle. he would never talk about it. sometimes i feel like the humbleness of that generation is a bit of a shame.
My grandfather was a WWII, Korea, and Vietnam veteran. my dad said he never really talked about it which I fully understand. He died in the late 80s when I was about maybe 4 years old. I only have 1 faint fuzzy memory of him. It was him laying on a hospital type bed in the back room of my grandparent's house. He had a box of toy cars under the bed and I was playing with them and I wanted to keep them. I think he or my dad told me that those cars are for all the grandchildren to play with when they come to visit. Those memories flashed back into my head when I was about 5 or 6 years old visiting my grandmother and seeing this one picture of him and my grandmother on the wall.
The Cruiser Mogami was a bit of a jinx to be honest in the earlier battle of the Sunda Striat she had fired Torpedos at two allied cruisers (HMAS Perth and USS Houston) only to miss them and hit four Japanese troop transports and a mine sweeper which she was meant to be protecting, one of which had the commander of the army's invasion force on board, Mogami had single handedly done more damage to her own side on accident then the allies had done on purpose during the whole battle.
Mogami wanted to be on the allies side so bad
Nagumo had punched out by this time and Yamaguchi was given his head. Inasmuch as he was a swashbuckling Samari "wannabe", his obvious reaction would be to charge in to try a "save the day", save the honor of the Navy by snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Spruance was exactly NOT that realizing that and by sailing east for three hours it allowed him to judge the efficacy of engaging in any more combat. Yamaguchi charged in to either win or commit Hari Kiri with Hiryu. Spruance allowed him to.
To this day the US has the most powerful Air Force in the USAF . The second most powerful Air Force in the US Navy air fleet . The US Navy has eleven fleet carriers , more than every other natiion's navies combined in hull numbers , firepower , and tonnage .
This battle took place in 1942, not 1925. It was 81 years ago not nearly 100. Anther thing the Americans did much better than the Japanese was to rescue men. This was important especially due to rescue of many downed pilots. America could easily replace planes but it took much longer to replace trained air crews. Later in the war Japan had lost most of its experienced pilots and the American flyers shot down their less experienced foes with ease. Japan's last resort was to train young men to take off and crash their planes into American ships.
I love these videos. So interesting. Keep reviewing them. So good.
not only does losing all your carriers a financial loss, but more importantly, it completely destroyed their ability to have any air attack, or air support capability, and without having control of the air, you are doomed...
A really good reaction. All war and loss of life is tragic. What should be remembered is that the Japanese committed horrendous atrocities against the Chinese, the British, the Filipinos, and the Americans. We should carry no grudges now, but if you decide to study the conflict of WW II, keep in mind the brutality of the Japanese. The Americans were so affected that they committed their own atrocities against an enemy that refused to surrender. May we all eventually enjoy peace.
The 5 destroyers that were escorting her stayed by _Yorktown's_ side until the very end. When she finally succumbed to her wounds in the dawn of June 7th, 1942, she fell into her grave under the salutes of every sailor on the destroyers, who stood like solemn sentinals, their colors lowered to half mast. The men sorrowfully but faithfully manned the rails and held their attention, paying their final respects to the gallant carrier, the first and nameship of her class who came through for her country when it desperately needed her despite her damage from Coral Sea. One sailor wrote, "Waltzing Matilda had seemed as much a great lady as a great ship to many of her crewmen, and her death throes at 0600 seemed almost human. She uttered a sighing sound and rolled over, her tumbling loose gear making a death rattle. Then she sank in two thousand fathoms..."
Now that you know a lot more about the the battle of midway, it's time to rewatch that movie. Midway. The 1976 version. Among other things, that movie is a who's who of Hollywood back then. I don't know about the 2019 version.
@2:12 IMO, Hiryu was proceeding with the fleet because otherwise, it would have to take some of the destroyers with it as anti-submarine escorts - thus weakening the surface action force.
8:39 At this time of the war, battleships were considered still the main force of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The aircraft carriers were only considered as vanguard before the battleships' main strike. So in the Japanese commanders' mind, they lost their powerful vanguard, but their main battle fleet is still intact and capable of taking Midway island.
People that think Japan Only used kamikaze It’s mean they never study about this war properly They lose because they don’t have Enough Resource to make more weapon like American did .
There’s a 1976 movie called Midway about this battle that you may want to react to.
I saw the movie when it first came out. It featured a new audio technology called "sensurround" which had multiple large speakers in the movie theater. The sound just BOOMED. It felt like you were in the battle.
Meh. My thoughts on this as an American? I'm glad the battle played out the way it did. But I'm also glad we could help rebuild Japan after the war. I bear no ill will to the sins of prior generations.
Actually the Captain going down with their ship comes from, I think, The battle between Great Britain and Spain. There was a captain that refused to leave his ship and it just became a thing to do when your ship goes down as a captain. I wish I could remember which captain and exactly which war. But it was before WW2 that was considered an honor of the Captain to do.
Midway was the turning point of the war in the Pacific. U.S.⚓💯✨ Repairing the Yorktown after the Battle of the Coral Sea was estimated at 90 days .One day ahead of schedule, on May 27, the Yorktown limped into Pearl Harbor. The next morning, after Nimitz had cut orders voiding the safety rule of spending a day purging her tanks of stored aviation fuel, the Yorktown eased into Drydock Number One. The caissons closed behind her, and pumps began draining out the water. With at least a foot of water still remaining in the drydock, men in waders gathered to inspect the hull. One of them was Nimitz. After staring at the burst seams and other damage on the hull, Nimitz turned to the technicians and said, “We must have this ship back in three days.” After a long silence, hull repair expert Lt. Cmdr. H. J. Pfingstag gulped and said, “Yes, sir.”
At 11:00 a.m. on May 28, Drydock Number One was flooded and the Yorktown was towed into the harbor with workmen still busy aboard. On the morning of May 30, more patched than repaired but fit enough to fight, Yorktown steamed out of Pearl Harbor. With an air group composed of aircraft from three carriers, Yorktown sped to a rendezvous with the Enterprise and Hornet at “Point Luck” to participate in one of the most decisive battles in naval history. The four Japanese fleet carriers-Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū, and Hiryū, part of the six-carrier force that had attacked Pearl Harbor six months earlier-were sunk, as was the heavy cruiser Mikuma. Our CODEBREAKERS 👏👏👏ʸᵉᵃʰᵎᵎ े ̡̡ ⍤⃝ ̢̢ेे ꒳ᵒ꒳ᵎᵎ ‼
This has been a great series so far. Keep it up!
I have always been interested in this type of content. When I was in school the early 1990's I did a research paper on the Battle of Midway and I sure didn't have access to as much information as there is available now.
Mine was on Audie Murphy. I too have always been interested in it.
Very good conclusion video to the battle of Midway I watch everything I can get my hands on about this naval engagement as it was so pivitol for changing the tide of war in the pacific theater. --- hey ya'll should do video on the Alamo it was quite last stand -- something American and Texan and just crazy to hear how these Texans gave their lives for the freedom of their new found country. Oh and looking good Millie can't wait till your gonna be a mom for the first time.
Please watch World War 2 Navy Comparison - Fleets Evolution 1939-1946, It will show you all the big Naval battles in World War 2
I've been waiting to see the end of this, left on a cliffhanger.
To put into perspective how devastating this battle was Japan at the time of the battle was building 1 fleet carrier. The USA had 13 in drydock.
It was 1942 long ago but not quite a hundred years.
Yeah its a little less than 80 but at 80 rounding up to nearly 100 is fair.
Why did Adm. Yamamoto persist in thinking that he could win? Probably the reports he received were inaccurate. The Japanese were notorious for inflating victories, and minimizing failures to their commanders. If you watch anything about the Battle of the Philippine Sea, commonly known as "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot", where the IJN lost almost all of their air power, their reports talked about how many enemy planes were shot down, and how many ships that they sunk. They sunk NO ships, and of the 373 Japanese planes that were involved in the attack, only 100 made it back to their carriers. An additional 50 IJA (land based) planes were destroyed. The US lost only 29 planes. The Imperial Japanese based their future plans upon thinking that the US Fleets were decimated.
The purpose of "the captain goes down with the ship" is to force the captain to make the best decisions for the ship, and not take unreasonable risks. If they've got an out, then they're going to risk the ship more. If their life = the ship's life, they're going to make the best decisions for the ship they possibly can. It's a matter of incentive alignment.
Remember the US only had 4 carriers in the Pacific at the time an now they'd lost another one. They were heavily out gunned but the leadership was Very aggressive
“They put up a good fight”. And that’s why America knows USS Yorktown by another name, The Fighting Lady. Defiant till the end. Sadly, USS Northampton would meet the same fate as Hamman at Santa Cruz. Sinking with Hornet as she tried to save her. After this, Enterprise, also known as Big E, Lucky E, and The Grey Ghost, would be forced to fight Japan. Without her sisters. She’d held the line in the Pacific for close to a year until the Essex class carriers were complete. Her vendetta against the nation that took so much from her was so strong, her crew would place a big sign above her flight deck. In large, bold letters it read: ENTERPRISE VS JAPAN.
13:45 when you understand how important honor and tradition was to the Japanese, it makes complete sense that they’d want to go down with their ship
Well it's more of a maritime tradition for a captain to go down with the ship.
All seagoing nations of WW2 had captains and admirals going down with their ships
Part of the Japanese issue with damage control is that, unlike the Americans, didn't use the practice of removing fuel from fuel lines and filling those same lines with CO²
Thanks for sharing.
You guys should consider doing a reaction on one of the YT videos that shows charts of a total breakdown of the COMPLETE total number of lives lost by ALL countries that fought during all of WWII from beginning to end including military as well as civilian and the holocaust and more - the number of lives lost is absolutely staggering, figures include all of europe, Russia, the US, Britain and other countries - more lives lost in WWII than in any other military engagement in human history.
That’s an awesome story.
Through the first episodes, those loss numbers were just as one sided..... but the other way. God bless the bravery of those men!
Good time to watch the movie......
After watching part three of this series, you’re going to see just how truly lucky the Americans actually got in this battle
Some of it was luck. A lot of it was guts, the way the American aircrews were willing to sacrifice themselves.
It woul have been a disgrace for them to leave ... Honour is normal to them
The captain going down with the ship is a matter of honor, the Japanese held their honor above most other things, same reason they took their own lives before surrender. The Japanese willingness to kill themselves was a major blow to their ability to maintain skilled fighters, especially their use of kamikaze pilots. A skilled warrior is far more valuable than a bunch of untrained conscripts, we've seen it all throughout history.
Mrs. Beesley, I understand your sadness as it pertains to the loss of men in these battles but with that said, none of these people would have been lost if Japan hadn't attacked Pearl Harbor. The US was just fine with the European war front, but Britain was hanging in the balance receiving daily homeland attacks from the Germans. So the US involvement in the European war was necessary.
100 years ago. Imperial Japan insisted on behaving like an evil empire on the warpath.
Nearly 100 years of peace, no WW3. Anytime America gets accused of acting like an evil empire.. I can’t help but think “compared to what empire?” Compare America to any empire throughout human history… if any of those empires had the strength of America, how would they have used it? America is a global superpower and it generally wants to just go home and stay home.
This was 1942 I think; I thought I heard you say 1925.
81 years ago.
around 80 years ago - this was WWII, not WWI
If I owed you 80s dollars and you said "You owe me nearly a hundred" should I really bicker with you about it?
Yay love the vids
Watch the videos showing America's industrial might. Capitalism was arguably the most important weapon that won America the war. By the end of WW2, we were out producing Germany and Japan on guns, tanks, ships, planes.. etc 5 to 1.
Hi
You have to watch the movie Greyhound
Don't waste any tears on the Japanese losses. They would kill prisoners of war that they captured. The navy supported the army who were well known to rape and kill. I am old enough to have worked with WW2 veterans and many still had a hatred of the Japanese for the things they had seen during the war. The Battle of Midway was the beginning of the end of terror in the pacific.
There doesn't seem to be an explanation of why closing the distance was such a blunder. It was because the Japanese planes could far out range the US planes. So keeping the Hiryu outside of the range of US planes would have meant he could hit them all day & the US didn't have the range to strike back . . . I theory anyway. There were other ways but it was a blunder on Nagumo's part.
I don't recall entirely but I'm pretty sure this is explained at one point in the series, maybe the American perspective.
The Japanese didn't have that many planes left and the US had plenty for an air defense.
@@BTinSF One of the reasons the theory didn't match with reality. But turning to close the distance didn't help that at all
Don't feel too bad for the Japanese. They were more brutal than the Nazis, having çomittted unspeakable acts against civilians.
I think the Nazis could've tried to do the same but they did something similar to Poland instead.
In a way Japan did the US a favor by sinking all our battleships. It kept the "Battleship Admirals" from interfering with the proper use of the aircraft carriers. There was one when told that we had sunk all the carriers used in the Pearl Harbor attack, he said something along the of lines of, see I told you that aircraft carriers nothing but expensive toys. What his opinion about them after the war, I don't know.
Well given we have more aircraft carriers then all nations combined, guessing the actual generals thought pretty highly of them.
@@TheLastSane1 I'm talking about real active duty US Navy Admirals that wouldn't believe that the battleship was no longer the most dangerous warship around.
I'm distubed that you keep making references to how much the ships cost and that being a consideration for how they were employed. It was never about the value of the equipment. It was all about winning the war, no matter what it took. Also, I thought i heard you say that this battle was 100 years or so ago? In 1925? No, no, no, this took place on June 4, 1942. Did I hear wrong?
I think they where thinking about World War One.
@@runrafarunthebestintheworld wrog too, since WW1ended in 1918.
No they are just rounding up. They are saying "It was like a hundred years ago" and well it was 81 years ago, so rounding from 8 to 10 is pretty common. It was nearly a hundred years ago.
To be clear the battle of midway was in 1942 . Not a hundred years ago.
I think you mean 1942
The battle of Midway was in 2845 AD, not a hundred years ago.
100 years ago it bears repeating. 😅
1925?
It's a real shame that society has changed so much that the Beesleys feel compelled to show compassion to an enemy that started a brutal war and killed so many good men, women, and children. The Japanese were brutal in the same way the Germans were.
This is not a condemnation of the Beesleys. I enjoy watching y'alls reactions. It's a comment on the society that we live in compared to the society of that era. This was a time when you could look evil in the face, stare it down, and punch it in the nose. In today' society we allow evil to exit because we're too afraid to offend someone.
Unfortunately, people have such short memories that we forgot how it all began to start with. Fascism and evil dictator bent on world domination have not ceased to exist. Instead, it went underground and now controls the politics of the entire planet through the world wide banking system. The same policies used to control entire countries then is being played out across the planet INCLUDING the USA.
Before anyone criticizes that statement as wacko conspiracy theory, I encourage you to do some research into the inter-war period of the 1920's and 1930's. The similarities are shocking.
I mean if the US and other nations had not cut off all oil trade to Japan Pearl Harbor would not have happened either, so is the US responsible for the attack? According to you yes. And really it comes down to realizing that not all soldiers are evil, they are just following their orders and doing what they are raised and told to do. We have US soldiers who murdered and tortured many innocents just recently during the War of Terror we had soldiers intentionally target civilians, children, the elder simply because it gave them a thrill to kill someone and know they would never get in trouble for it. The Us commits warcrimes regularly and yet I have no doubt you would have a problem with every US soldier being painted as a warcriminal and baby murderer.
@TheLastSane1. As an old vet, I can assure you that US soldiers take great pains to ensure the safety of civilians in a combat zone. Unfortunately, the enemy we've been fighting has no problem using civilians as human shields. Often the measures they take to ensure the safety of civilians, results in greater risk to their own safety and security. It's important to remember who the aggressor is and the culture these oppressive religious fanatics come from.
We didn't start this war.
Japan is very similar.
During the Meiji Era of the late 1800's and early 1900's the Japanese government adopted the Shinto version of Buddhism and adopted a more aggressive view in which it believed it was racially superior to those peoples it sought to rule over. Like all religious governments it first insisted that it's populace conform to the dictates of the official State religion. During this time period, military factions assumed a dominant role in Japanese politics.
Then WWI happened and Japan joined the allied effort against the Axis powers. After the war, when it came time to divvy up the spoils, France and Britain short changed Japan, which felt slighted as a result. Japan was looking to expand its influence in the region and its territory so that their economy would continue to grow and transform according to Western standards and ability. Since the old European Empires wished to protect their interest and refused to recognize Japanese desires to become a leader in world politics and economics, the Japanese walked out of the League of Nations. Afterwards they aggressively pursued conquest in Asia and the South Pacific which were rich in the resources and minerals Japan needed to accomplish this task.
The reason the US cut off oil to Japan was because of this Jap[anese expansion into China and the South Pacific, in which it committed vicious crimes against civilians with the intent of committing those crimes so that Japanese people could then occupy conquered areas. They intentionally targeted civilians, children, and the elderly. They intentionally enslaved the populace. They intentionally killed children. They intentionally murdered the elderly. They intentionally suppressed other religions and persecuted their followers.
Just as in that time period, a religion is being used for the purpose of expansion. Radical Islam kills those who refuse to conform to their dictates. They give no thought to the pain and suffering of those they seek to rule over.
The US and most Western governments intentionally make an effort to mitigate civilian hardships in war. This isn't to say that hardships don't occur. This isn't to say that those who suffer hardships are not suffering. War is a result of mankind's unwillingness to respect the rights of others at the expense of our own desires. The truth of the matter is that generally, civilian populations support the decisions of their governments. Whether you agree with it or not, governments can't conduct war without the support of the civilian population. During WWII the US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Japan knew this to be true. Civilians were targeted to impact weapons production, logistical support, and infrastructure.
Governments have a responsibility to their own people first before that of other nations.
Now, if you wish to discuss the general inhumanity of war, we can do that in a separate discussion, but to say that US soldiers "kill" for the "thrill" is not factual.
@@joelhefner9897 Iraq didn’t attack us so that’s straight up false. The Saudis attacked us and we bombed the fuck out of every nation but them. Sell that stupid elsewhere
14:33 This might be a REALLY dumb question, but could these guys not jump off the ship with floatation devices or on life boats and try to stay alive? Even if it meant being picked up by enemies, I think I’d rather stay alive, or try to stay alive. Obviously I have NO clue what was going through the guys minds, but I feel like I would have wanted to float in the water and fight like hell to try and live. Don’t be mean to me in the comments, I’m just asking if trying to stay alive was even an option of a thought for these people.
I think when explosions are happening and water is gushing in those very large ships, a lot of people will die before even having a chance to jump overboard.
Well as with the Hammond you have depth charges going off in the water, thats gonna kill any human, fish, or whatever in the water. Bombs that missed would also go off in the water causing damage. This is what is called a "Damaged Near Miss" it did light damage but didn't hit the ship but anyone in the water was super dead. But that was all not the real danger of jumping off. Watch Titanic when the ship goes under it create a vacuum and will pull under anything on the surface. So anyone near the ship when it sinks is gonna go down with it. Also remember these decks for the Japanese were about 43 feet off the water hitting water is not gonna feel good at that height, likely wouldn't kill you but hurt a lot and might knock you out which could lead to drowning. The ships were moving at about 40mph, so not super fast but you are still gonna lose the ship real quick and then you run the risk of getting pulled into the back of the ship. It was an option but it was also a real risk of being killed or abandoned out to sea. As one or a few people would be easily missed by allies coming to look for her.
Most cases of a ship picking up survivors is when the damaged ship is stopped and the rescue ship pulls in close and allows the sailors to swim to them. Trying to find handfuls of sailors across the open sea is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
13:09 1925? What?
🙂👍
I may have misheard you but i think you said "1920s" and it was 100 years ago. Your math is correct but timeline is off. WWII was late 1930s-mid 1940s. The battle of midway was early June of 1942. Making it 81 years ago.
I must be tripping. I could've sworn there was a part in the video where they said some of the Japanese went back and convinced the Captain to leave with them, and he had tied himself to the front of the ship but did leave.
Am I wrong? Am I getting this story mixed with a different one?
You are mixing it up with another story but not sure which ship that was. But yeah the captain went down with the Hiryu
It's 1942 man come on they told you that
1925??????? Don't you know when WW2 happened? The Americans entered the war after the Pearl Harbor attack on 12/7/1941. The war ended in 1945. 1925?????? C'mon dude.
They're both fully aware of the correct year, as evidenced in their prior videos in this series. It's pretty clear that he just misspoke.
Weak pull out game
Its awful but i dont have sympathy for them in the slightest. You cant garner anything from me after attacking a country that you're not at war with and killing thousands. I know its an awful way to think but its how i feel
1942
For the japanese losing a big battle like the one at midway and returning home in defeat wouldve felt equal to death from the shame they would suffer.
1925? you really have no clue, do you!!!! Midway was June 4, 1942!!!!!!!!!
They're both fully aware of the correct year, as evidenced in their prior videos in this series. It's pretty clear that he just misspoke.
@@AMacLeod426 Clearly not if they think that taking clear pictures would be a difficult thing to do at that time! Photography was invented in 1822 and was widespread by the 1850s. So even in 1922 it would have been quite well developed! So no they don't have a clew!
@@mikesmicroshop4385 clue.
@@chetstevensq Yep dislexia gets me every time. :)
I think he was thinking about World War 1.
Lets go first comment :)