The Battle of Midway (71 page)

5
. Hiroyuki Agawa,
The Reluctant Admiral: Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy
, trans. John Bester (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1979), 213, 225; Asada,
From Mahan to Pearl Harbor
, 250–52, 281.

6
. Jonathan B. Parshall and Anthony P. Tully,
Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway
(Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2005), 27.

7
. Prange interview of Watanabe Yasuji (Sept. 25, 1964), Prange Papers, UMD, box 17; Willmott,
Barrier and Javelin
, 43–44; Stephan,
Hawaii under the Rising Sun
, 107; Agawa,
Reluctant Admiral
, 294; Matome Ugaki,
Fading Victory: The Diary of Admiral Matome Ugaki
, ed. Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon, trans. Masataka Chi-haya (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1991), 68 (diary entry of Jan. 5, 1942).

8
. Quoted in Willmott,
Barrier and Javelin
, 79; Prange interview of Watanabe (Feb. 3–4, 1966), Prange Papers, UMD, box 17.

9
. Paul S. Dull,
A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941–1945
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1978), 108–9.

10
. Mark R. Peattie,
Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power, 1909–1941
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2001), 67–70.

11
. Dull,
Battle History
, 109–10.

12
. Donald MacIntyre,
Fighting Admiral: The Life of Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Somerville, G.C.B., G.B.E, D.S.O
(London: Evans Brothers, 1961), 179.

13
. Stephan,
Hawaii under the Rising Sun
, 485; Asada,
From Mahan to Pearl Harbor
, 184–86; Inoue Shigeyoshi, “A New Theory on the Armament Plan,” Jan. 1941, quoted in Agawa,
Reluctant Admiral
, 224–25.

14
. Willmott,
Barrier and Javelin
, 61, 64–65; Parshall and Tully,
Shattered Sword
, 32.

15
. Agawa,
Reluctant Admiral
, 294–95; Parshall and Tully,
Shattered Sword
, 32–37.

16
. Agawa,
Reluctant Admiral
, 264; Stephan,
Hawaii under the Rising Sun
, 90–91. According to Lieutenant Commander Ishiguro Susumu, Yamaguchi’s communications officer, Yamaguchi was eager to attack again and was angry when Nagumo ignored him. Ishiguro interview, Goldstein Collection, Prange Papers, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh, box 21, folder 37. I am grateful to Jon Parshall for bringing this interview to my attention.

17
. Ugaki,
Fading Victory
, 62 (diary entry of Dec. 25, 1941); Yamamoto to Navy Minister Oikawa, Jan. 7, 1941, quoted in Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon, eds.,
The Pearl Harbor Papers: Inside the Japanese Plans
(Washington, DC: Brassey’s 1993), 117.

18
. Ugaki,
Fading Victory
, 75 (diary entry of Jan. 14, 1942); Parshall and Tully,
Shattered Sword
, 28.

19
. Stephan,
Hawaii under the Rising Sun
, 109–21; Parshall and Tully,
Shattered Sword
, 33.

20
. Craig L. Symonds,
Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles that Shaped American History
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 206–7.

21
. Ibid.

22
. Parshall and Tully,
Shattered Sword
, 51; Willmott,
Barrier and Javelin
,
chapter 2
.

23
. Parshall and Tully,
Shattered Sword
, 48–51; Willmott,
Barrier and Javelin
, 81–82.

24
. Agawa,
Reluctant Admiral
, 284; Hugh Bicheno,
Midway
(London: Cassel, 2001), 73–77.

25
. The substance of this argument comes from interviews of Miyo by Robert E. Barde (January, 1966), in Barde, “The Battle of Midway: A Study in Command” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Maryland, 1971), 32–33, and of Watanabe by Gordon Prange (Feb. 3–4, 1966 and Sept. 25, 1964), in Prange Papers, UMD, box 17. See also Agawa,
Reluctant Admiral
, 295–96; Willmott,
Barrier and Javelin
, 68–71; and Mitsuo Fuchida and Masatake Okumiya,
Midway: The Battle that Doomed Japan, the Japanese Navy’s Story
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1955), 82–85.

26
. Prange interviews of Watanabe (Feb. 3–4, 1966) and (Sept. 25, 1964), both in Prange Papers, UMD, box 17.

27
. Prange interview of Watanabe (Feb. 3–4, 1966), and Miyo (May 6, 1966), both in Prange Papers, UMD, box 17; Willmott,
Barrier and Javelin
, 72.

28
. Willmott,
Barrier and Javelin
, 76.

29
. Parshall and Tully,
Shattered Sword
, 37–38.

1
. Theodore Taylor,
The Magnificent Mitscher
(New York: Norton, 1954; Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1991), 20–21. Citations are to the Naval Institute Press edition.

2
. Ibid., 20–27; 1910
Lucky Bag
, USNA.

3
. Taylor,
Magnificent Mitscher
, 30; Paolo E. Coletta,
Bald Eagle: Admiral Marc A. Mitscher and U.S. Naval Aviation
(Lewiston, NY: Mellen, 1997), 18.

4
. Mitscher to Frances Mitscher, Aug. 17, 1917, Mitscher Papers, NHHC.

5
. Coletta,
Bald Eagle
, 16, 25–30; Taylor,
Magnificent Mitscher
, 63–66.

6
. Taylor,
Magnificent Mitscher
, 78.

7
. Mitscher to Frances Mitscher, Aug. 17, 1942, Mitscher Papers, NHHC; Bernard M. Stern (1974), 47, and Stephen Jurika (April 1, 1976), 1:492–3, both in U.S. Naval Institute Oral History Collection, USNA.

8
. The shipmate was Tookies Bright; the 18-year-old helmsman was Richard Nowatski. Both are quoted in Coletta,
Bald Eagle
, 91, 108. The exchange with Gee is in Taylor,
Magnificent Mitscher
, 110–11.

9
. Taylor,
Magnificent Mitscher
, 112.

10
. D. B. Duncan to King, Feb. 4, 1942, King Papers, NHHC, Series I, box 1. At the end of Duncan’s report, King scrawled the comment: “Excellent, K.”

11
. Duane Schultz,
The Doolittle Raid
(New York: St. Martin’s, 1988), 5–10.

12
. Ibid., 17.

13
. King to FDR, March 5, 1942, King Papers, Series I, box 1, NHHC. The document is also printed as Appendix V in Thomas B. Buell,
Master of Sea Power: A Biography of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King
(Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1980), 532.

14
. Buell,
Master of Sea Power
, 532; Lowell Thomas and Edward Jablonski,
Doolittle: A Biography
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1976), 158.

15
. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle, with Carroll V. Glines,
I Could Never Be So Lucky Again: An Autobiography
(New York: Bantam Books, 1991), 28–34; Thomas and Jablonski,
Doolittle: A Biography
, 13–45; Schultz,
The Doolittle Raid
, 25.

16
. Doolittle and Gaines,
I Could Never
, 98; Dik Alan Daso,
Doolittle: Aerospace Visionary
(Washington, DC: Brassey’s, 2003), 18–21; Schultz,
Doolittle Raid
, 31–32.

17
. James A. Doolittle oral history (Aug. 3, 1987), U.S. Naval Institute Oral History Collection, USNA, 12.

18
. Henry Miller (May 23, 1973), 1:30–32; and James A. Doolittle oral history (Aug. 3, 1987), 10, both in U.S. Naval Institute Oral History Collection, USNA.

19
. Henry Miller oral history (May 23, 1973), 33.

20
. Richard Cole interview (Aug. 8, 2000), NMPW, 27.

21
. James A. Doolittle oral history (Aug. 3, 1987), USNA, 20. This story is repeated in virtually every Doolittle biography, but Doolittle seems to have told it first to Carroll V. Glines, who included it in his book
Doolittle’s Tokyo Raiders
(Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand, 1964), 53–54.

22
. Nimitz to Mrs. Nimitz, March 22, 1942, Nimitz Diary #1, NHHC; William F. Halsey, with J. Bryan III,
Admiral Halsey’s Story
(New York: Whittlesey House, 1947), 101.

23
. James A. Doolittle oral history (Aug.3, 1987), 15–16.

24
. Prange et al.,
Miracle at Midway
(New York: McGraw Hill, 1982), 111; James A. Doolittle oral history (Aug. 3, 1987), 22.

25
. James A. Doolittle oral history (Aug. 3, 1987), 31. The Japanese routinely kept all their planes on the hangar deck, bringing them up only for launching. That was one reason why they carried fewer planes on their carriers.

26
. Henry Miller oral history (May 23, 1973), 1:37; and James A. Doolittle oral history (Aug. 3, 1987), 27. Mitscher to Nimitz, April 28, 1942, Action Reports, reel 2.

27
. Clayton Fisher, “Officer and Enlisted Airmen,”
The Roundtable Forum
, April 24, 2010; Stephen Jurika oral history (March 17, 1976), 1:457; Henry Miller oral history (May 23, 1973), 1:43; James A. Doolittle oral history (Aug. 23, 1978), 15.

28
. Richard E. Cole interview (Aug. 8, 2000), 36, NMPW; Mitscher to Nimitz, April 28, 1942, Action Reports, reel 2.

29
. Richard Best interview (Aug. 11, 1995), NMPW, 23.

30
. Ibid.; Thomas and Jablonski,
Doolittle: A Biography
, 178–79; Doolittle and Gaines,
I Could Never
, 4.

31
. Halsey and Bryan,
Admiral Halsey’s Story
, 101.

32
. John B. Lundstrom,
The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1984), 148; interview of Gilbert Martin and Paul McKay (Sept. 2000), NMPW, 181.

33
. Thomas and Jablonski,
Doolittle: A Biography
, 181.

34
. James A. Doolittle oral history (Aug. 3, 1987), 19, and Stephen Jurika oral history (March 17, 1976), 1:470–71.

35
. Doolittle to Arnold, June 5, 1942, available at
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar
; Doolittle and Glines,
I Could Never
, 8; James H. Macia interview (July 21, 2000), NMPW.

36
. James A. Doolittle oral history (Aug. 3, 1987), 6.

37
. Ibid.; Doolittle and Glines,
I Could Never
, 8–9.

38
. Quentin Reynolds,
The Amazing Mr. Doolittle: A Biography of Lieutenant General James H. Doolittle
(New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1953), 209–12; Doolittle and Glines,
I Could Never
, 10–11.

39
. The propaganda is quoted in Glines,
Doolittle’s Tokyo Raiders
, 337; Watanabe’s statement is from an interview by Gordon Prange (Sept. 25, 1964), Prange Papers, UMD, box 17.

1
. Two excellent general summaries of the code-breaking wars in early 1942 are Ronald Lewin,
The American Magic: Codes, Ciphers and the Defeat of Japan
(New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1982), and John Prados,
Combined Fleet Decoded: The Secret History of American Intelligence and the Japanese Navy in World War II
(New York: Random House, 1995), Also essential are the memoirs of W. J. Holmes,
Double-Edged Secrets: U.S. Naval Intelligence Operations in the Pacific during World War II
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1979), and Edwin T. Layton, with Roger Pineau and John Costello,
And I Was There: Pearl Harbor and Midway—Breaking the Secrets
(New York: Morrow, 1985). I am indebted to William Price and Rear Admiral Donald “Mac” Showers, USN (Ret.) for their help with this chapter.

2
. Prados,
Combined Fleet Decoded
, 210–14; Layton,
And I Was There
, 29; Holmes,
Double-Edged Secrets
, 13; David Kahn,
The Reader of Gentlemen’s Mail: Herbert O. Yardley and the Birth of American Codebreaking
(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004).

3
. Layton,
And I Was There
, 32.

4
. Holmes,
Double-Edged Secrets
, 3; Layton,
And I Was There
, 33; Ronald W. Russell,
No Right to Win: A Continuing Dialogue with Veterans of the Battle of Midway
(New York: iUniverse, 2006), 38; Joseph J. Rochefort oral history (Aug. 14, 1969), U.S. Naval Institute Oral History Collection, USNA, 5.

5
. Rochefort oral history (Aug. 14, 1969), 6.

6
. John Winton,
Ultra in the Pacific: How Breaking Japanese Codes and Ciphers Affected Naval Operations against Japan 1941–45
(London: Cooper, 1993), 6.

7
. Rochefort oral history (Aug. 14, 1969), 104.

8
. Ibid., 99.

9
. Edward Layton oral history (May 30, 1970), U.S. Naval Institute Oral History Collection, USNA, 137; Frederick D. Parker,
A Priceless Advantage: U.S. Navy Communications Intelligence and the Battles of Coral Sea, Midway, and the Aleutians
(Ft. Meade, MD: Center for Cryptologic History, National Security Agency, 1993), 16.

10
. Holmes,
Double-Edged Secrets
, 16; William Price, “Why There Was a Battle of Midway,” lecture presented at the U.S. Navy Memorial, Washington, DC, June 4, 2009.

11
. Lewin,
American Magic
, 55. The example of how “east” might be encrypted is borrowed from Russell,
No Right to Win
, 28–30.

12
. Rochefort oral history (Aug. 14, 1969), 131; the decrypted message (050202) is from the Layton Papers, NWC, box 26, folder 4. See also Jonathan B. Parshall and Anthony P. Tully,
Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway
(Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2005), 60.

13
. Holmes,
Double-Edged Secrets
, 54

14
. Interview of Rear Admiral Donald “Mac” Showers by the author (May 4, 2010); Rochefort oral history (Aug. 14, 1969), 110–17, 126. Some of those who worked
with Rochefort in the “dungeon” were subsequently angered by the popular portrayal of him as weirdly eccentric, though Rochefort himself later remarked, “If you desire to be a real cryptanalyst, being a little nuts helps.” Rochefort oral history (Aug. 14, 1969), 13.