1

May – Dec. 1942

The Tide Turns

The Battles of

Coral Sea &

Midway

2

World War II-Pacific / Unit 2 Test / Essay Section / Mr. Evers

Instructions - - Choose ONE of the following essay prompts and write it at

the top of your paper. Write a complete essay which responds to the

prompt. Your essay must include an introductory paragraph with a thesis

statement, body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. DOUBLE

SPACE YOUR ESSAY.

Essay Options (100 pts.):

1. Describe the major military and religious

beliefs associated with the Japanese Bushido

Code and its impact on the fighting in the

Pacific.

2. Discuss three key mistakes General Douglas

MacArthur made in defending the Philippines

and explain the results of those mistakes.

3

4

Admiral Isoroku

Yamamoto• wanted to attack Midway

Island (1000 miles NW of Pearl

Harbor)

5

Atoll – coral island consisting of a reef

surrounding a lagoon

6

Aerial

View of

Midway

Atoll

7

Admiral Osami Nagano,

Commander in Chief of

the Japanese Navy

• control Australia before

attacking Midway

• Australia is where the

Americans will build up forces

to attack Japan

8Battle of the Coral Sea

Tulagi Seaplane

Base (Florida

Isles)

9

Rabaul, New Britain / site of major Japanese Naval Base

10

11

Reorganization of American Naval Command after Pearl

Commander in Chief U.S. Fleet =

Admiral Ernest J. King

Commander of the Pacific Fleet =

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

Army Chief of Staff = General George

C. Marshall

King

Nimitz

Marshall

12

displacement: 33,000 tons

length: 888 feet

beam: 106 feet

draft: 24 feet 1½ inches

speed: 33.91 knots

complement: 2,111 crew

armament: 8 eight-inch and 12 five-inch guns, and 4 six-pounders

aircraft: 81

class: Lexington

USS SaratogaCommissioned 16 Nov. 1927

Used as test target and sunk at

Bikini Atoll 26 July 1946

13

USS Lexington

“Lady Lex”

Commissioned 14 Dec. 1927

Sunk 8 May 1942 in Battle of Coral Sea

displacement: 41,000 tons

length: 888 feet

beam: 105½ feet

draft: 32 feet

speed: 34¼ knots {39.68 mph}

complement: 2,122 crew

armament: 8 eight-inch and 12 five-inch guns

aircraft: 81

class: Lexington

1 knot = 1.15 miles per hour

14

displacement: 19,800 tons

length: 809½ feet

beam: 83 feet 1 inch; extreme width at flight deck: 114 feet

draft: 28 feet

speed: 33 knots

complement: 2,919 crew

armament: 8 five-inch guns, .38-cal. machine guns

class: Yorktown

USS EnterpriseCommissioned 12 May 1938

Sold July 1958

15

USS Hornet

Commissioned 20 Oct. 1941

Sunk 26 Oct. 1942 at the Battle of the

Santa Cruz Islands

displacement: 19,800 tons

length: 809 feet 9 inches

beam: extreme width at flight deck: 144 feet

draft: 21 feet 8 inches

speed: 33 knots

complement: 1,889 crew

armament: 8 five-inch guns, 16 1.1-inch guns

class: Hornet

16

USS Yorktown

Sunk in the Battle of

Midway

17

Cryptanalysts

Play a Key

Role in

Winning WWII

18

Lt. Commander

Joseph

Rochefort

Led the cryptanalysts at

Pearl Harbor

JN-25

AF

AH = Pearl

Harbor

19

Doolittle Raids (April 18, 1942)

• Only Allied success in first few months after Pearl

• 16 B-25s launched from aircraft carrier USS Hornet

• Took off from 700 miles SE of Japan

• Bombed Tokyo & many other Japanese cities

• Many crashed in China / a few pilots caught & executed

• Most crew members escaped

• ** Major psychological boost for America!!

20

21

Crash

landing

zone

The Doolittle Raid

{April 18, 1942}

16 B-25 bombers

22

Lt. Col. James Doolittle (left) and USS Hornet Commander, Captain Marc

Mitscher (right), with B-25 crews in route to Japan

23

USS

Hornet

24Hangar Deck of the USS Hornet

25

B-25 Taking Off from the Deck of the USS

Hornet in the Doolittle Raids of April, 1942

26

Four machine guns across the middle

of the nose. The 75mm cannon is

partially hidden in a 'well' low in the

nose. Four machine guns in side

'blisters' (only port-side pair visible).

Two in top 'dorsal' turret. Two in waist

positions (again only port-side shown).

Two in tail turret.

27

B-25 BomberCrew of 4-6 men. Payload up to 6000 lbs. 12 – 50 cal Browning machine guns. Some

had 75 mm canon in nose of plane. Most heavily armed aircraft of its time. Used in all

theatres for duration of war.

28

The Battle of

the Coral Sea

May 7-8, 1942

29

30

Rabaul - - most impt.

Japanese Air & Naval

Base in the South

Pacific

31Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander of the Central Pacific

32

Admiral Fletcher –

sent with carriers

Yorktown &

Lexington to stop

the Japanese from

conquering air

bases in Port

Moresby, New

Guinea.

33

Tulagi

34

Japanese

Admiral

Shigeyoshi

Inouye

A large Japanese Navy fleet

headed south from Rabaul to

Port Moresby with the carrier

Shoho.

A second, more powerful

Japanese task force which

included the carriers Zuikaku

and Shokaku came to Port

Moresby from Chuuk (Carolines

Islands).

35

36Chuuk Lagoon (back right)

37

Japanese aircraft carrier Shokaku sunk in Battle of the Coral Sea

38

American Sailors Abandoning the Sinking Lady

Lex (USS Lexington)

Battle of Coral Sea

39

40

The Battle of

Midway, 4-7

June 1942 {Turning Point in the

Pacific War}

41

Japanese

Admiral Isoroku

Yamamoto

42

Admiral Chuichi

Nagumo

43

Midway

Islands

Pearl

Harbor

Port Moresby

44

Yamamoto’s Midway Plan Tried to Do Too Much:

1) Japan would attack the Aleutian Islands {Alaska} of Attu

and Kiska to draw some American ships & planes away

from the defense of Midway.

2) Yamamoto insisted on Japanese occupation of Midway.

(Japanese troops take over the base)

3) Admiral Nagumo’s strike force was split between:

a) attacking Midway’s land based aircraft

AND

b) attacking the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

45

The Battle

of

Midway, 4-

7 June

1942

Midway Island

Jap Sub Fleet Position

46

Midway Forces of the Two Sides

Yamamoto (Japan) Nimitz (U.S.)

4 heavy carriers (Akagi, Kaga, 3 carriers

Hiryu, Soryu) 8 cruisers

2 light carriers 15 destroyers

7 battleships

15 cruisers

44 destroyers

47

Midway

Atoll

48

49

50

The Battle

of

Midway, 4-

7 June

1942

Midway Island

Jap Sub Fleet

Position

Attu Kiska

1st Japanese

Attack Fleet

2nd Jap

Attack Fleet

51

Japanese carrier Shoho attacked by American

torpedo planes

52

Douglas Devastator

Torpedo PlaneCrew: Three men

Armament: One 2000

pound torpedo or up to

1500 pounds of bombs.

Performance (with

torpedo): Maximum

Speed = 207 mph

**Problems: Very

ineffective at Battle of

Midway. 37 of 41 planes

lost at Midway in 1 hour

with no direct hits on

Japanese carriers!

Slow, weak armament,

no self-sealing fuel

tanks.

53

**Douglas SBD Dive Bomber

**America’s most powerful weapon in the war against Japan.

Sunk more ships than all other weapons combined. Especially

valuable in early stages of war - - Battles of Coral Sea and Midway.

Maximum speed = 255 mph

Range = 773 miles

Armament

2 - 0.50 in (12.7 mm) forward-firing machine guns in engine cowling

1 - 0.30 cal (7.62 mm) flexible-mounted machine gun in rear (later versions fitted with 2x machine guns of

the same caliber)

2,250 lbs of bombs

54

The Battle

of

Midway, 4-

7 June

1942

Midway Island

Jap Sub Fleet

Position

Attu Kiska

1st Japanese

Attack Fleet

2nd Jap

Attack Fleet

55Japanese carrier Soryu under heavy American attack!

56

Grumman TBF Avenger(***replaced the Douglas Devastator Torpedo

Plane)

• First used in Battle of Midway.

• Much faster than the Devastator and had

a bigger payload.

Maximum speed: 276 mph

Range = 1,000 miles (1,610 km)

Service ceiling = 30,100 ft

Armament

1 x 0.30 cal nose-mounted

(M1919 Browning machine gun)

2 x 0.50 cal wing-mounted (M2

Browning machine guns)

1 x 0.50 cal dorsal-mounted (M2

Browning machine gun)

1 x 0.30 cal ventral-mounted

(M1919 Browning machine gun)

*** Up to 2,000 lb of bombs (4 –

500 lb bombs)

OR

1 × 2,000 lb (Mark 13 torpedo)

57

Trying to repair a

bomb hole in the

deck of the

American carrier

USS Yorktown.

Battle of

Midway

58

59

USS Yorktown (Admiral Fletcher’s flagship) badly listing

after being damaged in the Battle of Midway

60

B-17

bombers

attacking

the

Japanese

carrier

Hiryu on

June 4,

1942.

61

62

Grumman F4F Wildcat

As the war continued, the U.S. manufactured better

equipment. The F4F Wildcat had almost the same

speed as the Japanese Zero.

Armament: Six .5 inch

machine guns and two 100

pound bombs

Maximum speed: 328 mph

at 21,000 feet

Ceiling: 37,500 feet

Range: 845 miles

63

Mitsubishi A6M Zero Fighter Plane

Crew = 1

Maximum speed = 331 mph

Range = 1,929 miles

Guns:

2× 7.7 mm Type 97 machine guns in the engine cowling

2× 20 mm Type 99 cannons in the wings

Bombs:

2× 132 lb bombs

64

Mitsubishi A6M Zero

Fighter

65

Picture taken on Tulagi in Solomon Islands

66Admiral Raymond Spruance became Commander of the Pacific Fleet

when Admiral Fletcher had to abandon the carrier USS Yorktown

67

The Battle

of

Midway, 4-

7 June

1942

Midway Island

Jap Sub Fleet

Position

Attu Kiska

68

The End

Battle Midway