A New Book on Battle of Midway

choi

James D Hornfischer, The Beginning of the End. Wall Street Journal, Nov 5, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... SJ_Books_LS_Books_8
(book review on Craig L Symonds, The Battle of Midway. Oxford University Press, 2011)

Note:
(1) This is an introduction to the book from its publisher.
http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/ge ... mp;ci=9780195397932
(2) Japanese aircraft carriers: Akagi  赤城, Kaga  加賀, Soryu  蒼龍 and Hiryu  飛龍.
(3)
(a) drivetrain (n; First Known Use 1954):
"the parts (as the universal joint and the driveshaft) that connect the transmission with the driving axles of an automobile; also : POWER TRAIN <the drivetrain warranty>"
www.m-w.com
(b) powertrain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powertrain

(4) The book review said Battle of Midway "opened the way for the first Allied offensive, the six-month fight for Guadalcanal."

Battle of Guadalcanal (Aug 7, 1942--Feb 9, 1943; Guadalcanal being the largest island in the Solomons; Result  Strategic Allied victory)  Wikipedia
(5) National World War II Memorial
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_World_war_II_memorial
(opened in 2004)
(6) perspicacious (adj): "of acute mental vision or discernment : KEEN"
(7) Chuichi NAGUMO  南雲 忠一 (1887-1944; commander of the Kido Butai 機動 部隊 (the carrier strike force) from the attack on Pearl Harbor to shortly after Battle of Midway; committed suicide during the Battle of Saipan)  Wikipedia
(8) The book reviews stated that lurking for an ambush, three American aircraft carriers "took station 325 miles northeast of Midway."

station (n):
"3: a stopping place: as a
(1) : a regular stopping place in a transportation route <a bus station>
(2) : the building connected with such a stopping place : DEPOT"

(0) The book review mentioned "Nimitz liked his chances."

chance (n): "the possibility of a particular outcome in an uncertain situation; also : the degree of likelihood of such an outcome <a small chance of success>"
(10) The book review remarked, "Tactical doctrine—the trained habits by which commanders at various levels make decisions and do things—just as often had the opposite effect to the one envisioned by its creators."

(a) tactical (adj):
"1: of or relating to combat tactics: as a
(1) : of or occurring at the battlefront <a tactical defense> <a tactical first strike>
(2) : using or being weapons or forces employed at the battlefront <tactical missiles>"

(b) tactics (n; New Latin tactica, plural, from Greek taktika, from neuter plural of taktikos of order, of tactics, fit for arranging, from tassein to arrange, place in battle formation):
"the science and art of disposing and maneuvering forces in combat"

(11) Japanese cruiser Tone (1937)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_cruiser_Tone_(1937)
(the lead ship in the two-vessel Tone-class of heavy cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy; named after the Tone River 利根川 [Tonegawa in Japanese pronunciation]; Launched 1937; Commissioned 1938; section 2.5 Battle of Midway)

The other ship in Tone-class heavy cruiser is Chikuma 筑摩 重巡洋艦, named after Chikuma River  筑摩川 (現 千曲川 but retains the same English and Japanese spellings).  

(12) Japanese destroyer Arashi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Arashi
(The Arashi ship played a vital role in World War II by inadvertently guiding US attack planes to the Japanese carrier fleet at the Battle of Midway.)
(13) The book review talked about "the US pilot who departed from his assigned patrol course and found the last surviving Japanese carrier, the Hiryu, later that afternoon."

(14) The book review alludes to "shipboard damage control."
(a) shipboard (n):
"1: the side of a ship
2: SHIP <met on shipboard>"
(b) shipboard (adj): "existing or taking place on board a ship"

(15) touch-and-go (adj) The phrase Finder (by James Briggs), Nov 9, 2003.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/25/messages/1020.html
(16) The "surpassing" in "surpassing skill" is an adjective that means
"greatly exceeding others : of a very high degree"
(17) The book review first maintained, "The surpassing skill of the American dive-bomber pilots, for example, was important, but that didn't keep 65 of them from failing to score a single hit when they all attacked a lone Japanese destroyer. Luck favors the prepared, but not with every throw of the dice.

Later the book review commented, "Mr. Symonds offers a pitilessly clear indictment of Hornet skipper Marc Mitscher and his air-group commander, Stanhope Ring, for their mismanagement and cover-up of their carrier's wayward principal air strike on June 4, the "Flight to Nowhere," which saw their dive-bombers and fighters venture forth fruitlessly over empty seas. The commander of the Hornet's torpedo-bomber squadron, John Waldron, found the target on a different heading but only after defying direct orders to join the others. The independence of the American carrier task forces, supposedly an advantage against the all-eggs-in-one-basket Japanese, in the end prevented much of the U.S. striking power from finding a target.

Both statements are about the same incident.
(a) Battle of Midway
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway
("The strike from Hornet, led by Commander Stanhope C. Ring, followed an incorrect heading of 263 degrees rather than the 240 heading indicated by the contact report. As a result, Air Group Eight's dive bombers missed the Japanese carriers. Torpedo Squadron 8 (VT-8, from Hornet), led by Lieutenant Commander John C. Waldron broke formation from Ring and followed the correct heading. Waldron's squadron sighted the enemy carriers and began attacking at 09:20, followed by Torpedo Squadron 6 (VT-6, from Enterprise) at 09:40. Without fighter escort, all fifteen TBD Devastators of VT-8 were shot down without being able to inflict any damage, with Ensign George H. Gay, Jr. the only survivor. VT-6 met nearly the same fate, with no hits to show for its effort, thanks in part to the abysmal performance of their Mark 13 aircraft torpedoes")
(b) Stanhope C Ring (1902-1963) Vice Admiral, in The Officers, USS Hornet, undated.
http://uss-hornet.org/stanhope_ring/index.shtml
("CDR Ring served as the Commander of Hornet Air Group Eight (CHAG), which consisted of 27 F4F3 Wildcat fighters, 15 TBD Devastator torpedo bombers, and 24 SBD Dauntless dive bombers.")

(A) That makes 65 planes.
(B) CDR stands for Commander (LCDR, Lieutenant Commander).
(C) VT stands for Torpedo Squadron. Why?
Chapter 1 The Evolution of Aircraft Class and Squadron Designation Systems
http://www.history.navy.mil/download/dictnry/chapter1.pdf

The following quotations are from page 3 of Chapter 1:

"Lighter-than-air types were identified by the letter Z and heavier-than-air types were assigned the letter V.

"The class letters assigned to the heavier-than-air vehicles covered a wider range and generally reflected the mission responsibilities of the aircraft classes. Class letters assigned to the V types were:
F for fighting
O for observation
S for scouting
P for patrol
T for torpedo
G for fleet (utility)

"By combining the V designation for heavier-than-air vehicles with the class letters, the following aircraft class definitions were assigned in 1920:
VF for fighting plane
VO for observation plane
VS for scouting plane
VP for patrol plane
VT for torpedo and bombing plane
VG for fleet plane (most likely a general utility aircraft)


(18) The book review referred to "a Dauntless dive-bomber."

Douglas SBD Dauntless
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_SBD_Dauntless
(The SBD was the United States Navy's main dive bomber from mid-1940 until late 1943)

SBD stands for Ship Borne Dive-Bomber.
(19) Battle of the Coral Sea (May 4-8, 1942; a major naval battle; The U.S. learned of the Japanese plan through signals intelligence)  Wikipedia

(a) Coral Sea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_Sea
(20) epigram (n; Greek epigraphein to write on, inscribe, from epi- upon+ graphein to write):
"a terse, sage, or witty and often paradoxical saying"

(21) The following sentence appears in the sidebar summarizing five previous books.

The "innoncet" in "His account is still broadly reliable if unavoidably innocent of later findings" is an adjective that means
"2b : ignorant <almost entirely innocent of Latin — C. L. Wrenn>; also : unaware <perfectly innocent of the confusion he had created — B. R. Haydon>
3: lacking or deprived of something <her face innocent of cosmetics — Marcia Davenport>"