Hiryū

1942

Midway, the afternoon survivor, Yamaguchi Location: Pacific Ocean, NW of Midway Atoll · Coordinates: 31.43°N 179.14°E · Casualties: 389 · Survivors: 797 · Depth: 4,650 m · Cause: aerial attack — The only Japanese carrier to survive the American morning attack at Midway on 4 June 1942. Launched the strike that crippled USS Yorktown; caught that same afternoon by aircraft from USS Enterprise. Four bombs struck at 17:05; burned through the night and was scuttled by her own destroyers at 09:10 on 5 June. · Fate: abyssal · not located · Type: aircraft carrier · Tonnage: 17,300 tons · Crew: 1186 · Flag: Empire of Japan · Launched: 1937 Fast fleet carrier, the only Japanese carrier to survive the American morning attack at Midway on 4 June 1942; she launched the retaliatory strike that crippled USS Yorktown. Caught that same afternoon by aircraft from USS Enterprise; four bombs struck and she burned through the night, scuttled before dawn on 5 June. 389 dead, 797 survived. Rear-Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi, one of Japan's most capable carrier commanders, chose to go down with his ship. The Vessel The Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier Hiryū ("Flying Dragon") was the sister ship of Sōryū, commissioned at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on 5 July 1939. She was 228 metres long, 17,300 tons standard displacement, and carried the same air group composition as Sōryū (63 aircraft). Her one distinctive feature among Japanese carriers was the port-side island structure rather than the starboard-side arrangement standard on Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū, and subsequent Japanese carriers. Her operational service from 1939 paralleled Sōryū's through the early Pacific War. Her captain from September 1941 was Captain Tomeo Kaku, a career naval aviator, and her air group was commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Joichi Tomonaga, one of the most distinguished Japanese aviators of the early war. At Midway on 4 June 1942, Hiryū alone among the four Japanese fleet carriers survived the American dive-bombing attacks of 10:22-10:26. Her position in the starboard column, slightly to the rear of Sōryū, had placed her out of the immediate strike path of VB-3 and she had suffered no damage in the morning attack. The Disaster While Hiryū's second strike was attacking Yorktown, the American forces had identified her as the surviving Japanese carrier and had launched a strike of their own. At approximately 17:00 on 4 June 1942 the dive bombers of USS Enterprise's VB-6 and a scratch contingent from Yorktown's VB-3 (whose pilots had landed on Enterprise after Yorktown had been damaged) reached the Kidō Butai's position. The combined strike of 24 Dauntless dive bombers found Hiryū at 17:03. Four American 1,000-pound bombs struck Hiryū between 17:04 and 17:05. The first three struck her forward flight deck and forward hangar; the fourth struck her island structure. The damage pattern was similar to the other Midway carrier losses: burning aviation fuel from ruptured lines, exploding armaments on the hangar deck, progressive structural failure as the fires burned through internal bulkheads. Captain Kaku was wounded on the bridge but remained in command. Rear-Admiral Yamaguchi, as commander of the 2nd Carrier Division, decided to remain aboard the burning ship. The pattern of Japanese carrier command culture in 1942 placed strong emphasis on the senior officer going down with his ship when the ship was lost; Yamaguchi's decision was received by the surviving Japanese officers as the expected and honourable course. He refused evacuation; his last message to the fleet, transmitted by blinker signal to the destroyer Kazagumo at approximately 02:00 on 5 June 1942, was a request that the Japanese Emperor be in