Chapter 12 Chapter VII The Battle of Midway

On June 4, 1942, the Battle of Midway took place.The Japanese navy, which had an advantage in aircraft carrier strength, was intoxicated by the victory at Pearl Harbor, and did not realize that the secret of our battle plan had been mastered by the enemy.As a result, we fell into the trap set by the enemy and suffered a disastrous defeat.The Battle of Midway was a decisive naval battle that changed the entire course of the Pacific War. On June 6, a sea airship of our side spotted the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown 150 miles northeast of Midway Island. The ship was sunk with an urgent order, and immediately sailed to the spot where the enemy ship was found at a speed of 21 knots.The boat spotted an aircraft carrier guarded by five or six destroyers in the east at about 1:00 on June 6.

Yi｜168 approached the ship in order to occupy a favorable attack position.It dived underwater, successfully crossed the destroyer's warning circle, and surfaced to the periscope depth.After observation, it was found that the stern of the aircraft carrier was trimmed.After a more careful observation, it was found that the aircraft carrier was being towed away.Yi｜168 finally occupied the salvo position. At 10 o'clock, that is, nine hours after the ship was discovered, Yi｜168 fired four torpedoes at it, and then heard a deafening explosion, and the crew cheered excitedly (Note: According to the materials released by the United States after the war, there are two One torpedo hit the ship, and two hit a destroyer, blowing it in two. USS Yorktown sank the next day.)

Destroyers protecting Yorktown fought back against the submarine.A few minutes after the torpedo exploded, three destroyers began attacking the submarine with depth charges.Depth charge explosions were heard inside the boat, the nearest explosion lifting the sub almost half a meter.All the lights in the boat went out.Parts of the batteries were also damaged, and poisonous chlorine gas began to be emitted.Just when everyone thought the attack was over, three more depth charges exploded near the sub, shaking the hull violently.Yi｜168, which was almost immobile due to damage, had difficulty maintaining the prescribed depth underwater.The crew immediately set about repairing the electrical lighting and isolating the damaged battery.With the water pumps not working, a submarine with a stern trim of 20° is like climbing a steep cliff.But the hope of escape still exists.Under the condition of such a large trim, the electrician must be supported by someone while working, so as not to fall.In order to balance the hull, personnel and food were transferred to the bow, but it still didn't help.Although the submarine was not fatally damaged, the damage to the battery caused the crew to panic, because after the power supply was cut off, the submarine lost the ability to sail.At this time, the main task is to isolate the damaged battery and connect the good battery.Although the crew had repeatedly practiced isolating damaged batteries, the damage assumed during the drills had never been this severe.It was almost impossible to carry out such work when the air in the boat was constantly polluted with chlorine gas and the wreck lights were very dim.But the damaged battery was eventually isolated and the lighting circuit switched on.The Master Electrician checks the work of the power circuit, well done.After the switch is turned on, the motor starts to rotate again.The submarine had hope of escape.

The enemy destroyer was still above the submarine at this time, so it was impossible to use the air compressor to avoid making a lot of noise.At this time, sea water continued to flow into the boat from the stern torpedo tube, and the compressed air for water supply and drainage had been used up.It is very dangerous to remain underwater.There is no way out but to surface and fight the enemy.When the submarine surfaced, three destroyers were found about five nautical miles away.At this time, it was reported that the electrolyte was leaking from the damaged battery, and a large number of battery packs needed to be replaced.When the destroyer spotted the submarine, it sailed towards it, and after a while opened fire on it.At this time, the submarine must have compressed air, even if it is a small amount of compressed air.But enemy shells had already landed near the submarine.Therefore, the captain decided to dive again, intending to wait for another half an hour to get rid of the enemy after dark.The enemy destroyer passed directly over the submarine, dropped a few depth charges, and left, apparently running out of depth charges.The noise of the enemy ship's propellers gradually died down and finally disappeared.The repair work in the boat was also completed, and the lights were turned on again.At 20:00, the sun had already set, and Yi｜168 surfaced, passed through the sea area illuminated by flares, and sailed westward at a speed of 16 knots back to the Japanese mainland.

What did the other submarines do at the critical moment of the Battle of Midway?According to the plan, a submarine was supposed to refuel the airship on the second reconnaissance of Pearl Harbor at the anchorage of French Frigate Atoll.But when the I|21 and I|23 submarines loaded with fuel oil and sailed to the French|Frigate Atoll in the second half of May, they found that there was already an American seaplane carrier and security ships there. I｜171, I｜174 and I｜175 were sent to the airship's route as intermediate radio communication stations to support the flight, but they didn't play much role. On May 25, these submarines reported that our activities were greatly restricted due to the extremely frequent enemy reconnaissance.The submarine remained in position until May 21, but nothing changed, so the reconnaissance of Pearl Harbor had to be called off.In this way, no information about Pearl Harbor was obtained at all.This time, the Americans rushed ahead of us and sent their own security forces to this sea area in advance.

Other schemes were similarly bankrupted. On May 25, the twelve submarines of the 3rd and 5th diving teams (I｜156, I｜157, I｜158, I｜162, I｜165, I｜166, I｜ 168, I｜169, I｜171, I｜174, and I｜175) left Kwajalin Island and took up position on the route between Pearl Harbor and Midway on 6 June, Attempt to intercept U.S. reinforcements (Note: Yi|164 did not participate in this operation, it was sunk near Kyushu on May 17.).But the enemy already knew our plan, and his task force passed near Midway ahead of schedule.In this way we could only pursue the enemy at such a distance that not a single enemy ship was spotted.Since we did not know the location of the enemy task force, all the submarines except I|168 did not play a role in the Battle of Midway.