Japan Sent Four Carriers to Midway — Then American Dive Bombers Broke Them in Five Minutes

Japan sent four carriers to Midway to destroy the American fleet — and American dive bombers broke them in five minutes. On June 4, 1942, forty-eight SBD Dauntlesses fell out of the sky above the Kido Butai and sank three carriers before lunch. Japan would never again put a carrier force of that size to sea. This 52-minute documentary covers the Battle of Midway, June 4, 1942: Admiral Yamamoto's Operation MI, Admiral Nimitz's codebreakers at Station Hypo, the freshwater ruse that confirmed the target, the Yorktown's three-day repair, the torpedo squadrons that died to clear the sky, Lieutenant Commander McClusky's gamble following the destroyer Arashi, and the five fateful minutes that sank the Akagi, the Kaga, and the Soryu. Built from after-action reports, loss tables, and squadron records — the records, not the legends. Subscribe for the definitive history of the United States in the Second World War — new documentaries every few days. 00:00:00 - 10:24: The Dive Bombers Arrive — 4 June 1942 00:01:19 - Five Minutes That Decided the Pacific War 00:03:02 - Six Months Earlier: Yamamoto's Trap 00:04:38 - The Codebreakers in the Basement 00:06:17 - Why Japan Believed Its Carriers Could Not Lose 00:07:02 - The Kido Butai 00:11:32 - What America Did Not Have 00:13:53 - The Yorktown's Three Days 00:15:52 - The Unnoticed Decision 00:18:23 - First Contact: The PBYs Find the Fleet 00:21:51 - The Torpedo Squadrons Go In Alone 00:24:10 - The Rule Changed 00:26:33 - McClusky's Gamble 00:28:31 - 10:24: The Five Fateful Minutes 00:31:57 - The Hiryu Strikes Back 00:35:25 - The Collapse 00:41:37 - The Cost Ledger 00:45:04 - Chronology: December 1941 to June 1942 00:47:41 - The Four Factors 00:50:05 - The Reversal 00:51:18 - Epilogue: The Wrecks #WW2 #WorldWarII #PacificWar #Midway #SBD #Dauntless #WWIIHistory #USNavy #MilitaryHistory #USAInWW2