Free Republic

A few days past the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Samar, researchers from Vulcan Inc.’s research vessel R/V Petrel believe they’ve found wreckage from the engagement’s famed Fletcher-class destroyer, USS Johnston (DD-557). Images of twisted metal, a destroyed deck gun, a propeller shaft and other less recognizable debris were posted to Petrel’s Facebook page Wednesday, with a video narrated by Rob Kraft, Vulcan’s director of subsea operations, and Paul Mayer a submersible pilot with the team started by the late billionaire and philanthropist Paul Allen. “This wreck is completely decimated,” Kraft says in the video. “It is just debris....

Deep-sea explorers scouring the world's oceans for sunken World War II ships are investigating what they believe could be the third ship of seven lost to the Pacific during the Battle of Midway. Hundreds of miles off Midway Atoll, nearly halfway between the United States and Japan, a research vessel is launching underwater robots miles into the abyss to look for warships from the famed Battle of Midway. Weeks of grid searches around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands have already led the crew of the Petrel to one sunken warship, the Japanese ship the Kaga. This week, the crew is deploying...

A Near-Run Victory at Midway Walter Lord and Gordon Prange considered Midway an incredible, miraculous victory. For Mitsuo Fuchida and Masatake Okumiya, the battle doomed Japan. The calculated risks Chester Nimitz took required assembling all possible resources, and still left him with a three to one disadvantage in ships. To appreciate further this tenuous condition note the fate of four Army B-26 medium bombers rushed to Midway. Captain James Collins led the aircraft in torpedo attacks. The pilots had never seen or practiced with aerial torpedoes. They would now only practice takeoffs and landings. Those early B-26’s earned a reputation...