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From: udecc!turner@blackbird.afit.af.mil (Bob Turner)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Ship survivability (USS Midway)
Message-ID: <1990Jun30.053858.4451@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 30 Jun 90 05:38:58 GMT
References: <1990Jun24.233636.24292@cbnews.att.com> <1990Jun27.021023.1370@cbnews.att.com>
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
Organization: Univ. of Dayton, School of Engineering
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From: udecc!turner@blackbird.afit.af.mil (Bob Turner)
In article <1990Jun27.021023.1370@cbnews.att.com> willner@cfa.harvard.edu (Steve Willner, OIR) writes:

>From: willner@cfa.harvard.edu (Steve Willner, OIR)
>
>In brief, all four carriers succumbed to uncontrollable fires after
>being hit by typically three or four bombs from dive bombers.
>Admittedly three of the four carriers were caught while refueling and
>rearming aircraft, but carriers ought to be designed to conduct those
>operations in combat without gross hazards.  And Hiryu caught fire and
>was sunk after being hit by four bombs in no special circumstances.
>


One thing about Midway and the sinking of the Soryu, Akagi and Kaga was 
because of either Genda or Nugamo's indecision. They couldn't make up
their minds about rearming the returning bombers from the strike on Midway 
and switched between (I am really reaching in to the depths of memory
here ) torpedoes and bombs. Apparentlly when Wade McClusky and Bombing 8
and friends showed up the armaments had not been properly stored in
their magazines. Talk about fireworks! 

As for the Hiryu, I don't know.

>By contrast, the USS Yorktown was hit by three (or four?  Rats!  I left
>the book at home.) bombs, including one down the funnel, and was ready
>to launch planes again within two hours!  Then she was hit by two
>torpedoes (from aircraft), which wiped out all power and gave her a 26
>degree list.  She was abandoned but did not sink.  Next morning she was
>taken under tow and probably would have made it back to Pearl Harbor
>but for two submarine-delivered torpedoes, which finally sank her.  At
>no point was the ship endangered by fire.
>
Not to mention having been hit hard just the week before at Coral Sea.
The Naval Ship Yard at Pearl worked a major miracle getting the Yorktown
battle worthy and is as much responsible for the success at Midway as any
one else.


-- 
====================================================================
Bob Turner                    Network Manager, School of Engineering
513-229-3171                           turner@udecc.engr.udayton.edu
Univ. of Dayton, Engineering Computing Center-KL211, Dayton OH 45469