Winter 1943
Battle of Midway
American codebreakers worked out that Japan, wanting to take advantage of American weakness after the Battle of the Marshalls, planned to recapture Midway and cut the supply line to the American forces in the Marshalls.
The Americans raced their remaining operational fast carrier force to the region and waited for the Japanese fleet to appear ... on schedule.
An American submarine radioed in the location of the invasion fleet, and the Americans finding themselves luckily bypassing the Japanese support fleet, launched an attack.
The americans launched in the dark before dawn and found the Japanese force, with their approach masked by the rising sun.
Coming in low the Japanse radar failed to pick them up until too late. The American hellcats crushed the small Japanese CAP with almost no losses to themselves.
The Japanse air defense was also unready, and many stations were not even manned by the time the American torpedo bombers began their attack run.
The carrier Zuiho was hit by two torpedoes from American torpedo bombers and burst into flames. With raging fires and secondary explosions the order to abandon ship was made and people started jumping overboard to escape the inferno. The ship eventually sank an hour later.
Other American planes attacked the BC3 Hiei, getting a bomb hit on a forward turret. The battlecruiser is now trailing smoke, but still operational.
The other American planes attacked the cruisers, destroyers and transports escorting the invasion force. 2 heavy cruisers, several destroyers and merchant ships were sunk, causing about a quarter of the Japanese infantry contingent to be forced into lifeboats.
In this first round of the Battle of Midway, Japan loses CVL2 Zuiho, CA2, DD2, 1-2 infantry, 2NAS, 1 hit on BC3 Hiei. US suffers no losses.