Biggest misconception I see on the forums about the battle of Midway was the Nautilus' role in the battle. By the time she got into position to do anything, the carrier fleet had already been hit hard and most of the surviving ships had already withdrawn.
Since she was just up against 3 burning carriers and a few ships that were there to stand by the stricken carriers it was easy for her to get a firing position on the Kaga. She got 3 hits on the Kaga,all were duds and as a matter of fact one of the torps actually broke in two after striking the Kaga. The rear portion of the torp actually floated and a few japanese sailors used it as a liferaft till they were picked up.
The Nautilus did try to get into position to attack one of Nagumo's 2 BB escorts earlier in the day,but was forced to go deep by aircraft and DDs.
The Cpt of the Nautilus not only mis-identified the carrier he was shooting at,he also thought the DDs were CLs. From what I understand,they were still using the pre-refit versions of the Akagi and Kaga in the US Navy recognition manual...which is why he thought the Kaga was the Soryu.
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