Stafford, described the ephemeral moment: McClusky raised his binoculars and saw the Japanese striking force.Įnterprise’s biographer, Commander Edward P. Taking his heading from the “tin can,” he proceeded on course until a pale break appeared on the horizon. He found a Japanese destroyer headed northeast and reckoned it was joining the carriers. Still finding nothing after twenty more minutes, McClusky finally got a break. He reasoned that his prey could not have advanced past the briefed contact point, so he turned northwesterly, paralleling Nagumo’s expected track. When his formation arrived at the expected interception point, he found only sea and sky, and continued on a few minutes more. A fighter pilot, he was new to dive bombers, but he was persistent in hunting Nagumo. McClusky had graduated from Annapolis on June 4, 1926, and possessed considerable experience as a fleet aviator. The TBDs and F4Fs proceeded independently, while the Wildcats mistakenly tagged onto Hornet’s Devastators. Finally, he was ordered to “proceed on mission assigned” and led his two squadrons southwesterly, expecting to find Nagumo 155 nautical miles southwest, heading toward Midway. Wade McClusky orbited with his Dauntlesses, burning fuel. But the launch dragged on while Lieutenant Commander C. Wade McClusky, who found the Japanese carriers by following a hunch.Įnterprise put up a strong team: thirty-two SBDs, fourteen TBDs, and ten Wildcats. This is because the most important tactical decision of the Battle of Midway was made by Enterprise’s air group commander, C. In particular the Battle of Midway in 1942. The Enterprise was involved in the most important naval battles of the Pacific Theatre in World War Two. In the Pearl Harbor attack of December 7, 1941, USS Enterprise had been spared a pier-side death, delaying its return from a ferry run to Wake Island upon receiving news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Most notable were the twenty thousand-ton sisters Yorktown(CV-5) and the USS Enterprise (CV-6) in 19, which would prove crucial to America’s war effort in the months after Pearl Harbor. Fleet, including the fifteen thousand-ton Ranger (CV-4) in 1934, America’s first flattop built as such but limited in size by the Washington Naval Treaty. (See Main Article: USS Enterprise (CVN-65): The Linchpin of the Pacific)įrom the 1930s to the early 1940s, five carriers joined the U.S. USS Enterprise (CVN-65): The Linchpin of the Pacific
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