First surface contact of the battle: two Japanese cargo vessels sighted, bearing 247, 470 nm from Midway.

Sighting of the 'main body' (actually part of the occupation force): six large ships in column, bearing 261, 700 nm.

Nine B-17s under Lt. Col. Sweeney take off to attack the sighted force.

B-17s bomb the enemy at ~570 nm.

Night torpedo attack: 4 PBY Catalinas make the war's first US night torpedo attack on the Japanese Occupation/Transport Force ~500-600 nm west of Midway; one torpedo hits the oiler Akebono Maru (killing ~11-13) — the only hit, and the sole Midway success against the transports.

108-plane Midway strike (36 fighters, 36 dive bombers, 36 torpedo planes) launches under Lt. Tomonaga (Organization #5).

Tone No.4 scout launches ~30 min late vs the scheduled ~0430 search (first Tone floatplane got away 0445, No.4 at 0500). Cause is CONFIRMED undocumented: candidates are delayed orders, a catapult/launching-system problem, or trouble with the plane itself, or all three — no scholarly consensus (Symonds; Tone article 'unknown reasons'). Simulation should parameterize the cause.

Midway radar detects the inbound Japanese strike ~93 nm NW; the base scrambles its fighters and clears the field. A PBY also reports 'many planes heading Midway'.

VMF-221 (Maj. Parks) — 6 F4F Wildcats + 20 obsolete F2A Buffaloes — intercepts the Tomonaga strike and is decimated (2 F4F + 13 F2A shot down in minutes; only 2 airworthy afterward), downing ~4 B5Ns and a Zero.

Bombs fall on Midway military installations.

Yorktown launches VT-3 (Massey).

Tomonaga's command plane radios 'There is a necessity for carrying out a second attack.' Triggers Nagumo's armament dilemma.

Hornet launches 10 VF + 35 VSB (500-lb) + 15 VTB against carriers calculated 155 nm, bearing 239 True. Deferred departure.

TF-16 (Enterprise) launches in order VF, dive bombers, torpedo planes, escort VF. Launch takes ~1 hour.

[DECISION NODE A] Nagumo orders standby attack planes to remove torpedoes and load #80 land bombs. Weapons/fuel exposed in hangars.

First Midway-based strike on Kido Butai: 6 TBF Avengers (VT-8 detachment, the Avenger's combat debut) + 4 USAAF B-26 Marauders carrying torpedoes attack unescorted. No hits; catastrophic losses (5 of 6 TBFs and 2 of 4 B-26s downed). One crippled B-26 nearly crashes into Akagi's bridge.

TF-16 receives its first enemy-carrier contact report.

VMSB-241 (16 SBD under Maj. Henderson + 11 SB2U-3 Vindicators) dive- and glide-bombs Kido Butai (mostly Hiryu). No hits; Henderson killed, 8 SBDs and 2 SB2Us lost — 'Marine Air's dark day'.

[DECISION NODE B] Tone No.4 scout (delayed by catapult trouble) reports '10 enemy ships'; a carrier is identified soon after — but rearming is already underway, precluding immediate launch.

USS Nautilus penetrates the screen and fires torpedoes at a battleship/carrier (all miss or dud). The destroyer Arashi is left behind to depth-charge her, then races NE to rejoin — the wake McClusky follows to find Kido Butai.

Hornet dive bombers (VS-8/VB-8, Ring, the 'flight to nowhere') fail to locate the target and do not participate in the decisive attack. Had they engaged, Hiryu might have been hit and its Yorktown strikes prevented.

Under torpedo-attack pressure and after Tone's sighting of US surface ships, Nagumo turns Kido Butai from SE (~135) to NE (~070) to close the US task force. This ~65-deg turn (not a 180 reversal) takes the fleet off the projected intercept, causing McClusky to overshoot south and search NW.

VT-8 (Waldron, 15 TBDs) attacks three carriers unescorted. Wiped out; Ens. George Gay sole human survivor. VT-8 flew low at 100 kts under the clouds while the rest of Hornet's group climbed to 19,000 ft at 110 kts.

VT-6 (Enterprise, 14 TBDs) attacks; 10 of 14 lost, 4 return.

VT-3 (Yorktown, 12 TBDs) attacks; 10 of 12 lost, 2 survive. Torpedo attacks force radical maneuvering and pull Japanese CAP to low altitude.

Fuel-critical McClusky group spots lone destroyer Arashi racing NE (returning from depth-charging Nautilus) and follows it toward Kido Butai.

McClusky group sights the Japanese carrier force.

Enterprise SBDs (~28) dive-bomb Kaga.

Best's three-plane section hits Akagi: one direct center-flight-deck hit plus two damaging near-misses (one, by Weber, jams the rudder).

VB-3 (Leslie) attacks the eastern carrier (misidentified 'Akagi class', actually Soryu). Three solid direct hits.

Hiryu launches 1st counterstrike: 18 Vals + 6 Zeros (Kobayashi). NOTE: launch time is a genuine unresolved source disagreement (~15-20 min spread) — parameterize.

Only 7 Vals penetrate Yorktown's defenses: 3 direct hits + 2 damaging near-misses. Yorktown smoking and slowing.

Hiryu's 2nd counterstrike (torpedo planes) scores 3 torpedo hits on Yorktown.

US strike (~26 SBDs incl. refugee Yorktown squadrons under Gallaher) attacks Hiryu for ~30 min: 4 direct hits forward, ablaze bow to stern.

Soryu, ablaze since the fatal five minutes, sinks in the evening after internal explosions (~711 lost).

Kaga, wrecked in the fatal five minutes, is racked by explosions and sinks in the evening (~811 lost).

Surfaced USS Tambor is detected by the withdrawing CruDiv7, triggering an emergency evasive turn.

Kumano signals a 45-deg emergency starboard turn to avoid Tambor. Mikuma erroneously turns 90 deg; Mogami rams Mikuma's port side below the bridge. Mogami's bow caved in (torpedoes jettisoned); Mikuma's port oil tanks ruptured, leaving an oil trail.

Naval gunfire: I-168 (Tanabe) surfaces ~1,100 yds SW of Eastern Island and shells the airfield with her 10 cm (3.9 in) deck gun, firing 6 rounds. No damage; Midway's searchlights illuminate her and coastal batteries return fire, forcing her to submerge and withdraw. (Kurita's four heavy cruisers were to take over the bombardment but were recalled just after midnight — leading to the Tambor encounter and the Mogami-Mikuma collision.)

Destroyer Makigumo scuttles the burning Hiryu with a torpedo.

Nagumo's flagship Akagi, burning since the fatal five minutes, is scuttled at dawn on 5 June by torpedoes from her escorting destroyers (Arashi and others).

VMSB-241 from Midway (6 SBD-2 + 6 SB2U-3 Vindicators) attacks the cruisers: near misses only (a near miss on Mogami kills two). Capt. Fleming's Vindicator lost.

Eight B-17s (Brooke Allen) bomb the cruisers from high altitude: no hits.

Carrier SBD strikes (Enterprise/Hornet) devastate Mikuma: 5 direct hits + 2 near misses (first on No.3 turret roof; two wreck the starboard forward engine room). Dead in the water.

Mogami takes multiple hits (Hornet VS-8 on No.5 main turret killing its 18-man crew; two Enterprise SBD hits; a Hornet 1000-lb on the catapult deck starting a serious fire) but survives. Rejoins CruDiv7 on 8 June, reaches Truk 14 June for repairs.

I-168 (Tanabe) fires 4 torpedoes in a tight spread at crippled Yorktown: 1 misses aft, 1 hits destroyer Hammann (sinks in ~4 min), 2 pass under Hammann into Yorktown's starboard side. FIRM NEGATIVE: no corroborated exact clock time or lat/long exists; NHHC gives only relative markers. Circulating times (13:30/13:31/15:36/1336) conflict and lack stated timezones — treat as a RANGE.

Mikuma capsizes to port and sinks.

USS Yorktown finally sinks after dawn on 7 June (rolled over, sank stern first; Wikipedia cites 07:01). Wreck found 1998-05-19 by Ballard/NOAA at ~5,075m (16,650 ft), discovery position 30-35-59N 176-34-4W (NOT the sinking point).