The account first faults Japan for failing to scout east of its striking force because planners assumed carrier air attack was not the danger that would destroy them. Four Midway-based American groups then launched at roughly the same time but attacked separately, reducing their ability to overwhelm Japanese defenses. Carrier dive-bombing and torpedo attacks also failed to arrive together even though doctrine and planning called for coordinated arrival. Thirty-five of 41 torpedo aircraft were lost in the second failure. The British assessment is doubly harsh: coordination failed catastrophically, but defective torpedoes meant that even more surviving attackers might still have achieved little.
Chapter · 29:23-32:30
The cost of uncoordinated Midway air attacks
Faulty Japanese scouting assumptions and separate American attacks show how reconnaissance and coordination failures shaped Midway's air battle.