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This Month in Naval History

May

June 7th 1777- The USS Hancock and the USS Boston engage and capture the HMS Fox

June 9th 1780- The USS Proctor destroys the HMS Admiral Duff off the New Fondland Banks

June 22nd 1807 The USS Chesapeake is attacked by the British vessel Leopard off of Norfolk. The Chesapeake, which was not prepared for battle, was forced to surrender and hand over former British sailors.

1794- On the first of June 1794 a British fleet under the command of Admiral Howe fought the French fleet off the French coast. In the course of the battle the British captured six French ships of the line, and sunk another one.

June 1st 1813 - The HMS Shannon captures The USS Chesapeake near Cape Cod

June 28th 1814- The USS Wasp captures the HMS Reindeer off the coast of England.

June 2- 6th 1942- Battle of Midway- Japanese Admiral Yamamoto proposed a plan to capture Midway Island. It lay 1,135 miles west north west of Pearl Harbor. While many in the Japanese high command opposed the plan, Yamamoto threat to resign was enough to convince the Japanese to go ahead. Yamamoto had four heavy and two light carriers, seven battleships, ten heavy cruisers, four light cruisers 44 destroyers and many auxiliary ships at his disposal.

The plan called for a diversionary attack on the Alietian which Yamamoto hoped would draw off the American fleet, which would then return to attempt to retake Midway and be destroyed. Unfortunately for the Japanese the Americans had broken the Japanese codes and knew the Japanese plans,

The US navy was as ready as it could be for the Midway attack. Admiral Nimitz had sent whatever reinforcements were available to the island, including numerous aircraft that included B-17’s. He assigned Admiral Spruace a non-aviator to temporarily replace Admiral Halsey who was hospitalized. Spruace had the carriers , and , which was repaired in three days instead of the projected 3 months. The first act in the Midway battle took place on June 3 when a Catalina spotted part of the invasion fleet. Six B-17 made an attack on the fleet but scored no hits. After midnight on the 4th four Catalinas, which were fitted with makeshift torpedo releases, made the first torpedo attack by Catalinas, they sunk one Japanese tanker.

On June 4th the Japanese carriers under the command of Admiral Nagumo launched there first air attack on Midway. The attack was met with heavy opposition from the ground, and did little major impact. American forces on Midway also launched an air attack on the Japanese fleet with no results. Nagumo then ordered another attack on Midway. Meanwhile however, the American fleet had located the Japanese carriers and was launching an attack, which was timed to coincide with the rearming on the Japanese planes. The existence the American fleet was unknown to the Japanese until 809 on the 4th when a Japanese reconnaissance plane reported the existence of American cruisers and destroyers. At the last moment the plane also reported the existence of a carrier. It was too late. Americans aircraft were nearing their target. The first squadron to attack was the VT-8 torpedo squadron from the Hornet. They were flying Douglas Devastators. There attack and that followed by VT-6 from the Enterprise failed. No torpedoes hit and most of both squadrons were wiped off. However, they succeeded in bringing the complete combat air patrol of Zeros down to defend against them. Thus a few minutes later when SBD Dauntless dive-bombers arrived on the scene, they were unopposed. They began their attacks, and within minutes the Japanese carriers, the Akagai, Soryu, and Kaga were ablaze.

The battle was not totally one sided. Japanese planes from the Hiryu managed to find the task force and land three bombs on the Yorktown. This was enough to stop her dead in the water. She was later sunk by torpedoes from a Japanese submarine. Meanwhile the Enterprise and Hornets launched planes against the only surviving Japanese carrier the Hiryu. She was found and sunk.

une 13- 1942 The USS Thetis- PC-115 sinks the German submarine U-157 near Cuba

June 25th 1942 The USS Nautilas sinks the Japanese Destroyer Yamakaze off Japan.

June 3 1943- The USS PC565 sinks the U-521 off Virginia.

June 10th 1943 The Japanese Sub I-9 is sunk off the Aleutians by Sub Chaser PC-487

June 22 1943- The USS Monaghan sank the Japanese Submarine I-7 near Aleutians.

June 2 1944 The USS Guitarro (SS-363) sinks the Japanese Frigate Awaji of Formosa

June 6th 1944- The Invasion of Normandy- D-Day

June 6th 1944 The USS Harder sinks the Japanese destroyer the Minatsuki near the Celebes islands.

June 7th USS Harder SS-257, sinks the Japanese destroyer Hayanami near New Guinea

June 9th 1944- The USS Swordfish SS-193 sinks the Japanese Destroyer Matsukaze near the Bonin Islands.

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