Prof. Greg Jackson

Well, sure enough, two days later, a message is sent to Tokyo that AF has a little fresh water.

It's brilliant.

And to make this even better for the codebreakers, Japan's subsequent messages confirm that the assault will take place on one of the first days in June, just as they'd thought.

Admiral Chester Nimitz knows he's going to have to face the Japanese fleet.

There's no hiding from Yamamoto's armada.

But he has the right men for the job.

In tactical command will be Task Force 17 Commander Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher.

Yes, we caught mention of this Iowa native at the start of this episode, when we saw Jack, or Black Jack, as he's also called, just like our old Army commander from the last World War, John Pershing, score a supposed victory at the Battle of the Coral Sea.

With him is Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance, who's commanding Task Force 16.

Chester tells the two rear admirals that the goal is, quote, to inflict maximum damage on the enemy by employing strong attrition attacks, governed by the principle of calculated risk, which you shall interpret to mean the avoidance of exposure of your force to attack by superior enemy forces without good prospect of inflicting, as a result of such exposure, greater damage on the enemy, close quote.

Okay, but in practice, what does that actually mean?

It means that, on May 28th, the day after the Japanese carriers began heading out to Midway, Raymond Spruance sails out of Pearl Harbor with Task Force 16's two aircraft carriers, USS Hornet and his flagship, USS Enterprise, as well as six cruisers and 11 destroyers.

Two days later, May 30th, Black Jack Fletcher follows with two cruisers and six destroyers and the piece de resistance, his flagship, the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown.

Yes, despite its severe thrashing in the Battle of the Coral Sea, 1,400 men managed to complete repairs that should have taken months in a mere two days.

Convinced that they put the Yorktown down for the count, the Japanese will never see her coming.

Meanwhile, Yamamoto is hitting a few roadblocks, or waterblocks if we can make that a thing.

Aerial reconnaissance isn't possible because an American ship is anchored where the Japanese planned for their refueling station to be.

The submarines that were supposed to intercept American ships between Oahu and Midway aren't in position.

And to make matters even worse, intelligence is reporting that Midway is on alert.

Air patrols are going out and cranes are visible, suggesting that the Americans know something is coming, which, as we know, they do.