Midway: Introduction
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Recently, Nauticos has discovered a significant piece of wreckage on the ocean floor off of the island of Midway. From all appearances, the artifact originates from one of the four Japanese carriers sunk at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. This is a tremendously important find to the historic record. Nauticos intends a follow-on expedition to the Midway battlefield shortly. At such time they hope to locate the ship from which the wreckage came. In support of this expedition, it is important to positively identify the wreckage found thus far.

Analysis Goal

The goal of this analysis is to positively identify the ship from which the wreckage came. On the basis of the photographic evidence to hand, we believe that this analysis conclusively achieves this primary goal.

Secondarily, the analysis seeks to lay out a theory regarding how and when the artifact was created, and how it ended up on the seabed in its present state. In support of this objective, we believe that general comments can be made as to its origins, but gaps in the historic record prevent us from conclusively determining the exact timing and circumstances surrounding the creation of the wreckage.

Analytical Approach

This analysis builds on the work performed in our earlier Preliminary Analysis document, dated December 6, 1999. However, in contrast to the earlier document (which compared a textual description of the wreckage against every available gun tub aboard the three ships), this analysis is more descriptive in nature. We seek to recreate the thought processes and arguments that led to the final identification of the wreckage.

 We rely primarily on the photographic evidence made available from Nauticos, as well as photos, line art, and models of Japanese warships. As in the first document, only three of the Japanese carriers that were sunk at the Battle of Midway are included in this analysis. These are the Akagi, Kaga, and Sôryû. The fourth Japanese carrier lost, the Hiryû, is excluded from examination due to the distance she likely sank (approximately 50 miles northwest, i.e. downwind) from the location where the wreckage was discovered.

Platform Nomenclature

Throughout this analysis, the gun tub numbering scheme put forth in the Preliminary Analysis document is used. In this system, gun tubs are referred to by: Shipname-Side (port, starboard, or bow)-Mount#.  Thus, “Kaga-P#4” refers to the fourth mount back from the bow on the port side of Kaga.

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