The American carriers had been destroyed, Midway Island occupied after a bitter four-day struggle. It was a modern-day Tsushima, celebrated throughout Japan as a victory for the virtues of the Japanese way and as a defeat for the godless materialists on the other side of their ocean.But the cost to the Japanese carrier force had been high. Kaga was at the bottom of the Pacific; Hiryu, torpedoed by a US submarine during the voyage back to Japan, would take six months to repair. Akagi and Soryu, though hardly damaged, needed extensive replacements of aircraft and pilots. The other carriers would not return for some weeks. Shokaku and Zuikaku had sailed for the south immediately after the naval engagement to take part in the previously postponed Coral Sea operation. Junyo and Ryujo were still at Midway, waiting while the island’s airstrips were made ready to receive their planes. So all in all it would be at least six weeks before Kido Butai could again operate as a coherent striking force.For Yamamoto, once more relaxing aboard Yamato in Hiroshima Bay, it was an opportunity for taking stock.
