y steadied themselves for another air raid. Nothing happened. The onlyaircraft to show up were 11 Dauntlesses from the carrier Hornet at 11:00 a.m. Some Marine gunners, believing they were Japanese planes, opened fire on the SBDs before recognizing their silhouettes. The Dauntlesses were refueled and back in the air by 2:00 p.m. At 3:58, Midway's defenders received an indication that the Japanese were taking a beating when a PBY pilot reported "three burning ships." At 5:45 he reported, "The three burning ships are Jap carriers." The stricken vessels--Akagi, Kaga and Soryu--were the victims of SBD Dauntlesses from the American carriers Enterprise and Yorktown. At the same time out at sea, B-17s from Midway, along with six more Flying Fortresses from Hawaii, attackedthe Japanese carrier Hiryu, which had been damaged and set afire by dive bombers from Enterprise and Hornet. The B-17s claimed hitting the burning Hiryu, as well as a cruiser and battleship, and sinking a destroyer. In fact, the land-based bombers were no more successful in the afternoon than they had been in the morning. With all four of Nagumo's carriers destroyed, Yamamoto decided he could not proceed with his plan to occupy Midway, and ordered his fleet to withdraw. Midway's defenders, however, still expected the Japanese to invade. Captain Simard dispersed his PBYs, evacuated nonessential personnel and warned his PT-boats to expect a night attack. At 1:20 a.m., the Japanese submarine I-168 opened fire on Midway with its 5-inch deck gun. Batteries B and E on Eastern Island, along with Battery D on Sand Island, returned fire with their 3- and 5-inch guns, lobbing 42 shells at I-168, which lobbed eight shells back. The brief exchange resulted in no damage to either side. Most of I-168's shells fell in the lagoon. The submarine submerged at 1:28, the Marine gunners ceased firing and Midway settled back into uneasy silence (Miracle 68). June 5, 1942, began for Midway's defend...
