ers at 4:15 a.m., after Sand Island's radio picked up a report from the submarine USS Tambor of a large enemy force possibly within striking distance. The Midway garrison still had every reason to believe that an invasion was imminent. Within 15 minutes, eight B-17s took off from Eastern Island to counter the threat. The Army pilots could not locate the enemy ships in the early morning fog, and by 6:00 a.m. the B-17s were circling nearby Kure Atoll waiting for information. At 6:30, a Midway-based PBY reported, "Sighted 2 battleships bearing 256 degrees, distance 125 miles, course 268 degrees, speed 15." Two minutes later the PBY added, "Ships damaged, streaming oil." The Japanese ships were retreating, and the island's defenders breathed a collective sigh of relief. Marine Aircraft Group 22 sent up two flights from VMSB-241, six Dauntlesses under Captain Marshall A. Tyler and six Vindicators led by Captain Richard E. Flemming, to attack the two "battleships," actually the heavy cruisers Mikuma and Mogami, damaged in a collision the night before. Forty-five minutes later, the Marine pilots spotted the oil slick left by the damaged cruisers and followed it to Mogami and Mikuma. Tyler led his six Dauntlesses into an attack on Mogami amid heavy anti-aircraft fire. The Marines dropped their bombs, scoring a few near-misses. At 8:40, minutes after Tyler's attack, Flemming led his Vindicators out of the sun, through heavy flak from the Japanese ships, against Mikuma. Captain Leon M. Williamson, a pilot in Flemming's flight, saw Flemming's engine smoking during his dive. As Flemming pulled out, his Vindicator burst into flames. Flemming--either by accident or design--crashed his blazing Vindicator into Mikuma's aft 8-inch gun turret. The crash started a fire that was sucked into the cruiser's starboard engine room air intakes, suffocating the engineers. After the Marines finished their attacks, the eight B-17s from Midway, led by Lt. Col. Brook...
