Their target was Midway, their mission to soften the atoll's defenses and eliminate its air strength. The planes were in the air by 0440, when work began immediately on arming and spotting an additional 105 aircraft, to strike any American ships that might interfere. Cruisers Tone and Chikuma , and battleship Haruna , launched float planes to search for an enemy task force. No naval opposition was expected, however, and no-one was seriously alarmed when one of Tone 's scouts was launched 30 minutes late due to catapult difficulties. Midway Atoll, looking west, November 1941.
Eastern Island is in the foreground, Sand Island is behind.
To the pilots in the ready rooms of Enterprise and her sister ships, time seemed to slow to a crawl as they awaited word of the enemy carriers. Long minutes passed without amplification. Quick calculations placed the Japanese 175 miles west-southwest from the US task forces. In Yorktown , Fletcher wondered where the other enemy carriers might be. If he tipped his hand now, launching a full strike against the two carriers the PBY had spotted, he left himself vulnerable to a counterstrike from the other carriers he suspected were out there.