Details

Release year: 2019

Storyline

The story of the Battle of Midway, told by the leaders and the sailors who fought in it.

Top credits

Directors

Roland Emmerich

Writers

Wes Tooke

Cast

Ed Skrein — Dick Best
Patrick Wilson — Edwin Layton
Woody Harrelson — Chester W. Nimitz
Luke Evans — Wade McClusky

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Did you know

• Although it can be seen as an embellishment by the filmmakers, Bruno Gaido's daring shooting of the damaged Japanese bomber that was about to crash into the USS Enterprise is genuine. All details, from his jump into the cockpit to the Japanese bomber almost hitting the deck and clipping Gaido's plane, to the exact words of his promotion by Admiral Halsey, are historically accurate.

• Richard "Dick" Best was successfully treated for latent tuberculosis. He died in 2001, aged 91.

• The film highlights the faulty Mark 13 aerial torpedo used by the US Devestator at the time. Even before the war, the Mark 13 was shown to be faulty with most test torpedoes either sinking, running on the surface, or just failing to launch. Studies later found that many torpedoes were damaged upon impact with the water, namely the propellers and the torpedo head. It took two years of testing and re-evaluation before the Mark 13 became a reliable weapon by incorporating a shroud to protect the propeller fins and adding a drag ring to the torpedo head to cushion the impact. The drag ring was made of wood and would break away upon impact. During Midway, only a single Mark 13 found its target and detonated. It was dropped by a Catalina float-plane and hit the oil-tanker Kiyosumi Maru. The explosion ripped a 33 foot hole in the ship's bow but the Kiyosumi Maru survived and continued on with its mission.