Battle of Midway
Late in the afternoon, a Yorktown scout aircraft located Hiryū. Enterprise launched a strike of dive bombers (including 10 SBDs from Yorktown). Despite Hiryū being defended by more than a dozen Zero fighters, the attack by Enterprise was successful: four, possibly five bombs hit Hiryū, leaving her on fire and unable to operate aircraft. (Hornets strike aimed at the escort ships but it did not get any hits.) After hopeless attempts to control the fire, most of the crew remaining on Hiryū were taken off the ship. The rest of the fleet continued sailing northeast to catch the American carriers. Hiryū stayed afloat for several more hours. She was discovered by an aircraft from the light carrier Hōshō. This led to hopes she could be saved or towed back to Japan. However, soon after being spotted, Hiryū sank. Rear Admiral Yamaguchi chose to go down with his ship, costing Japan her best carrier officer.