Quote:
| The USN had the Saratoga, Lexington's sister, which was in the Atlantic at the time. |
Saratoga (Capt. Dewitt C. Ramsey) was not in the Atlantic. During the actual Battle of Midway she was on the way to Pearl Harbor, after clearing Point Loma on 1 June, with an ad-hoc air group made up VF-2 (Det.) with 14 F4F-4 and 1 F4F-7 under Lieut. Louis H. Bauer and VS-3 with 22 SBD-3 under Lieut Comdr Louis J. Kirn. CSAG was Lieut Comdr Harry D Felt (1 SBD-3). Also loaded aboard, but without crews were 4 more F4F-4, 43 SBD-3, and 14 TBF-1. Saratoga arrived at Pearl Harbor on 6 June and after shuffling some aircraft and personnel departed the next day to join up with Enterprise and Hornet just south of Midway. Aboard, under CSAG Felt (1 SBD), were VF-5 with 18 F4F-4 under Lieut Comdr Leroy C Simpler; VF-72 with 20 F4F-4 under Lieut Comdr Henry G Sanchez; VF-2 (Det.) still under Bauer and now with 9 F4F-4; Kirn’s VS-3, now with 25 SBD-3; VF-5 (Det.) with 10 SBD-3 under Lieut Comdr William O Burch, Jr.; VT-5 (Det) under Lieut Edwin B Parker with 5 TBD-1; and, finally, VT-8 (Det) with 10 TBF-1.
In the Atlantic were USS Wasp (CV-7) and USS Ranger (CV-4).
Regards,
Rich