Battlestations: Midway/Battle of Samar

American Objectives Japanese Objectives
 * Sink the Yamato
 * The Allied carriers must survive
 * Sink the American carriers
 * Yamato must survive

This is a rather interesting battle, and is the only map that contains the Yamato aside from Sibuyan Sea. The Allies are separated into two fleets, each with a few destroyers, a carrier, and a battleship. The Japanese have a similar fleet, but instead with one carrier, one battleship, and multiple escorts.

The Yamato is extremely tough, but it isn't invincible - the Allied carriers in particular have a strong advantage over it, and it can even fall to the American battleships if the Americans are skilled in naval warfare.

This is all just a giant flat sea, so there is nowhere to run for the carriers aside from away from the Yamato.

Many players are eager to play this map, due to its nature - it has a wide variety of units, and it is extremely tactical - the winning team is almost always the one that communicates more and works better.

Player Slots
🇨🇴 American Slots Fletcher (DD) - Ellet Fletcher (DD) - Henley Fletcher (DD) - Farragut Fletcher (DD) - Gridley 🇨🇴 Japanese Slots Fubuki (DD) - Harukaze Akagi (CV) - Zuihō Takao (CA) - Takao Takao (CA) - Atago 🇨🇴
 * Yorktown (CV) - Yorktown
 * Yorktown (CV) - Enterprise
 * New York (BB) - New York
 * New York (BB) - Pennsylvania
 * Yamato (BB) - Yamato
 * Fubuki (DD) - Asagumo
 * Fubuki (DD) - Asakaze
 * Fubuki (DD) - Hagikaze


 * Note: The Zuihō is in fact the Akagi in the Xbox 360 version.

American Strategy
The first thing the first two players MUST do is move the carriers. Have them run as far away from the Yamato as possible - its range is godly and all ships must stay away from it at all costs.

What comes next depends on what kind of players you're playing. Ideally, your carriers should be putting up torpedo bombers and hitting the Yamato with all of them simutaneously while the New York and the Pennsylvania take on the escorting warships. The battleships are crucial, as they are your biggest source of firepower. While carriers are technically stronger than battleships, they only work if they're kept out of battle.

Regardless, massing the two fleets is essential. By providing each other with additional firepower, you'll truly understand the old maxim "United we stand, divided we fall". Ultimately no one ship is capable of sinking the Yamato alone, so it must be done as a cohesive team.

Your opponents know you're going to be hitting the Yamato with everything you've got, so in the event the enemy splits their fleets up, you can hit the Zuihō instead. By doing this, you can secure the skies to yourself and ultimately air bomb the Yamato into oblivion. If you do attempt to air bomb the Yamato though, be wary of destroyer screens - destroyers have excellent anti-aircraft capability, and even the high-flying dive bombers will have trouble hitting the Yamato.

In the event you engage yourself in a ship-to-ship battle with the Yamato, you should aim at taking out her guns. She only has three major guns, so taking out even one can severely reduce the amount of shells she can fire per volley. You need sniper-like accuracy to hit them from a ship, but dive bombers can damage - and destroy - them with ease.

If you're extremely pressed for time, crash your planes into the enemy warships. Doing so does negligable damage, but if you crash the entire squadron, you will be able to put more planes in the air faster - and ultimately cause more damage. Landing planes saves them, true, but what planes are no good in your hangars when you're under fire from the biggest battleship in history.

Japanese Strategy
The Japanese strategy is different from the Americans. You have the direct firepower advantage in the form of the Yamato, and the enemy only has destroyers to back them up - easy prey for your heavy cruisers. Always keep the fleet together.

The Yamato doesn't have a lot of anti-aircraft weapons, so the Fubuki-class destroyers are instrumental in protecting the Yamato and the Akagi from enemy air attack. When you see a bunch of planes charging the Yamato, assume they're torpedo planes and put a destroyer in between the Yamato and the enemy aircraft, and adjust so that you're broadside to the enemy. This allows a destroyer to bring all its anti-aircraft weapons to bear on the enemy at once. Additionally it makes the Yamato a more difficult target, since torpedoes will hit the destroyer first. Destroyers are quite good at absorbing torpedo hits, too - just make sure all your personnel are on water repair duty.

The carrier has some interesting tricks up its sleeve too. Most players put up three wings of fighters to protect the Yamato against torpedo strikes. The Americans are so pressed on the Yamato, though, it is entirely possible to harness the full attacking power of the Zuihō and charge the enemy battleships with torpedo planes. Do this only if you have full confidence in your Fubukis to take most if not all air defence responsibilities. In charging the enemy battleships with torpedo planes, you force the enemy on the defence - and the enemy carriers to put up fighter wings instead of bomber wings, which can help the Yamato close the distance with the enemy carriers.

The Takaos are in fact the least important ship, as they are primarily effective against enemy destroyers. That said, if you manage to sink the enemy battleships, you can have the Takaos go on an enjoyable full-forward romp through the area and sink enemy destroyers at your leisure. That said, watch out for their torpedoes, as well as carrier-borne aircraft. They can also help support the effort against the American battleships.

The Fubukis are among the most important ship here, as they are the core of your anti-air operation. Not much can penetrate a screen of Fubukis backed by Zeroes. Fubukis are especially good against the low-flying torpedo bombers, and can shred them to bits easily. As with ships, always seek broadside engagements with planes, as it allows you to bring all your dual-purpose cannons to bear on them. You may end up cutting off the Yamato, but the Japanese are nice drivers - they'll forgive each other.