70 Years Ago: Midway; The Rest Of The Story

June 2, 1942, USS Barnett (PA-11), carrying survivors from the sinking of USS Lexington (CV-2) at the Battle of the Coral Sea, entered San Diego Harbor. Among the passengers were Commander Morton Seligman, Lexington's executive officer and a reporter from the Chicago Tribune, Stanley Johnston, who had been aboard Lexington during her actions in the Coral Sea, including the battle. Johnston and Seligman apparently shared a stateroom.

Five days later, and the day after the Commander in Chief, Pacific announced "a momentous US Victory," a story by Johnston appeared in the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers in Washington and New York revealed that the U.S. had foreknowledge of Japanese forces and plans. The headline in the Washington Times Herald: "U.S. KNEW ALL ABOUT JAP FLEET. GUESSED THERE WOULD BE A FEINT AT ONE BASE, REAL ATTACK AT ANOTHER.

Admiral King, Commander in Chief of the US Fleet, was livid. A special prosecutor was appointed. A grand jury convened in Chicago and issued an indictment. The Navy's concern was that the article would be read by the Japanese as proof that their communications were compromised.

On reflection, authorities concluded that holding a trial would reveal even more about our successes with communications intelligence. Within a few weeks, the Japanese made a number of changes to their code and to procedures that made the job of traffic analysis and cryptanalysis of Japanese naval communications more difficult. But not impossible.

Later that year, Stanley Johnston's book, Queen of The Flattops, was published. It gave a very positive account of the professionalism and courage of Lexington's officers and crew and a very positive image of the US Navy.