(2) Setting a Trap for Japan
(book review by Martin Dugard, Taking Midway; Naval warfare, secret codes, and the battle that turned the tide of World War II. Dutton, 2025)

Note:
(a) Adm Isoroku Yamamoto "had an unstinting work ethic and a particular fondness for a Tokyo geisha named NIWA Michi 丹羽 美智. * * * oversaw a series of campaigns in the Western Pacific that consolidated Japan's gains and stretched its control from the Indian Ocean to the Philippines and beyond."
(i) English dictionary:
* unstinting (adj): "not restricting or holding back : giving or being given freely or generously  <an unstinting volunteer>"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unstinting
   ^ How to Use unstinting in a Sentence
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/sentences/unstinting
   ("Everton had a model and a plan, one based on smart recruitment, player development and an unstinting work ethic.  SI.com [Sports Illustrated], 18 May 2018"
   ^ In plain English: a strong work ethic
   ^ * stint (vi): "to be sparing or frugal"
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stint
(ii) "stretched its control from the Indian Ocean"

Just the northeastern brim of Indian Ocean. See Japan during World War II
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_during_World_War_II
(a map with the caption: "A map of the Japanese advance from 1937 to 1942"

(b) Midway (1976 film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway_(1976_film)
(c)
(i) ensign
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensign
may refer to flag or rank (as here).
(ii)
(A) George H Gay Jr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._Gay_Jr.
(an ensign in United States Navy, having been rejected by Army Air [US Air Force was formed in 1947]; section 2 World War II: June 4, 1942)
(B) Battle of Midway
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway
(section 3 Battle, section 3.1 Initial air attacks: first showing a map and then a table of timeline (which provides legend for the map) )

From the timeline, the sinking order of 4 Japanese aircraft carriers are:
June 4: Soryū 蒼龍, Kaga 加賀 (named after the ancient Kaga Province 加賀国);
June 5: Akagi 赤城 (named after Mount Akagi 赤城山 (elevation 1.8 km) ), Hiryū 飛龍 (built based on Soryū design).
`````````````
Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, Japan’s chief naval strategist during World War II, was a gambler who “won large sums on poker, bridge, shogi—Japanese chess—and the Japanese game of stones known as ‘go.’” He had an unstinting work ethic and a particular fondness for a Tokyo geisha named Niwa Michi. As Martin Dugard reminds us in “Taking Midway,” Yamamoto, after hobbling the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, oversaw a series of campaigns in the Western Pacific that consolidated Japan’s gains and stretched its control from the Indian Ocean to the Philippines and beyond. At that point, “Australia was in reach,” Mr. Dugard writes. “New Guinea. Oil-rich Borneo. Even that western-most tip of the United States known as the Aleutian Islands.”

Finding out where Japan might strike next was the task of Cmdr. Joseph Rochefort, the officer in charge of the U.S. Navy’s top-secret code-breaking unit at Pearl Harbor. Rochefort and his staff were brilliant. But, as Mr. Dugard tells us, much of their work was second-guessed by Washington. To prove that he was right—that Yamamoto was planning to attack Midway—Rochefort convinced the Navy to send a false message about a disabled water plant on the island. In intercepting and relaying this message, the Japanese also revealed that Midway would be their next target. Rochefort’s team heard it all. Now the trap was set. Yamamoto wasn’t sure where the U.S. aircraft carriers were, but he believed they were nowhere near Midway.

Mr. Dugard is best known for his collaborations with Bill O’Reilly on their Killing series. His account of the June 1942 battle will be recognizable to audiences of the excellent 1976 film “Midway.” All the familiar characters are here, including Ensign George Gay, the Navy pilot who was shot down early in the battle and who watched, while floating in the Pacific, as the U.S. sank three Japanese aircraft carriers. Four enemy carriers in total went down as the tide of the Pacific war turned.

A more accurate title for the book would be “The First Six Months of 1942.” Indeed, in Mr. Dugard’s dramatic style, the lead-up to the battle occupies more than 80% of the book. And in an unfortunate oversight, he demotes Lt. Cmd. Wade McClusky, referring to him as the commander of Scouting Six, sent out to find the Japanese fleet near Midway. McClusky was, in fact, the air-group commander of USS Enterprise. His role in finding the Japanese fleet was more integral to the victory than Mr. Dugard acknowledges.