Midway (1976)
Hal Holbrook: Commander Joseph Rochefort
Photos
Quotes
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Captain Garth : How much can you decipher?
Commander Rochefort : Fifteen percent.
Captain Garth : Really decipher?
Commander Rochefort : Ten percent.
Captain Garth : Ten percent? That's one word in ten, Joe! You're *guessing*!
Commander Rochefort : [slightly hurt] We like to call it "analysis."
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Captain Garth : Can I ask you something personal? Very personal?
Commander Rochefort : Sure.
Captain Garth : You know, it really stinks down here. How often do some of your people take a bath?
Commander Rochefort : Bath? Hell, I don't know. What *day* is it?
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Admiral Nimitz : [Nimitz has received the first reports on the Battle at Midway]
Admiral Nimitz : Did you confirm it?
Lt. Woll - Aide to Adm. Nimitz : Yes, sir. Admiral Fletcher's reply just came in. "Fletcher to Nimitz. Confirm previous report. Three enemy carriers afire".
Admiral Nimitz : Hallelujah.
Lt. Comm. Rochefort : Three of their first-line carriers, Admiral. Isn't that worth at least a "hot diggity damn"?
Admiral Nimitz : I'll take it under advisement, Joe, but there's still that fourth enemy carrier to deal with.
Lt. Woll - Aide to Adm. Nimitz : There's also a message fron Captain Buckmaster, sir. The Yorktown's been hit.
Admiral Nimitz : Badly?
Lt. Woll - Aide to Adm. Nimitz : Yes, sir, but she is underway again... operational.
Lt. Comm. Rochefort : My gosh, our whole force may be in jeopardy if the Japanese located the Yorktown. They still got a tremendous fleet out there, Admiral.
Admiral Nimitz : But that fourth carrier can't be far off.
Lt. Comm. Rochefort : We've already won a great victory, Admiral. Maybe we oughta get our people out of there.
Admiral Nimitz : You mean... break off, run for home?
Lt. Comm. Rochefort : Before they can hurt us again. Yes, sir.
Admiral Nimitz : Well, that might be the smart play, Commander. Trouble is, I *want* that fourth carrier.
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Captain Garth : Admiral, Commander Rochefort has something he would like to tell you.
Commander Rochefort : It's about objective AF, sir, the meaning of AF. Now, our listening posts have been picking up alot of traffic between Yamamoto's staff commanders.
Captain Garth : There has been a heavy volume of traffic, sir, with the recurring references to Objective AF and... what was the other one?
Commander Rochefort : AO. Now, AO is still a mystery, Admiral, maybe a diverson, but I think we've identified Objective AF as Midway. Now, it really had us stymied there, until one of my men remembered an enemy intercept we decoded last March. Now, a Jap reconnaissance pilot radioed his base that he was passing close to AF. Now we plotted every possible course this plane might have taken, and the only appreciable land mass he could have overflown at the time was Midway.
Captain Garth : Joe...
Commander Rochefort : Look, I know it's thin...
Admiral Nimitz : Thin? Damn near invisible.
Commander Rochefort : But I found a way to confirm it, sir.
[Takes out a message and passes it to Nimitz]
Commander Rochefort : If you will have this flown to Midway. It's a fake message, sir, reporting that Midway's fresh water condenser has broken down. Now, it should be transmitted in the clear, so there's no question of Japanese operators getting every word of it.
Admiral Nimitz : [Smiles and nods, passing it over to Blake] Instruct Midway to include that in their housekeeping traffic tomorrow.
Lieutenant Commander Ernest L. Blake : Aye, sir.
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Commander Rochefort : [Last lines] I wonder if Matt knew how big we won.
Admiral Nimitz : I think I know what he'd have said: It doesn't make any sense, Admiral. Yamamoto had everything going for him, power, experience, confidence. Were we better than the Japanese, or just luckier?
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Admiral Nimitz : [after the Japanese fleet has been sighted but before the battle begins] No matter what happens, Joe, I want you to know you've sure as hell earned your salary this month.
Commander Rochefort : Thank you, sir.
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Adm. Chester W. Nimitz : [Is informed Admiral Halsey's been hospitalized] Damn. You know how much Bill Halsey hates hospitals.
Capt. Matt Garth : Maybe it's not that serious, sir.
Adm. Chester W. Nimitz : If he's scheduled himself to go anywhere *near* one, it's not only damn serious, it's probably critical.
Cmdr. Joseph Rochefort : [Joins them] Admiral, I got some really bad news.
Adm. Chester W. Nimitz : Well, today's the day for it.
Cmdr. Joseph Rochefort : The Japanese have changed their JN-25 code, that's the one that's been giving us Yamamoto's plans.
Adm. Chester W. Nimitz : How long will it take for you to unravel their new system?
Cmdr. Joseph Rochefort : A month, maybe two.
Capt. Matt Garth : Sir, do you still want that fleet order issued?
Adm. Chester W. Nimitz : ...Yes. Target: Midway.