Four months after Pearl Harbor, America needed a win. On April 18, 1942, sixteen B-25B Mitchell bombers launched from the deck of the USS Hornet—something Army twin-engine bombers were never designed to do. They struck Tokyo, Yokohama, and other Japanese targets, then flew toward China. Every aircraft was lost: fifteen crashed in China, one landed in the Soviet Union. Three crewmen died in accidents; eight were captured by the Japanese, three of whom were executed. The material damage was minor. But the psychological shock was enormous. Japan had believed its homeland invulnerable. The raid convinced Admiral Yamamoto to extend his defensive perimeter to Midway—a decision that led to the decisive U.S. victory there two months later.