The Battle of Midway was fought from 4 to 7 June 1942 between the United States and Imperial Japan during the Second World War. The battle was one of the most important naval engagements of the Pacific War and resulted in the destruction of four Japanese aircraft carriers. The American victory halted Japan’s strategic expansion in the Pacific and shifted the initiative toward the United States.
Background
The Battle of Midway took place six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.
Japan had launched a rapid offensive across the Pacific and Southeast Asia. Japanese forces captured territories in the Philippines, Malaya, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, and numerous Pacific islands.
The Japanese leadership hoped that these victories would create a defensive perimeter around the Japanese Empire and force the United States to negotiate.
However, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had failed to destroy the most important American naval assets.
Most importantly, the American aircraft carriers were not present at Pearl Harbor when the attack occurred.
Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, believed that the United States Navy’s remaining aircraft carriers had to be destroyed.
Yamamoto therefore developed a plan to capture Midway Atoll, a small American-controlled island approximately 1,300 miles northwest of Hawaii.
Midway was strategically important because of its location.
If Japan captured the island, Japanese forces could potentially use it as a base for reconnaissance and further operations against Hawaii.
Yamamoto also hoped that the American Pacific Fleet would respond to the Japanese attack.
His plan depended on a large and complicated series of movements.
Japanese forces would first attack the Aleutian Islands in Alaska as a diversion.
The main Japanese force would then attack Midway.
A powerful Japanese carrier force under Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo would launch the main air attack.
Once the American fleet appeared, Japanese forces would destroy it.
The plan involved a large number of Japanese ships, including aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and support vessels.
However, the Japanese plan had a serious weakness.
The United States had broken significant portions of the Japanese naval code.
American cryptanalysts at Station HYPO in Hawaii, led by Joseph Rochefort, determined that the Japanese were preparing a major operation against a location identified in Japanese communications as AF.
American intelligence officers suspected that AF was Midway.
To confirm this, the Americans arranged for Midway to send an uncoded message reporting a shortage of fresh water.
Japanese communications soon reported that AF was suffering from a water shortage.
The Americans now knew that AF was Midway.
This gave Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, an enormous advantage.
Instead of being surprised by the Japanese attack, the Americans could prepare an ambush.
Nimitz ordered three American aircraft carriers to move toward the area:
- USS Enterprise
- USS Hornet
- USS Yorktown
The Yorktown had been badly damaged during the Battle of the Coral Sea, but American repair crews worked at extraordinary speed to return the carrier to service.
The American fleet positioned itself northeast of Midway, outside the immediate range of Japanese reconnaissance.
The Japanese believed they were approaching an American force that had not yet detected them.
In reality, the Americans were waiting for them.
The Battle
On the morning of 4 June 1942, Japanese aircraft launched from four carriers:
- Akagi
- Kaga
- Soryu
- Hiryu
Approximately 108 Japanese aircraft attacked Midway Island.
The raid caused significant damage to American installations.
However, the Japanese attack did not completely destroy the airfield.
American aircraft based on Midway also launched attacks against the Japanese carriers.
These attacks were largely unsuccessful.
American torpedo bombers and bombers were shot down in large numbers.
The Japanese carriers therefore remained operational.
At first, the Japanese appeared to be winning.
However, the situation was about to change dramatically.
Admiral Nagumo faced a difficult decision.
His aircraft carriers had launched their first strike against Midway.
Some Japanese aircraft were returning.
At the same time, Japanese reconnaissance had detected American naval forces.
Nagumo therefore had to decide whether to prepare another strike against Midway or arm aircraft for an attack against the American fleet.
The decision consumed valuable time.
Japanese aircraft on the carrier decks had to be refueled and rearmed.
Torpedoes and bombs were being moved between aircraft.
Aircraft returning from the Midway attack also needed to land.
The Japanese carriers were therefore temporarily vulnerable.
Meanwhile, American aircraft from Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown were searching for the Japanese fleet.
Several American squadrons failed to find the Japanese carriers or became separated during the search.
One group, however, eventually located the Japanese fleet.
These were TBD Devastator torpedo bombers from the carrier Hornet.
On the morning of 4 June, American torpedo bombers attacked the Japanese carriers.
The attacks were disastrous for the Americans.
Japanese fighters and anti-aircraft fire destroyed most of the attacking aircraft.
The American torpedo bombers failed to score a decisive hit.
However, their attacks had an unexpected consequence.
Japanese fighter aircraft were pulled down toward the low-flying American torpedo bombers.
The Japanese combat air patrol became scattered and occupied at low altitude.
Then American Dauntless dive bombers arrived.
At approximately 10:20 a.m., American dive bombers attacked the Japanese carriers.
The Japanese carriers were caught in an extremely vulnerable condition.
Many aircraft were armed and fueled on their decks.
Within minutes, bombs struck Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu.
Fires spread rapidly.
Aircraft, fuel, and ammunition exploded.
The three carriers were fatally damaged.
A fourth Japanese carrier, Hiryu, survived the initial attack.
Hiryu launched counterattacks later that day.
Japanese aircraft found the American carrier Yorktown and seriously damaged it.
The carrier was eventually abandoned after suffering multiple attacks.
However, American aircraft located Hiryu later in the afternoon.
American dive bombers attacked the Japanese carrier.
Hiryu was hit repeatedly and eventually became impossible to save.
By the end of 4 June, all four Japanese fleet carriers that had participated in the main attack on Midway had been destroyed.
The Japanese had lost four of their most experienced aircraft carriers along with a large number of highly trained pilots and aircrew.
The battle continued for several more days as American and Japanese forces searched for each other and conducted additional attacks.
On 7 June, the Japanese fleet withdrew.
The Battle of Midway was over.
Aftermath
The Japanese defeat at Midway was strategically devastating.
Japan had lost four fleet carriers:
- Akagi
- Kaga
- Soryu
- Hiryu
The United States lost the carrier Yorktown.
Japan also lost a large number of aircraft and, more importantly, many highly experienced naval aviators.
The exact number of Japanese personnel killed varies by source, but Japanese losses were approximately 3,000 personnel, including many experienced pilots and aircrew.
American losses were approximately 300 personnel.
The material losses were important, but the loss of experienced Japanese aircrew was particularly difficult to replace.
Japan had entered the war with a highly trained carrier aviation force.
Training new pilots to the same standard required considerable time and resources.
The Japanese Navy still possessed significant strength after Midway.
The battle did not immediately end Japanese military operations in the Pacific.
However, Japan’s ability to conduct large-scale offensive carrier operations had been severely weakened.
The strategic initiative gradually shifted toward the United States.
Only two months later, American forces launched the Guadalcanal campaign, beginning a long series of Allied offensives across the Pacific.
The Japanese would continue fighting fiercely, but increasingly found themselves responding to American operations rather than choosing the timing and location of major offensives.
Historical Significance
The Battle of Midway is often described as the turning point of the Pacific War.
This description requires some qualification.
The United States had already demonstrated its ability to fight back at the Battle of the Coral Sea, and Japan remained a powerful military power after Midway.
Nevertheless, Midway represented a major strategic reversal.
Before the battle, Japan had been expanding rapidly.
After Midway, Japan increasingly had to defend its existing territory against American advances.
The battle also demonstrated the enormous importance of naval aviation and intelligence.
The American victory was not simply the result of superior numbers.
The United States entered the battle with fewer fleet carriers than the Japanese force deployed in the operation.
American intelligence provided Nimitz with crucial knowledge about the Japanese plan.
This allowed the Americans to position their carriers in advance and surprise the Japanese fleet.
The battle also demonstrated the importance of reconnaissance.
Both sides struggled at different points to locate enemy carriers.
A few minutes of difference in timing could determine whether aircraft encountered an empty ocean or an enemy carrier force.
The destruction of the Japanese carriers also revealed the vulnerability of aircraft carriers when large numbers of fueled and armed aircraft were concentrated on their decks.
Midway became one of the classic examples of how intelligence, timing, reconnaissance, air power, and decision-making can determine the outcome of a major battle.
The battle also highlighted the importance of trained personnel.
Japan could replace ships and aircraft more easily than it could replace experienced naval aviators.
Many of the Japanese pilots lost at Midway had already gained combat experience during the campaigns of 1941 and early 1942.
Their loss weakened Japanese naval aviation for the remainder of the war.
For the United States, Midway provided a crucial psychological victory after the disasters of the first six months of the Pacific War.
For Japan, it was the beginning of a long strategic retreat.
The battle did not end the Pacific War.
It did, however, help determine its direction.
From Midway onward, the United States increasingly used its enormous industrial capacity to build ships, aircraft, weapons, and trained personnel.
Japan was increasingly forced into a defensive struggle against an opponent whose material resources were vastly greater.
The Battle of Midway therefore remains one of the clearest examples in modern military history of how accurate intelligence and decisive timing can allow a smaller force to defeat a seemingly stronger opponent.
Sources
Primary Sources
Nimitz, Chester W.
Report of the Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet, on the Battle of Midway
.
Mitsuo Fuchida and Masatake Okumiya.
Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan
.
U.S. Navy operational reports concerning the Battle of Midway.
Japanese Combined Fleet operational records and battle reports.
Modern Scholarship
Parshall, Jonathan, and Anthony Tully.
Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway
. Potomac Books, 2005.
Prange, Gordon W., Donald M. Goldstein, and Katherine V. Dillon.
Miracle at Midway
. McGraw-Hill, 1982.
Symonds, Craig L.
The Battle of Midway
. Oxford University Press, 2011.
Layton, Edwin T., Roger Pineau, and John Costello.
And I Was There: Pearl Harbor and Midway—Breaking the Secrets
. William Morrow, 1985.
Lundstrom, John B.
Black Shoe Carrier Admiral: Frank Jack Fletcher at Coral Sea, Midway & Guadalcanal
. Naval Institute Press, 2006.